Discover

The term 'American Dream' generally refers to the idea that one's prosperity depends upon one's own abilities and hard work, not on a rigid class structure - although the term can have slightly different meanings. For some, it is the opportunity to achieve more prosperity than they could in their countries of origin; for others, it is the opportunity for their children to grow up with an education and become professionals; for still others, it is the opportunity to be an individual without the constraints imposed by caste, race, gender or ethnicity. It sometimes includes the idea of owning a home.
The definition of the American Dream is under constant discussion.^[1] While the term "American Dream" is associated with immigrants, native-born Americans can also be described as "pursuing the American Dream" or "living the American Dream".

Contents

Historical background

Expressing the American Dream

In books

In film

Quotations

References

Additional reading

External links

See also

Historical background

The origin of the term "American Dream" appears to be a history book by James Truslow Adams entitled ''The Epic of America'' (1931)

"If, as I have said, the things already listed were all we had to contribute, America would have made no distinctive and unique gift to mankind. But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement." [p. 404; italics in original]

The term stems from the American experiment in democratic government and a governing philosophy that emphasized liberty and property rights, as compared to the monarchical and aristocratic societies of the Old World (Europe). In Europe, ancient families had locked up land ownership, and social customs often regulated how far an individual could rise in society. In contrast, the United States had a great deal of available land and a culture of individualism.
Early immigrants to the United States landed on a lightly settled and undeveloped continent. Until the end of the 19th century, the sheer amount of land available for settlement, the absence of a land-owning aristocracy, and federal policies to encourage settlement (exterminating or resettling the natives, and in some cases offering free land to settlers) meant land ownership was within reach for many immigrants. Land speculation, as described in Mark Twain's '', as well as land grants to railroad magnates, made some rich. During the 19th century, the transcontinental railroads that opened the West to trade and settlement, the development of mass production through industrialization, and the discovery that oil was abundant and could be used as the basic energy source for manufacturing, greatly increased economic opportunities for workers and businesspeople, as well as raising the American standard of living. In the 19th century, "rags to riches" stories of business tycoons like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, as well as fiction by popular writers like Horatio Alger, contributed to the belief that talent and hard work could lead to riches.
Spurred by the potato famines in Ireland, the Highland clearances in Scotland and the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, impoverished Western Europeans emigrated to America. Scandinavian and German immigrants of the mid 1800s mainly settled the Midwest as farmers. In the late 19th century, southern and eastern Europeans were recruited as labor for the new American industries. Jews fled religious persecution and mandatory military service in the late 19th and early 20th century Russian Empire. Asian Americans began crossing the Pacific Ocean in the 19th century to find work in the American West. At present, immigrants from regions like Southern Asia, Latin America and the former USSR come in search of the American Dream.
However, restrictions on opportunity have meant that all residents of the United States have not had a 'level playing field.' Black men did not have the right to vote until the U.S. Constitution was amended in 1870. Women did not have the right to vote until 1920. As the first large non-WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) group of immigrants, the Irish faced employment discrimination in the 19th century. Most job descriptions that specified that only men or women could apply were only made illegal in the 1970s. "Second-wave" feminists in the 1960s and 1970s sought to overturn long-standing laws that had prevented women from taking an equal part in the economy.
In the early and mid 20th century, the use of the term "American Dream" to more narrowly refer to home ownership was promoted by Realtors in order to associate social success with home ownership.^[2]
"The ideal of freedom and opportunity that motivated the Founding Fathers; the spiritual strength of the nation.

Expressing the American Dream

There are many books, plays and other forms of literature which have defined, explored or denounced the American Dream. Some more well-known examples are:

In books

★ Horatio Alger's books

★ ''The Great Gatsby'' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

★ ''Death of a Salesman'' by Arthur Miller

★ ''A Raisin in the Sun (play)'' by Lorraine Hansberry

★ '' by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

★ ''The Jungle'' by Upton Sinclair

★ ''Of Mice and Men'' by John Steinbeck

★ ''The Rocking Horse Winner'' by D.H. Lawrence

★ ''Invisible Man'' by Ralph Ellison

★ ''On the Road'' by Jack Kerouac

★ ''In Cold Blood'' by Truman Capote

★ ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' by Hunter S. Thompson

★ ''The American Dream (play)'' by Edward Albee

★ ''Rags to Riches'' by Richard T. Farmer

★ ''Requiem for a Dream'' by Hubert Selby, Jr.

★ ''All My Sons'' by Arthur Miller

★ ''American Pastoral'' by Philip Roth

★ ''A View from the Bridge'' by Arthur Miller

★ ''Only Revolutions'' by Mark Z. Danielewski

★ ''The Bluest Eye'' by Toni Morrison

★ ''Angela's Ashes'' by Frank McCourt

★ ''The Tortilla Curtain'' by T.C. Boyle

★ ''Nickel and Dimed'' by Barbara Ehrenreich

In film

★ Easy Rider Directed by Dennis Hopper

★ Scarface Directed by Brian De Palma

★ The Pursuit of Happyness Directed by Gabriele Muccino

★ The Chumscrubber Directed by Arie Posin

★ American Beauty Directed by Sam Mendes

Quotations

Katherine Lee Bates wrote in the 1893 song "America the Beautiful" of a "patriot dream that sees beyond the years."
In 1960 the poet Archibald MacLeish, debating ‘national purpose,’ said: "There are those, I know, who will reply that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right, It is. It is the American dream."

References

1. "As a force behind government philosophy, it seems to be interpreted by most users as a combination of freedom and opportunity with growing overtones of social justice" - From ''Safire’s New Political Dictionary'' by William Safire (New York: Random House, 1993).
2. Hornstein, Jeffrey M. ''A Nation Of Realtors: A Cultural History Of The Twentieth-century American Middle Class.'' (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005)

Additional reading

★ Adams, James Truslow. (1931). ''The Epic of America''. Little, Brown, and Co. 1931 (original printing)/Simon Publications 2001 paperback: ISBN 1-931541-33-7

★ Cullen, Jim. (2003). ''The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation''. Oxford University Press, 2004 paperback: ISBN 0-19-517325-2

★ Fossum, Robert H., and John K. Roth. (1981). ''The American Dream''. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-9504601-6-8

★ Luntz, Frank. "Americans Talk About the American Dream," in The New Promise of American Life, edited by Lamar Alexander and Chester E. Finn, Jr., Hudson Institute, Indianapolis (1995).

★ Samuelson, Robert J. (1995). ''The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Its Entitlement, 1945–1995''. New York: Vintage, 1997 paperback: ISBN 0-679-78152-8. Suggests raising the retirement age and means testing of entitlements to manage unfunded government commitments.

External links

★ American Dream Coalition

★ "Cabbie buys a Duke-dom" – ''New York Daily News'' January 10, 2006

★ "The Ultimate American Dream: From Cabbie to Fifth Avenue Millionaire" – ''Gothamist'' January 10, 2006

★ "I'm a Poster Girl For the American Dream" – ''New York Sun'' January 4, 2006

★ American dream eludes the poorest – ''BBC'' September 21, 2005

★ "No Help Wanted" – ''Washington Post'' September 6, 2005

★ "Stark reality of the American dream" – ''BBC'' August 18, 2005

★ "Help One Man Achieve the American Dream"

See also

★ Income in the United States

★ Affluence in the United States

★ Social structure of the United States

★ Income quintiles

★ Culture of the United States

★ Secularism