The American Immigrant Role Model Analysis

The average American views the dream as making a ton of money and buying luxurious items, while the American immigrant strives to support their family and make a decent living in ‘The Land of Opportunity’. The majority of Americans have been brained washed into thinking they can become the next young multimillionaire, like Jay-Z. That is just not realistic. The dream to the American immigrant differs from the average American because the immigrant has not been fully immersed into our culture, yet. People cling to the American dream because they need something to motivate them. Americans work hard to prove to their neighbors, family and friends that they made it, when in reality they should be doing something that makes them happy. The American …show more content…
Role models can have both positive and negative impact on our lives. For a role model to have a positive effect on kids they must inspire the kid to be great and to aim for their personal dreams. A role model becomes a bad thing when that idolization becomes more of an obsession and you become blind to the fact that you are a different person. To back this up the author of my article says “the problem then though comes when you become so obsessed with your role model that you end up losing your own sense of self and your own identity” (Loewen 1). Although having a role model is good, one must maintain individuality and strive to be unique. If someone idolizes their role model too much it will lead to an unhealthy obsession. This will consequently change that persons understanding of the dream. For example, if your role model is some famous rapper and the only thing they talk about is making millions and buying Rolexes of course your idea of the American dream will change because of this. That’s why I believe finding the right role model can positively change a person’s dream. The environment you grow up in can dramatically effect who your role model is and can also directly hinder your idea of the American …show more content…
This eventually leads to people believing they can or can’t do something. This directly effects our perception of the American dream. If we have negative influences from our family or friends we won’t believe in our dreams. Our financial situation can also affect our perception of the dream. Growing up if you have no money you will defiantly have a different idea of the dream than some rich kid. The rich kid will have dreams of getting richer because they are used to the money they grew up with, while the kid with very little money will dream of making enough money just to live comfortably. My article says “so it’s true to say we respond much more powerfully to our environment than we realize” (Unknown Author 2). How and where we were raised has a lot to do with our interpretation of the American dream. Let’s say you grew up in the South side of Chicago where gangs rule and murder is routine. Your dream might be to just get out of their and live in a more safe area. To wrap up, our environment has a huge effect on our view of the American