1) AMERICAN DREAM:
The term “AmericanDream” is used in a number of ways, but essentially the AmericanDream is an idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives.
Many people have expanded upon or refined the definition of the AmericanDream, and this concept has also been subject to a fair amount of criticism. Many people believe that the structure of American society belies the idealistic goal of the AmericanDream, pointing to examples of inequality rooted in class, race, and ethnic origin which suggest that the AmericanDream is not attainable for all.
The idea of an AmericanDream is older than the United States, dating back to the 1600s, when people began to come up with all sorts of hopes and aspirations for the new and largely unexplored continent.
Many of these dreams focused on owning land and establishing prosperous businesses which would theoretically generate happiness, and some people also incorporated ideals of religious freedom into their American Dreams. During the Great Depression, several people wrote about an AmericanDream, codifying the concept and entrenching it in American society.
For people who believe in the Americandream, anything is attainable through hard work. The concept plays on the idea that American is a classless society, although it is obviously not, as any honest examination of the United States will reveal.
Critics of the Americandream also point out that many versions of the dream equate prosperity with happiness, and that happiness may not always be that simple. These critics suggest that the AmericanDream may always remain tantalizingly (verlockend) out of reach for some Americans, making it more like a cruel joke than a genuine dream.
People with a more skeptical view of the AmericanDream sometimes say that the AmericanDream represents the possibility of living better than your parents did, and a desire among parents for their children to lead happy lives. This is especially true in the immigrant community, as many immigrants have come from extremely difficult circumstances.
Someone who manages to achieve his or her version of the AmericanDream may be said to be “living the dream,” and everyone has a unique interpretation of what the AmericanDream might be.
Fundamentally, the AmericanDream is about hope and the potential for change, and one could argue that people who enact change in some way, even a small way, are living the dream.
- from rags to riches ( Von Lumpen zu den Reichen)
- pursuit of happiness
- Dream of the Frontier, God's chosen country, country where milk and honey flows
- to climb up from great poverty to boundless wealth
- Statue of Liberty as a symbol of the dream
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