The American Dream: to be creative or not to be

"The American Dream:  A Biography, Making of America, Keeping the Dream Alive" and "Rethinking the American Dream" pose similar questions on whether there is an American Dream based on the what the Declaration of Independence gives meaning to "Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" and that there remains the providence of freedom and not just prosperity, but the boldness to dream the dream.

Meacham, author of "The American Dream:  A Biography," asserts that even in 1931,  there was hopeful optimism and this was shown in the Empire State Building opening, and that Americans would forge ahead.  President Barack O'bama would inherit a troubled economic system and spit out that America's hope for dreams and economic prosperity are in reverse.   Author Kamp on "Rethinking the American Dream" poses a question on whether there is an American Dream, but whether it has been be redefined.  Yes perhaps the idea to dream, was then manufactured into an experience of fame and fortune, not necessarily in keeping with the tradition of being a haven for those who are running from religious and political persecutions.

The nature of freedom and independence seems to have crashed only in so far as the economic system is concerned.   But how about the social and religious freedoms?  The Millenials and the Twenty Somethings have social freedoms that are beyond any generation - the ability to communicate all of their thoughts to a digital world-wide audience within seconds.  Perhaps the dream for a economic system based upon materialistic hunger urged those to heights that left behind the actual dream, of sewing Happiness.    Perhaps the true question the author may pose is What Brings on True Happiness? I believe we are just beginning to uncover this, as the old economic system crashes and when people have to return to a humbler way of life - the life of our grand ancestors.  The only difference is that they did not have the layers of layers of elite technology at their fingertips.  We may have an old economic system that has perished, but we have seeds of creativity everywhere.  I may be more of a Millenial optimist, but I believe in my country and it's creative and spiritual power.

 Perhaps our courage and faith in will be redefined in a dream when we return to our families and communities and begin to include them again, to reconnect and create something new on what it means to be an American.   Rather than pursue Happiness, why not create it?!

Rethinking American Dream

“The perennial conviction that those who work hard and play by the rules will be rewarded with a more comfortable present and a more comfortable present and a stronger future for their children”(1) In this quote, it basically sums up what American Dream is about. Unfortunately, nowadays many young people face difficulties in surpassing their parents’ accomplishments and building a better future. They are hinder by the current economy and American political system. Since the cost of living is higher than most people’s income, many people are struggling to survive in American. Hence, it causes many to sense that the American Dream that is slowly fading away. Some even disregard America to be “city upon the hill”.  However, is it really true that the American Dream is fading away?

 Everyone has a different perspective on the American Dream. Some value the happiness that American Dream rather than the material goods and vice versa. Therefore, even if they are struggling to cover the cost of living, they can still be happy about the fact they are with their families. Although the American Dream might not bring both happiness and wealth to a family, at least, it has bought one to them. So people should be happy. Do you know how many people in world are neither happy nor wealthy? Hence, be satisfied with what you have. If you are not, work hard to make a better change. Don’t blame the American Dream for not giving what you want. 

Rethinking the American dream

    This article shows that the American dream was changed to fit and satisfied the need of our society during that time. It's changed because every generation has their own priorities and they would change it to fit their needs. There is one point in this article is very interesting that how the American dream changed from "freedom from want" to "freedom to want". I agree with that. I know a lot of people who wanna move to America because they wanna get a better life and benefits. As we have known, America's economy keeps going down and lots of people have been laid off. But it is still the richest country in the world.
    I think the American dream is still to make life richer and fuller for everyone. The people in my hometown want to move to America so much because they think America can give them what they want, like job opportunities, better benefits or freedom. Over the past few decades, the materialistic dream  in us has grown. People think America is a materialistic dream and a dream for a better world with money and opportunity for everybody. For me, I am not sure if the America dream does still exist for a long time or not, but we will see.
 

american dream

In the article “Keeping the Dream Alive”, Jon Meacham describes the concept of American Dream, he cites Adams book “The Epic of America”: “that American dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank which is the greatest contribution we have s yet made to the thought and welfare of the world.” He also mentions that how American have struggled their American Dream for hundreds years: they overcame difficulties, fought for freedom and equality, and created wealth. However, while our lives are getting better and better, American Dream seems further and further from us.

 With development of economic and higher level of living standard, the American Dream has been made bigger today. If you live at war, what you want is a peaceful life; if you live in the 60s, what you want is a better, richer, and richer life; but now we are living in the 21^st century which is a time of rapid development, so we are pursuing the best life that we might be able to obtain. Compared to the generation of our parents, there is no doubt that we are having higher education and better life than the time they had the same age with us.

Dreaming the American Dream

       Let's try to picture four hundred years ago we finally set our feet on the vast American plain after a long journey from the old dark world. We felt like we were just reborn with our new lives, fresh air, and endless land in this new world. "Freedom", "liberal", "better" are preferred to describe this new world. We were free from religious control and free from fear. We made our effort to build our new lives and dreams.
      
        The American Dream: A Biography and Rethinking the American Dream both quotes The Epic of America, by James Truslow Adams. An original definition of the American dream in Adams' words, "he called that American dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank." Here, Adams emphasized the equal opportunities to pursue happier life for all class one comes from. In The American Dream: A Biography, Jon Meacham constructs his thesis from a history perspective. He argues that "to recover the Dream requires knowing where it came from, how it lasted so long and why it matters so much." While our economy have gone up and down countless times and whatever role the government have played throughout the history, our lives is always getting better. When it comes down to how to recover the dream, we should rely on ourselves. We are the ones who make our American dream come true.

         However, in Rethinking the American Dream, David Kamp tries to present what is the right interpretation of American dream. As time goes by, the meaning of American dream keeps getting shifted and recalibrated. From Adams' interpretation to conflating extreme success, we keep rising our expectation on the American Dream so that it seems harder and harder to achieve. After all, he concludes that "the American Dream should be embraced as the unique sense of possibility that this country gives its citizens--the decent chance, as Moss Hart would say, to scale the walls and achieve what you wish. 

The American Dream

In the article "Keeping the Dream Alive", Jon Meacham is still optimistic about the American Dream .He talked about how the dream kept changing in the history of America. He also talked about how the government and those presidents affected the dream. Although there are lots of hardness to achieve the dream, Jon still still believed that the people of the United States can make the dream to survive another generation.

 

The article "Rethinking the American Dream", the author thought the definition of the American Dream should be reconsidered. He agreed with Adams that " American dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank." He pointed out the "material component" of the dream. He also worried about the relation between high debt and the bet that " tomorrow would be better than today. He didn't negate the American Dream, but he stated how people look at this dream and how to achieve it is not only about hard work. The dream is about the chance, the possibility that this country gives its citizens.

 

The sought after American Dream

In the article "Keeping the Dream Alive" Joe Meacham states that the American dream is “being attacked” and is slipping away. He goes on to say that the thought people once had of if I work hard then I can have a nice house and a good life, is somewhat lost because of economic downfall. Yet he sates, “We have overcome such challenges before. To recover the Dream requires knowing where it came from, how it lasted so long and why it matters so much.” Along with the combination of people making less money and the cost of goods rising, is a he contributing factor to this spiral; making it harder to obtain the American Dream.

In the article “Rethinking the American Dream” David Kamp's states that the American Dream has not gone away. A part in the article that I found to emphasize this was, “ It was possible in this wonderful city for that nameless little boy—for any of its millions—to have a decent chance to scale the walls and achieve what they wished. Wealth, rank, or an imposing name counted for nothing. The only credential the city asked was the boldness to dream.”   He capitalizes on the fact that yes we’ve been moved from our comfortable routine of things, but that doesn’t mean that we are losing the American Dream. The American Dream is not solely based on wealth, but rather achievements reached that once seemed far of in the distance.