Truslow Adams, an American writer, once stated that all women and men should have the ability to achieve the American Dream. Is it ridicules to say that the American culture says that all can start from nothing and form it into something? Well, Truslow Adams’s ideal about all being able to achieve the American Dream is false. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald the characters that are trying to achieve the American Dream by making their lives better but fail to reach it. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller the basic life according to the Puritan concepts ruin the ideal of the American Dream. In Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich presents the struggles to get out of minimum wage making it impossible to reach the American Dream. Each
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Barbara Ehrenreich ditched her normal life as a journalist and lived the life of a minimum wage worker to see if it is achievable to get out of poverty, to move up in social rankings and achieve the American Dream. For example, the American Dream is typically seen as gaining something from nothing, and Ehrenreich started with boost of one thousand dollars cash, but soon found herself with nothing. After Ehrenreich finds herself without money she decides to work double shifts, but still barely gets by. She started with more than most in poverty start with and instantly finds herself with no money, and society is not letting her budge after working harder than most who are living the American Dream. Another example of starting from nothing is, when Ehrenreich tells a story of another man who moved from Mexico to America who leaves his family behind in Mexico. The reason the man came to America was to leave everything behind with his family in Mexico and hoped for opportunities for future wealth then return to his family. Ehrenreich tells the reader that he is a very dedicated worker who is always on time and never complains and is always a hard worker, but no matter how hard he works he can never get ahead. This shows that however hard you work it is still impossible to achieve the American Dream when starting from nothing. If Barbara Ehrenreich along with others cannot get out of poverty just to move up one social rank, then it shows that all cannot move up in ranks to get to the American Dream. This proves that the society we live in might be
Barbara Ehrenreich ditched her normal life as a journalist and lived the life of a minimum wage worker to see if it is achievable to get out of poverty, to move up in social rankings and achieve the American Dream. For example, the American Dream is typically seen as gaining something from nothing, and Ehrenreich started with boost of one thousand dollars cash, but soon found herself with nothing. After Ehrenreich finds herself without money she decides to work double shifts, but still barely gets by. She started with more than most in poverty start with and instantly finds herself with no money, and society is not letting her budge after working harder than most who are living the American Dream. Another example of starting from nothing is, when Ehrenreich tells a story of another man who moved from Mexico to America who leaves his family behind in Mexico. The reason the man came to America was to leave everything behind with his family in Mexico and hoped for opportunities for future wealth then return to his family. Ehrenreich tells the reader that he is a very dedicated worker who is always on time and never complains and is always a hard worker, but no matter how hard he works he can never get ahead. This shows that however hard you work it is still impossible to achieve the American Dream when starting from nothing. If Barbara Ehrenreich along with others cannot get out of poverty just to move up one social rank, then it shows that all cannot move up in ranks to get to the American Dream. This proves that the society we live in might be