The Challenges Of The American Dream

Improved Essays
The American Dream, or promise of freedom and equal opportunities, is still accessible to all Americans because America rewards hard working citizens that can better their lives by going through pain and hardships to achieve success.

To begin, the American Dream gives all Americans an opportunity to achieve freedom and success, but citizens have to be determined to put in hard work and go through pain and suffering to accomplish it. In the poem “Europe and America”, David Ignatow explains how the father went through misery and torture, but fought through it to try and make his son’s life better. Throughout his life, the father faced many difficult challenges compared to his son, who explains that “While I am bedded upon soft green money
…show more content…
In the poem “Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper” Martin Espada was faced with very poor working conditions that put her through pain, but she fought through it to earn money and be able to succeed in her future. She explains how the glue would sting until her hands were oozing and burning. This shows the torture and suffering and the very harsh working conditions that she went through at work to earn the money to be able to attend law school. Furthermore, this connects to the story “Robert Acuna Talks About Farm Workers” by Studs Terkel because it shows that in order to accomplish in life, people have to realize that everything is not just handed to you. Also, because it shows how Cesar Chavez had poor working conditions and had many struggles on the farm, but went on strike to speak out for equal rights because he wanted to become a first class patriotic citizen. The simple things in life don’t always come easy and people have to learn to put in the work and be able to appreciate what they have done to deserve freedom and equality. He explain that once, “There were times when I felt I couldn’t take it anymore. It was 105 in the shade and I’d seen endless rows of lettuce and I felt my back hurting … I felt the frustration of not being able to get out of the fields” (Turkel, 75). This shows how the workers were treated very …show more content…
Acuna described that on the farm they don’t treat the workers with any respect and don’t even care if their workers die. Also, he explained that “In fact, they treat their implements better and their domestic animals better. They have heat and insulated barns for the animals but the workers live in beat-up shacks with no heat at all” (Terkel, 75). If Americans have no opportunity to try new things in life, how will they ever be able to achieve their American Dream if they are forced to work on the farm all day with harsh working conditions and long hours with no freedom at all.
In conclusion, the American dream is a promise of freedom and equality in a new and better life. Every citizen either born and raised in America or immigrating to America has the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. Citizens have to be willing to go through hardships and suffering in life to earn money and work for success. All men and women that actually put in hard work and determination, and do not just take everything in life for granted, will achieve in the future and become successful in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Some of these hardships that Wyman had brought to the attention of the audience reading his essay would be the living conditions of these peasants or immigrants, as well as the working conditions that they were exposed to daily. Including but not limited to living in what looked like a pig pen, sometimes resulting in five families living in a dark sulfur exposed one bed room house. While being at home was not necessarily ideal working wasn 't much better, since seventy percent of immigrants were young male workers, the standard work day consisted of manual labor much like slave driving in my opinion. I say this because the workers were driven with the use of shoving, yelling, pushing and threatening to make sure they were productive at all times. Again…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The unjustifiable sufferings of migrant farm workers in the United States These days, even though we are fighting strongly for human rights issues such as human trafficking, racial equality, asylum seekers and refugees, child abuse and LGBTQ rights, we have to admit that not everyone is equal. We worked hard to ensure that the people around us have the rights they deserved, but we are ignorant to the suffering of others. In his book Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States, Seth Holmes explores the lives of the Mexican workers who cross the border illegally to come to the U.S and provides an interesting idea on how “the fault lines of class, race, citizenship, gender, and sexuality” have shaped the experience of…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Their owners and employers have consistently treated slaves and immigrant workers brutally and inhumanely. Even though the mistreatment differs between these tow groups, both slaves and immigrant workers were taken advantage of because of their inability to control their lives. Slaves had no control over their lives since they were actually owned by the plantation owners, while immigrant workers felt that they, too, were enslaved because of their hopeless situations. Social injustice and brutality by the plantation owners and Chicago meat processing industry owners displayed the opportunity to manage and control their slaves and immigrant employees. Narrative by Frederick Douglass and Upton Sinclair’s…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cesar Chavez Benefits

    • 1578 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Sweat dripped down the men's backs as they struck their hoes through the brittle dirt. The hot sun and the cloudless skies beat down on the hard working men far below. The deafening roar of the plane engine above warned farm workers that the air is being sprayed with dangerous pesticides; their lungs and faces burn as they struggle to breathe in the air contaminated with the thick chemical poison. Without anyone advocating for the protection of these workers, they were mercilessly exploited by the hands of farm owners. No one helped the cause of the farm workers more than Cesar Chavez.…

    • 1578 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many immigrants all over the world come to U.S every year to seek their American Dream, which is a national ethos of the United States. Moreover, the American Dream is used in a lot of ways but it essentially is a set of ideas that suggest that all people in the USA can succeed through hard work. Moreover, anyone has potential to lead a happy, successful life. A lot of people believe that rising social mobility and success is possible in the U.S for everyone due to the American economic and political system. James Truslow Adams in 1931 defined the American dream as: "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.”…

    • 1927 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Living in the “land of opportunity” allows you to control your life and became the success you to control your life and become the success you have always wanted to be. The american dream incorporates everything from freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available for every american. Through the use of the american education system, the rights given to us from the Declaration of Independence, and the motivation for success, anyone in america can reach the american dream. Recently, we had a policy added to our education system of “leave no child behind.”…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The author, went through picking berries and in the midst of doing it he will always experience pain. He even felt sick because of dealing with depression knowing that all his days would be (consumed) with picking berries. While doing the hard labor of picking berries he went through pain so he took ibuprofen in hopes that he will feel better. He knows that this was the act of suffering and sickness not being able to feel your legs or not having access to a hot tub every day. He quickly learned that the migrant farm workers only experience inequality.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the generations there have been many different attributes that defined those generations specifically. The American culture has been molde by these ideals. However, some of them have held true in every generation. These values have connected all the people in each era and have made America what it is today. While there may be a multitude of these, the ones focused on in this essay are working hard, having integrity, and fearing God.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Overview Everyone in America talks about the American dream; a big house with a great family and a white picket fence in the yard. For others, the American dream is to never have an empty stomach, it’s a place other than the cold and dirty concrete, it’s where people can shower more than once a week. The American dream isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be for some. There are people that go day after day barely surviving.…

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The American dream has changed in many ways throughout the years and means different things to different people. The actual definition of “The American Dream’ is equality, democracy and material prosperity, but my american dream would be to start a successful business. I would like to open a dance studio, this is my dream because I have grown up dancing and I want to share my love for dance with the younger generation. By creating this business I could provide for my family. Give them a roof over their head, food to eat and clothes to wear.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Speech: The American Dream

    • 1464 Words
    • 6 Pages

    America the Dream The American Dream is a matter of perception. It is what you as an individual perceive it to be. I believe that with the right motivation and proper guidance, the American dream is possible. In today’s society, more opportunities for a higher education are provided for us but so few are eager to take it.…

    • 1464 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The American Dream is the belief that if you work hard if you are blessed with at least a modicum of ability and have a little luck, you can succeed. It is the dream of upward mobility for oneself, or at least for one 's children. We all keep saying that we are going to end the suffering for all those who are in poverty but we usually don 't keep our word for it, not only…

    • 2323 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many paths to success, but what does it truly mean? Not everyone defines success the same way, and it can vary greatly in different cultures, societies, and economic class. Although it can be so broad, it can also easily be defined by the context of an individual’s life and struggle. The American Dream is a goal that many people are inspired to achieve as they believe it to be their definition of being successful.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The American Dream isn’t just a simple dream. It’s a hope one has for not only their country, but for themselves as a hardworking US citizen. There are many different categories of people in which these dreams are aspired. Women, men, farmers, the lost generation are all capable of pursuing the American dream but each and every one displays their dreams in different ways.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The American dream is a slogan that is selling across the globe and up to date we see millions of people crossing the American borders as immigrants in search of this dream that cannot otherwise be achieved in their homelands. The American dream is a reality as we see it through how different people in the US have developed and better their own ingenuity and achieve their goals through their best efforts. Making this dream a reality is not a straight path as it is all about overcoming the challenges which at the end of the day differentiates a resilient individual from the rest.…

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays