The American Dream

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

What does it mean to you?

My opinion regarding the American Dream in today's society, is a skewed projection to reflect changing times, times of which will forever be enveloped in increasingly wealthy ideology. If we look at wage charts, we can see this at work. To climb the corporate ladder, be the next Forbes billionaire, the next "Bill Gates" : these goals are not really accessible to the common man.  Without the resources to pay for college, find investors, the creativity to invent new ideas, the support of family/friends/mentors/society, people are not able to reach these exalted heights.  Rather, the new immigrant is stuck in low income housing, an 8 to 5 job making minimum wage or less, no chance to save and no time to gain an education because without working as many hours as possible, there's not enough money for basic necessities.

As defined by James Truslow Adams, in his book The Epic of America, which was written in 1931, stated that the American dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.[...]" (p.214-215) (Found on the Library of Congress website)

I have been writing an essay on The Great Gatsby and I'm doing both a character and theme analysis over the book. I thought it would be cool to get a broader spectrum of opinions and ideas regarding the idiom.

[kphoger]

To me, the American Dream has always meant several things together.  Here are some that stick out in my mind:

1.  Owning property large enough to house your family comfortably, with room for recreation.
2.  Financial comfort, meaning you can afford luxuries and don't fear catastrophe.
3.  A happy marriage, with respectable and respectful children.
4.  Leisure time every week, and vacation time every year.

I really don't care a whole lot about the American Dream.  There are things about it that are desirable, but it's not the ideal I aspire to.

[Max Rockatansky]

When I was a kid in the Midwest I was always told that the "American Dream"  included working for a big company like GM that would take care of you.   Basically that way you could obtain the following prescribed requirements to the "Dream"  as it were:

-  2.3 kids
-  A house
-  A dog
-  A picket fence

Oddly I never remember hearing "spouse"  in all that rehetoric.  I thought the Midwest sucked and was on the decline, so I saved in high school and moved to the West Coast.  Basically I would consider the real American Dream the ability to pursue what you want out of life regardless of what others might tell you. 

[Takumi]

Basically I would consider the real American Dream the ability to pursue what you want out of life regardless of what others might tell you. 

Pretty much this. I have a house, a dog, 2.5 cars, and a stable income. All I'm missing is someone to share it with, but adamantly not wanting kids makes that much less likely for me.

[AlexandriaVA]

One of the nice things about our large, federal country is that you can do your own thing independent of the other regions/areas.

Hence, you can get people who live in New York their whole lives and never drive, and their "American Dream" is going to be very different than the "American Dream" of a small-town Nebraska kid.

In that sense they're both "real Americans".

[webny99]

When it comes to this subject, I always think of it in terms of, what makes America so great?

I think the reality, and one of the important aspects, of the dream, is that it is different for everyone. Individuality and diversity, yet with a sense of community and unity, is the backbone, not only of the dream, but of what this country was founded on and what makes it such a great place to live.

[AlexandriaVA]

I think the problem is when people try to project their own American Dream onto others. Nobody has a monopoly on it and nobody get to define it (markets and advertisers certainly try to though).

[NE2]

Overpopulating until someone nukes Hawaii.

[J N Winkler]

At the moment income inequality is high, the affordability of education (especially higher education) and health care is decreasing, and financial precariousness is the norm.  I suspect for most working-age Americans--not all, certainly--a fair summary of the American dream includes financial security and occupational autonomy.  There is also an aspirational element, but that has been blunted in recent years.

The world portrayed in The Great Gatsby is a goldfish bowl.  There are some narrow sectors of the US economy such as high finance (New York area) and tech (Silicon Valley, especially for successful businesses past their IPOs) where the party probably does go on as portrayed in the novel.  One could look at comparisons and contrasts between Prohibition then and the marijuana legalization debate now, or between 1920's flapper culture and #MeToo.  But the underlying reality is that few Americans then saw, or now see, the world through Trimalchio's eyes.  (Fitzgerald actually considered incorporating the name, which is a byword for nouveau-riche excess, in the title of his novel.)  To cite just a couple of examples contemporary to Gatsby from white authors of European descent, Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt (1922) gives the view from small-town Main Street (an essentially middle-class one), while Mari Sandoz's Old Jules (1935) shows what it was like on the farm in the High Plains.  And of course life was very different for Americans of color.  For blacks the 1920's were the years of the Harlem Renaissance and the northern migration, while Asians (especially Chinese) were going through the "paper son" trauma.

I think it is fair to ask whether the American dream, even when described in explicitly consumerist terms (as in the Wikipedia article, using phrases borrowed from a book by Ted Ownby:  "Dream of abundance," "Dream of a democracy of goods," "Dream of freedom of choice," "Dream of novelty"), is truly multicultural.

[AlexandriaVA]

The point about material abundance may ring true. Generally people come here from shithole conditions (you don't move to a new country if you're doing well for yourself). Hence the prospect of living better than you could in the old country (wherever that may be...Ireland, Italy, Haiti) is very appealing, for obvious reasons.

[kphoger]

When it comes to this subject, I always think of it in terms of, what makes America so great?

I think the reality, and one of the important aspects, of the dream, is that it is different for everyone. Individuality and diversity, yet with a sense of community and unity, is the backbone, not only of the dream, but of what this country was founded on and what makes it such a great place to live.

Unlike all those other countries, where people are neither individuals nor diverse, and where they have no sense of community or unity.  Right?

[webny99]

When it comes to this subject, I always think of it in terms of, what makes America so great?

I think the reality, and one of the important aspects, of the dream, is that it is different for everyone. Individuality and diversity, yet with a sense of community and unity, is the backbone, not only of the dream, but of what this country was founded on and what makes it such a great place to live.

Unlike all those other countries, where people are neither individuals nor diverse, and where they have no sense of community or unity.  Right?

That makes me sound like a complete fool. Of course, individuality, diversity, community, unity, can be found around the globe. But not every country is a democracy, and not every country gives their citizens the freedoms that we have, either. This country was founded on the basis of those things I mentioned, more so than any other country, IMO.

[Hurricane Rex]

The American dream means opportunity for me. The greatest country on Earth that you can become anything you want assuming you adapt to our main culture. The rest is up to you.

[kphoger]

When it comes to this subject, I always think of it in terms of, what makes America so great?

I think the reality, and one of the important aspects, of the dream, is that it is different for everyone. Individuality and diversity, yet with a sense of community and unity, is the backbone, not only of the dream, but of what this country was founded on and what makes it such a great place to live.

Unlike all those other countries, where people are neither individuals nor diverse, and where they have no sense of community or unity.  Right?

That makes me sound like a complete fool. Of course, individuality, diversity, community, unity, can be found around the globe. But not every country is a democracy, and not every country gives their citizens the freedoms that we have, either. This country was founded on the basis of those things I mentioned, more so than any other country, IMO.

It could be argued that our country was founded on the desire for a specific group (or set of groups) of people to have freedom.  Extending that same freedom to every individual has been a very gradual process over the years.  And by the way, there are plenty of democracies out there that give their citizens the freedoms that we have.

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

At the moment income inequality is high, the affordability of education (especially higher education) and health care is decreasing, and financial precariousness is the norm.  I suspect for most working-age Americans--not all, certainly--a fair summary of the American dream includes financial security and occupational autonomy.  There is also an aspirational element, but that has been blunted in recent years.

The world portrayed in The Great Gatsby is a goldfish bowl.  There are some narrow sectors of the US economy such as high finance (New York area) and tech (Silicon Valley, especially for successful businesses past their IPOs) where the party probably does go on as portrayed in the novel.  One could look at comparisons and contrasts between Prohibition then and the marijuana legalization debate now, or between 1920's flapper culture and #MeToo.  But the underlying reality is that few Americans then saw, or now see, the world through Trimalchio's eyes.  (Fitzgerald actually considered incorporating the name, which is a byword for nouveau-riche excess, in the title of his novel.)  To cite just a couple of examples contemporary to Gatsby from white authors of European descent, Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt (1922) gives the view from small-town Main Street (an essentially middle-class one), while Mari Sandoz's Old Jules (1935) shows what it was like on the farm in the High Plains.  And of course life was very different for Americans of color.  For blacks the 1920's were the years of the Harlem Renaissance and the northern migration, while Asians (especially Chinese) were going through the "paper son" trauma.

I think it is fair to ask whether the American dream, even when described in explicitly consumerist terms (as in the Wikipedia article, using phrases borrowed from a book by Ted Ownby:  "Dream of abundance," "Dream of a democracy of goods," "Dream of freedom of choice," "Dream of novelty"), is truly multicultural.

I have looked into the sources used on the article from Wikipedia. I found it rather interesting that it made reference to other countries, whether influenced by the idiom or has come up with their own. Our country has made quite the mark on the world.