blog




  • Essay / Critical Examination of the American Dream: Illusion or Reality

    Many Americans today believe in the American Dream, but does the American Dream really exist? In this article on the American Dream, I would argue that it is not a reality because it is not a reality for all Americans since money, not just hard work, guarantees ease of success. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essayFor the introduction of this essay, let's look at the US Pew Charitable Trusts Economic Mobility Project study which shows that even if 40% of Americans are still convinced that going from poverty to riches is quite common, with only 4% of them actually succeeding. The article said that more Americans born into poor families cannot shake off lifelong poverty and that the United States should do more to improve social mobility. If you were born into the lower class, it you is so hard to go higher class. 25% of Americans were born into the lowest class. After a decade, 46% of them are still in the same class, 27% of them go to a higher level, 17% of them go to the middle class, 9% of them go to the second class and only 1% of them go to the next class. Being born into poverty will give you less chance of moving up in social class than people born into wealth. The richest people will have an easier time moving up to a higher class than the poorest people. People who are poor tend to remain poor throughout their lives. Over the past four decades, the income of the average population has remained stagnant and that of the richest 1% has tripled. Just as in the mid-20th century, the richest 10% of American earners received a third of the country's total income. Today, it’s closer to 50%. In the mid-20th century, the richest 1% of households received 10% of the total national income. Today, 1% of wealthy households earn 25% of total income. If you are one of the lucky ones, I hope you will be grateful and not think everything should be like this. The difference between each class makes the American dream more difficult to achieve. On Constitution Avenue near the White House, two middle-aged couples covered themselves in newspapers and slept in the open near the subway entrance. Not far away, the recently opened Trump International Hotel features luxurious interiors and exorbitant rates that only the rich can afford. On the other side of the Newspaper Museum, workers transform the newspaper cover into dozens of windows to spread the country's "freedom" and "democracy". The rich can live in their own house, drive their luxury car to work, while most people are forced to walk, take the bus or the subway to work because they don't have can't afford to own a car. All this will make the difference between the rich and the poor who will gradually develop. Just like The Great Gatsby, Nick, Gatsby, and Daisy all intend to take their dreams from the Midwest to the East. The pursuit of money, reputation, success, and excitement makes Daisy not marry a no-name man. Her life with Tom consists of luxury houses, polo, travel and how to waste time on a daily basis; and Gatsby only makes a lot of money through various illegal ways, living in a beach house and living off billions of dollars. After all of this, Gatsby finally gets the courage to try and let Daisy come back, and that's his American dream. He is.'