The American Dream In Walt Whitman's I Hear America Singing

Does America still provide access to the American dream? Yes and no. The American dream of today is not the same as it used to be. The traditional American dream is taking care of oneself or the family by working hard, paying bills without any worry, and saving up for retirement. American society makes it hard for the average person to achieve these goals. People in America work their tails off just to make sure the electric bill is paid or food is on the table, but real life is not like the movies, you can’t go from “Rags to Riches”. Single Americans who graduated from college struggle with student loans/debts so they can’t start families, Senior citizens can’t retire comfortably because the cost of living has gone up so much that …show more content…
“ The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat”, the boatman is happy to have his own boat and he knows he got it from hard work. The poem gives American people strength because it makes a person feel better to know that they earned something with just their own hard work and no handouts. They are achieving their goals through hard work and that is what makes them happy, their hard work. …show more content…
In the poem “Europe and America” by David Ignatow, his father was an immigrant and he brought him to America so they could live the American dream and strive for a better life. In the poem his father wasn’t living the American dream only he was, “while I am bedded upon soft green money that grows like grass. Thus, between my father who lives on a bed of anguish for his daily bread, and I who tear money at leisure by the roots, where I lie in sun or shade, a vast continent of breezes, storms to him,” , His father came to America with his son hoping for a better life for the both of them but things only got worse for him, but since his son was living his dream nothing else mattered to his father. Parents want you to be better than them, they never want you to settle for less. The key to the dream is knowledge and success is what all adults will tell you which is true. Many people don’t have the money to pay for college so they can’t increase their knowledge. In “America and I” by Anzia Yezierska, she came to America in search of a better life also, she wanted to make American money and buy American clothes with her own earnings. She ended up realizing that living in America isn’t as easy as she thought it was, the American dream to her was freedom and opportunity which she had. “My first job was as a servant in an Americanized family.”, her first job was her opportunity to make American