The American dream
We, as humans, are meant for “something more than mere survival”. We are meant for complex ideas, groundbreaking inventions and technological advances, a sense of community, and a place where freedom and opportunity run throughout the streets. We are meant for the American Dream. I fear, however, that as time has passed, America has lost sight of the true ideals entrenched in the idea of the American Dream. Americans seem to believe that because of their mere presence in America they should be clothed in the finest silk and own a house the size of Texas. We seem to believe that our freedom of speech inherently grants us the right to degrade others. I personally think with all of the technology we have today that it is possible to achieve the American dream. But I also believe if you get off task and not focus on the goal you’re going to get side tracked.
Today there are so may job opportunities for you to succeed. For example in Carlsbad, the oil boom made a big impact here. The oil boom gave so many good jobs to so many people. ( the privliages having an education for us to succeed when other countries don’t ) America is also home to many of the world's top colleges and universities. The California Institute of Technology is a top world-ranked college that focuses highly on science and engineering. Harvard University is another top world-ranked college that you might be familiar with. The buildings at Harvard date all the way back to the year 1636, making Harvard the oldest university in the United States.
(How we have an option to choose what we want to be when in other countries they don’t have that option) America is also known for being at the forefront of freedom and equality. Although our history may be contradictory to these ideals, we have progressed and now live in a land of equal opportunity. Whether you wish to become a doctor, a lawyer, or a librarian, America is the best place to be at to achieve these dreams.
(Negatives) The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it’s most commonly understood as a pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a limited amount of social cache in 1920s NYC, only to be rejected by the “old money” crowd. He then gets killed after being tangled up with them.
Through Gatsby’s life, as well as that of the Wilsons’, Fitzgerald critiques the idea that America is a meritocracy where anyone can rise to the top with enough hard work.
The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (read: rich) if they just work hard enough. The American Dream thus presents a pretty rosy view of American society that ignores problems like systemic racism and misogyny, xenophobia, tax evasion or state tax avoidance, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class hierarchy.The 1920s in particular was a pretty tumultuous time due to increased immigration (and the accompanying xenophobia), changing women’s roles (spurred by the right to vote, which was won in 1919), and extraordinary income inequality. The country was also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone could “strike it rich” on Wall Street. However, this rapid economic growth was built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, well before the crash, but through its wry descriptions of the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on display in 1920s New York was just as ephemeral as one of Gatsby’s parties.
In any case, the novel, just by being set in the 1920s, is unlikely to present an optimistic view of the American Dream, or at least a version of the dream that’s inclusive to all genders, ethnicities, and incomes.
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Results
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Outcome 1
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Outcome 2
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Discussion
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References
sanderson, C. (2008). How much is America in debt; sanderson, C. (2008). Online journal using 159-192. Retrieved from https://www.usgovernmentdebt.us
