Essay 2: Crime and the Connection between American Values
There are many American cultural values that contribute to shaping America’s heroes and villains throughout our history. These American values are The American dream, achievement, individualism, universalism, and the fetishism of money (Messner & Rosenfeld 70-74). To begin, the American villain Jordan Belfort embodied the American values listed in the previous sentence. Since a young age, Belfort had a natural inclination as a salesman making it easy to operate his meat and fish business in the 80’s and then, when that business fell through he moved on to sell stocks in ‘87. Belfort was not born into a well-off family, but he was poor and strove to rise above that by any means necessary. He only cared about himself, his success, achievement, money and getting his hands on his version of the American dream. With that intense determination and internalization of these American values, he built an illegal stockbroking business in which his company made millions off of defrauding investors (Biography.com Editors). He continued this unethical and illegal practice until 1992 when the …show more content…
Nonetheless, she still embodies most of these American values. Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in order not only grant herself, her rightful agency, but also go back and grant other slaves their agency, as people as well. She believed in individuality, achievement, and the American dream. Tubman believed in a better future for herself and others in her previous position she worked for the Union undercover to get key information and eventually was one of the key players in helping to abolish slavery (Biography.com Editors). She was never financially secure, but she worked hard to secure her and other slaves individuality, achievement, and chances towards the American dream before, during, and after the Civil
There are many American cultural values that contribute to shaping America’s heroes and villains throughout our history. These American values are The American dream, achievement, individualism, universalism, and the fetishism of money (Messner & Rosenfeld 70-74). To begin, the American villain Jordan Belfort embodied the American values listed in the previous sentence. Since a young age, Belfort had a natural inclination as a salesman making it easy to operate his meat and fish business in the 80’s and then, when that business fell through he moved on to sell stocks in ‘87. Belfort was not born into a well-off family, but he was poor and strove to rise above that by any means necessary. He only cared about himself, his success, achievement, money and getting his hands on his version of the American dream. With that intense determination and internalization of these American values, he built an illegal stockbroking business in which his company made millions off of defrauding investors (Biography.com Editors). He continued this unethical and illegal practice until 1992 when the …show more content…
Nonetheless, she still embodies most of these American values. Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in order not only grant herself, her rightful agency, but also go back and grant other slaves their agency, as people as well. She believed in individuality, achievement, and the American dream. Tubman believed in a better future for herself and others in her previous position she worked for the Union undercover to get key information and eventually was one of the key players in helping to abolish slavery (Biography.com Editors). She was never financially secure, but she worked hard to secure her and other slaves individuality, achievement, and chances towards the American dream before, during, and after the Civil