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Tes Cherian

Professors Whorton & Epstein

ENGL 1150 & HIST 1120

Essay 2 Final Draft

22 November 2016

The Death of the American Dream?

From a young age, children all over the world are taught that America is the "Land of

Opportunity". Their parents and their parents' parents have experienced some type of fulfillment

of the American Dream which prompts them to relay belief in it to the newest generation of

Americans. However, nowadays, populations of Americans have become increasingly critical of

the American Dream and what that dream entails. That particular group claims that the American

Dream is now dead due to many different facets of society. Is it possible to demand the "death"

of an ideal that is essentially the backbone of a powerful country such as American? There are

people who argue strongly both for and against the death of the American Dream with the "for"

side focusing individualism and the "against" side focusing on declining conditions in America.

The passionate arguments from both sides make it clear to see that the Dream is unlike what it

used to mean, possibly requiring it to evolve to fit a changing nation.

The American Dream is a vision that has been integrated into American society, one way

or another, since America's founding, and it is necessary to understand the basis and definition of

this vision that has a secured place in almost all aspects of American culture. In 1931, James

Truslow Adams, author of ​Epic of America​, was the first to coin the phrase "the American

Dream". He said that "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better
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and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement"

(Adams xvi). Adams surmised that America was the land that allowed dreams of success to come

true and his belief was spread and quickly became a backbone of American society. This

description is similar to the foundation that America itself was built on by the Founding Fathers.

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson writes, "We hold these truths to be

self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" (Jefferson).

The pursuit of happiness is a concept that is reflected in the definition of the American Dream as

they both relay hope for everyone to seek and achieve what they want to. Presently, the

American Dream is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as "The ideal that every US citizen should

have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination,

and initiative" ("American Dream").

But a simple definition, such as the one from Oxford Dictionaries, can be put into more

intricate scenarios as shown by Pulitzer Prize winning author David K. Shipler's description of

the American Dream. He attempts to define the Dream with a scenario comparing the fulfillment

of the American Dream to surviving rounds in the ring:

With no cushion of money, no training in the ways of the wider world, and too little

defense against the threats and temptations of decaying communities, a poor man or

woman gets sacked again and again-- buffeted and bruised and defeated. When an

exception breaks this cycle of failure, it is called the fulfillment of the American Dream.

(Shipler).
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Shipler describes the American Dream in terms of the people who have nothing that will aid

them, the Dream being their only beacon of hope. He illustrates how Americans who have close

to no, if any, help or support, such as people of the lower classes, immigrants, and minorities, are

constantly being knocked down and pummeled by society. This is visible in a lack of job

opportunities, educational opportunities, and financial stability and, unfortunately, due to these

roadblocks, these groups of people have low chances of even nearing the American Dream even

though some of them do try their hardest. The "underclass" of society is so unlikely to achieve

the American Dream in the "cycle of failure" they are often stuck in, that it is only considered

"the American Dream" when they break the status quo. The constant pummelling of such

families is one facet of society that has caused critics to claim the American Dream is dead.

The American Dream, however much ingrained in American culture, has its critics as

conditions in America has led to the illusion that the American Dream is unfit for modern times.

In fact, a diverse set of socioeconomic factors within American society sets America under par

when pitted against itself and other countries, contributing to the argument that the American

Dream is truly dead. According to Cliff DuRand, a Center for Global Justice research associate,

in America, "One-third of all working families are now poor; their annual income, for a family of

four, is below the $45,622 poverty threshold - an income insufficient to meet basic needs"

(DuRand). Even with family members working to provide sustenance, a portion of working

families are unable to meet their basic needs. The American Dream is not possible for families

that are unable to provide for themselves even while they work. They end up falling down the

ladder and into a cycle to become the "underclass" previously described by Shipler.

Internationally, the United States is falling behind as well. An OECD, the Organisation for
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Economic Co-operation and Development, report in 2013, as noted in Amanda Chan's

Huffington Post article, reported that, "In 1960, the U.S. average life expectancy was 1.5 years

above​ the OECD average" while "U.S. expectancy in 2011 was 78.7 years, which is slightly

below the OECD average of 80.1" (Chan). Contrary to the growth in life expectancies of other

developed nations, the United States has only decreased in the life expectancy trend. This is only

one statistic of the many that illustrates the fall of America from being the best of the best. In a

country that is not caring enough about the betterment of its citizens, how likely is it that the

citizens can better themselves? With conditions only worsening in comparison with the rest of

the developed world, the American Dream seems even further out of reach due to it being more

difficult for an average American to attain "success".

In conjunction with the subpar statistics about the United States, the treatment of

American minorities also contributes to the claims that the American Dream is dead. One

example of minorities despairing about their treatment can be found in the poem "A Supermarket

in California" by Allen Ginsberg: "Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what

America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and

stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?" (Ginsberg). Ginsberg asks his

idol, Walt Whitman, if Whitman's America was the same as Ginsberg's. This is thought to be

Ginsberg reflecting on the treatment of homosexuals in "his" America and how he criticizes the

attitude the majority of Americans held at that point in time as he had to personally deal with the

retributions of that attitude due to him being frank about his homosexuality. To Ginsberg, the

American Dream was unfeasible for most in his predicament owing to discrimination based on

sexual identity. Even today, as Rich Bellis points out in his article, "Only 19 states and
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Washington, D.C., have passed laws preventing LGBT Americans from being discriminated

against by employers. Three others protect employees on the basis of sexual orientation but not

gender identity" (Bellis). Although this shows only a fraction of America's minorities, it is still a

fair indicator that the American Dream is unachievable to certain groups in America all because

their differences cause them to have unequal opportunities for success. This is outrageous,

especially when the American Dream means equal opportunity as mentioned in a prior

paragraph.

Since it is impossible to concisely measure the death of an ideal, there will be a variety of

stances people hold. Believers in the American Dream defend their belief, mainly by claiming

the Dream is individualized and the American Dream as a whole should not have to suffer just

because some people do not achieve it in their lifetime. In a quote from Craig Ballantyne's article

for ​Early to Rise​, he states, "YOU can create your own economy" (Ballantyne). Although this is

only a broad portrayal of a stance people who still have faith in the American Dream holds, it is a

large part of their argument. Supporters of the Dream repeatedly state that every person decides

their own fate and nothing can be held responsible for their shortcomings and failures. Steve

Tobak reflects these sentiments in his article "The American Dream is Alive and Well":

Attaining the American dream is a function of intelligence, capability, personal

choice, work ethic, achievement, upbringing and luck. And it should come as no

surprise that those born into wealth have a better chance than those born into poverty.

But that is by no means the only or determining factor. (Tobak).

The American Dream is very individualized to supporters, and despite there being a clear

advantage in achieving the American Dream if an individual fits into certain socioeconomic
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categories such as race, class, and education level, a majority of them deduce that it does not

matter what advantages or disadvantages an individual comes across in their pursuit of the

American Dream.

Along with an individualistic view on the American Dream held by the believers of the

Dream, several of them cite positive trends within the United States that they claim show that the

Dream is not dead. One particular statistic from the National Center for Education Statistics

states that, "High school dropout rates have consistently been on the decline since 1990"

(Chapman). While another one declares that "Americans earn $54,450 a year on average, much

more than the OECD average of $34,466" (American Dream Still Alive). These two statistics are

commonly cited by believers to represent the idea that the Dream is still living and breathing. A

decreasing high school dropout rate and high wages signal positives within the social and

economic states of America that are inspiring people to succeed and achieve the American

Dream.

In the midst of all these statistics and arguments, there is still an issue at large: the

nonbelief in the American Dream. The nonbelief in such a large aspect of American culture

should not be taken lightly as that relays a negative notion about the state of American virtues.

Based on a poll by CNNMoney that is cited by Kevin Short in his ​Huffington Post ​article "The

American Dream is Dying: Poll", "59 percent of the U.S. now believes that the American Dream

is impossible for most Americans to achieve" (Short). The fact that a majority of Americans do

not trust in the American Dream is frightening in itself. As mentioned earlier, the American

Dream is essentially the backbone of the entire country, so the high levels of nonbelief should

broadcast to everyone that the Dream is not working for most Americans. This would essentially
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mean that the Dream is unsuitable for present day America, which has led to people to drastically

claim that the Dream is dead.

However, because of the vastness in terms of definitions and status within American

society of the American Dream, it would be unfair to condense the Dream down to one sentence

and completely carve it out of American lives, instead, it would be more suitable to say the

Dream is not dead nor is it alive, it has evolved. The Dream has evolved in the past making it

even more possible to state that it has developed to fit the needs of today's generation. Several

examples of the Dream evolving to better suit that particular era can be found in an article

written by Amadeo. Her condensation of the evolution of the American Dream includes:

President Lincoln provided the Dream's equal opportunity to Negro slaves. President

Wilson supported the voting rights of women… President Johnson… ended segregation

in the schools [and] President Obama supports the legal benefits of the marriage contract

regardless of sexual orientation. (Amadeo).

These illustrations of the American Dream's evolution shows that is is possible that the Dream

needs to evolve, or essentially be in a state of neither alive nor dead, to better suit today's

generation so that it would not be completely obsolete in this changing world. Michael Gerson,

writer for the Washington Post, demonstrates a way that evolving the American Dream will work

in today's world. "[Fixing the problems of our economy] will require politicians who call

Americans to the ramparts of an evolution — educating and equipping all our citizens, one by

one, for a different and difficult economy. In that, there should be no enemies" (Gerson).

Gerson's basic description of how to help the evolution of the Dream take hold in modern society
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should be the skeletal plan to make the American Dream more relevant to the journey of the

average American.

Both sides of the argument of whether the American Dream is dead or alive are

passionate in their appeals to the undecided and opposition. However, due to the large portion of

Americans that have a lack of belief in the American Dream, it would be more appropriate to

claim that the American Dream is evolving rather just be completely oblivious to the changing

world or be jumping the gun to call the Dream's time of death. This world is full of extremes, but

the life force of a country whose ideals have appealed to millions of people abroad should not be

sapped by extremes. By evolving the American Dream, Americans may find more hope in their

country or be aware of the more negatives surrounding them which leaves a better worldview

and sense of empathy.

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Works Cited

Adams, James Truslow. ​The Epic of America​. Boston: Little, Brown, 1931. Print.

Amadeo, Kimberly. "5 Ways Our Founding Fathers Protect The American Dream." ​The Balance​.

08 Sept. 2016. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

"American Dream." Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.

Ballantyne, Craig. "The American Dream Is NOT Dead - Early To Rise." ​Early To Rise​. 27 Mar.

2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.

Bellis, Rich. "Here's Everywhere In America You Can Still Get Fired For Being Gay Or Trans."

Fast Company​. 03 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.

Chan, Amanda L. "U.S. Life Expectancy Ranks 26th In The World, OECD Report Shows." ​The

Huffington Post​. 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.

Chapman, C., Laird, J., Ifill, N., and KewalRamani, A. (2011). Trends in High School Dropout

and Completion Rates in the United States: 1972–2009 (NCES 2012-006). U.S.

Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Retrieved 18 Nov. 2016.

DuRand, Cliff. "The American Dream Is Dead; Long Live the New Dream." ​Truthout​. 10 May

2013. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

Gerson, Michael. "Despite What Trump and Sanders Say, the American Dream Has Not Been

Stolen." The Washington Post, 01 Feb. 2016. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.

Ginsberg, Allen. “A Supermarket in California.” ​The River Reader.​ Ed. Kathleen Shine Cain, et

al.​ ​2nd​
​ ed. Boston: Pearson, 2010. 345. Print.
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Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." ​Historic American Documents​. 1776.

Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

Shipler, David K. ​The Working Poor: Invisible in America​. New York: Knopf, 2004. Print.

Short, Kevin. "The American Dream Is Dying: Poll." ​The Huffington Post​. 06 June 2014. Web.

06 Nov. 2016.

"The American Dream Is Still Alive: US citizens are among the most satisfied people in the

world despite survey that rates quality of life as 'average'." Daily Mail, 06 Nov. 2013.

Web. 18 Nov. 2016.

Tobak, Steve. "The American Dream Is Alive and Well." ​Fox Business​. 22 Aug. 2016. Web. 08

Nov. 2016.