Can the American Dream still be Applied Today?

"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position" (James Adams, Epic of America, 1931).

Question: Can the American Dream Still be Applied Today?

This question has emerged from the playwrights of Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie, and many other books that we have read in the past. I have written papers about the American Dream, and the strenuous life, and if the American Dream can still be applied to today. In the beginning of the year, I was a solidified believer in the American Dream. In my opinion, if one works hard and absolutely toils then they will be able to follow in the roots of the American Dream, and will be able to own their own house and have a family. However, throughout this year I have read several books, those in which have described how false the American Dream really is, and it involves one more thing in the equation that we will talk about later; luck. First, I will go over my pre-beliefs of the American Dream, analyzing my idea of why the American Dream no longer exists.

The idea that many people (immigrants specifically) believe in the American Dream is that if they toil and work extremely hard, they will be able to live the "American Dream." Throughout our history, America has seen examples of the American Dream. Briefly I will explain some examples. Immigrants, many immigrants who have come to the United States to work, come to our country in order to find jobs. They start off at the bottom of the chain, which in this case is going to various estates, physically mowing the law. Today we find that most of these managers and bosses happen to be the people who began working at the bottom of this chain. In the landscape industry, roughly 71% of the bosses and managers of these companies began working from the bottom of the company. This is seen in places like Wal-Mart also, where many people have the opportunity to rise through the business and become a top manager in the company. However, in the playwrights Death of a Salesman & The Glass Menagerie, the idea of the American Dream is seen as only an illusion.

For those who do not achieve what we call the American Dream should not leave a stigma on their confidence. I think that America has beguiled this amount of greatness that America has. I do not mean to excoriate the American Dream, but in my opinion, there is one thing that is able to make the American Dream so achievable: luck. The only salient way that can make one achieve the American Dream today is not hard work, but luck. In today's world, there are very few people who can say that because they worked extremely hard they achieved the American Dream. I think that those people who have achieved it received luck in one way or another.

For example, people define the result of the American Dream as owning a house with a wife and children, etc. However who are the percentage of Americans that have this? Well, Mostly the people who started out as middle-class and high-class citizens when they were children. I consider this luck because they were born to an advantage, and because of this advantage, they were able to meet more people and get help from many people that they would need in the future. For the most part sycophants and the sons and daughters to the managers of companies receive the same jobs because of their parents' roles. Of course, from personal experience, we see this happen all of the time. For example, Fred Burton, manager of Bally Shoes, is retiring this year, and giving the job he once had to his son. His son usurped the job, although never even working in shoe business before, nor apparently having a degree in business. They could have hired a number of different people who are more qualified for the job, but because that kid had more luck, they gave it to him.


If luck were exonerated from the American Dream, there would not be an American Dream at all nowadays. This is only a ruse used in America, that deceives more and more people as they enter the country. I am not saying that there are bad jobs in the country or that jobs are deceiving and are hard to find; People would not burgeon into the country if it were better in theirs. I simply think that luck is the word that is excluded from the equation, where it should be spoken about more. The American Dream may look tawdry, however there are many things calculated into it that make it more difficult than it really is.