The American Dream Within The Eyes Of The Beholder Analysis

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The American Dream: Within the Eyes of the Beholder Most Americans have heard of or used the phrase “the American Dream”. However, do they know what it means? Do they know where it came from and how this phrase was started? The idea of an “American Dream” had first been used by people in Europe around the latter end of the 1400’s, then later around 1600’s. However, the actual term “American Dream” was not used until 1933 by James Truslow who used this term to re-establish optimism from the times of the Great Depression (Downs and Stetson 690). Those people were tired of working so hard with little reward. The government would take most of the earnings from the people whether that be monetary or food from crops and leave little for …show more content…
However, since there is opposition in all things, there are those who are fortunate enough that their American Dream does come true. One example of this can be found in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In his famous I Have a Dream speech, he spoke of ending segregation in all forms between whites and blacks. This same principle may be applied to all other races as well, however. As we know from history as well as based upon our current lifestyle, whites and blacks are no longer segregated and live together as equals. In this instance, the dream of Dr. King came true. Another example of an American Dream that came true is the story of Steve Jobs. Jobs was adopted shortly after birth, who then, in his early adult years dropped out of college, became the CEO and co-founder of Apple. His story is now considered as a successful American …show more content…
What is the difference between people who are successful, and those who have to live in poverty? Some may say the answer is fate or destiny. Others say it is because the people who become successful worked very hard going thru many difficult trials to get where they are now. By saying this, however, it implies that the people who do live in poverty, who need to resource to a dumpster to obtain food, are lazy and may not deserve success because of their current situation. How is that comparison and reasoning fair between the two vastly different situations? The true answer to the original question; why do dreams come true for some and not for most, is truly, that no one knows. There is such an inconsistency in the differences between success and the lack of success that one simple answer just does not

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