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By: Kelsie Kopczynski
Over the centuries, Russians emigrated to America to live the American Dream. Now the
question is, have the reasons to come to America changed during these centuries?
n the early 1900s many Russians emigrated to America for social and economic reasons. n
America, children were allowed to get an education and adults were allowed to get good paying
jobs. But often immigrants were told in their home villages that " people dug under the streets
and found gold anywhere (Gold, Early 1900s). The American Dream of the Russians in the early
1900s, was to escape famine and and poverty, and to gain financial support instead. " Facing
poverty and starvation, farmers and peasants from across the Empire sought a brighter future
overseas, and millions set sail for the United States
(http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immi
gration/polish2.html, Retrieved October 16th, 2013). My American Dream would have to have a
good education so that could support myself and my family. also want to pursue a good
education because when graduate college, will be one of the first people in my family to
complete college. feel that no matter where you are or at any time period, everyone's American
Dream is going to be to have a good education and the opportunity to get a good paying job for
themselves and their families. also think that everyone also is convinced that America is an
easy place to live for immigrants. As a natural born American, it is hard enough being a student
in middle school living in New York. magine an immigrant; you would probably get bullied and
discriminated against.
Michael Gold is an immigrant that came to America when he was small. His parents believed the
lies that were told at the village they lived in. When they got to America, they had lots of
hardships. They had to live in a small tenement with lots of other families. t made it hard for
Michael to sleep with the bed bugs. Gold narrates, " They crawl slowly, bloated with blood, and
(the) smell of these parasites wakens every nerve to disgust (Gold). The Gold family was not
planning on this as their American Dream but it is clear that the Gold family dream is to pursue
education and financial support. The Gold family American Dream connected to the many other
similar dreams of families that came from Russia. Many families that came to Russia, didn't
want to starve and they didn't want to deal with being dirty. When the Gold family lived in Russia,
they probably had a farm and business was horrible at that time, so then they moved to America.
Mr. Gold worked very hard to support his family. Gold says " Soon, came to understand it was
not a land of fun. t was a Land of Hurry-Up. There was no gold to be dug up in the streets here.
So worked! With my hands, my liver and sides! But will show your mother how a man makes
his fortune in America! am certain to be rich (Mr. Gold, Early 1900s). Mr. Gold wants to prove
to his wife and the rest of his family that he will work hard for his American Dream to be
achieved.
n the late 1900s, the reasons for coming to America were different and the same in some ways
than in the early 1900s. Milla Jovovich is a famous Hollywood actor. She moved from the
Ukraine, Russia to Los Angeles, California, USA when she was just 5 years old. The collapsing
of the Soviet Union pushed the Jovovich's to America. The Soviet Union was a former
communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia. Communism is a political theory
derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is
publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. Milla
tweeted a picture of herself in the '70s. The caption read " So depressing and communist
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2252999/Milla-Jovovich-shares-adorable-childhood-
picture-days-Russia.html, December 15th, 2012, Bull).The events that led to the collapsing of
the Soviet Union , led me to believe that Milla probably wore dirty clothes, couldn't be clean, didn't
get a good education, didn't eat food, and barely saw her parents because they were working all
the time. Using this information, am inferring that many Russian emigrants, emigrated so they
could escape the lifestyle they had and the communist community they associated with. When
the Jovovich's arrived in America, they faced hardships in America. While Milla was growing up,
she was called " a commie and a Russian spy(Jovovich) and was " never, ever, ever, accepted
into a crowd(Jovovich). Mr and Mrs. Jovovich's American Dream was to escape war in their
hometown so that their children didn't have to see war. They probably moved before the USSR(
Soviet Union) collapsed to avoid things like homelessness and starvation.
Ultimately, the Gold family and the Jovovich family where very different and they both had many
hardships. am inferring that Michael finished his schooling and got a job to get money. Milla
dropped out of school when she was 12 so that she could focus on her modeling and acting
career. Despite these differences, both came to America to make sure that their own future was
in their hands and that it was controllable. Even though there are similarities between these two
American Dreams, one at the beginning of the 1900s and one on the later 1900s, the American
Dream for Russian emigrants has developed over time. n the early 1900s, the American dream
was to escape poverty that just happened to be around that time. n the late 1900s, the American
Dream was to escape war, starvation and homelessness from a country that was going to
collapse.