The Defining American Dream
Chris Reale
CMP-120-B4 10/24/2007 To some the American dream means a single way of living for everybody, whether it is creating the nuclear family of the 1950's, being a rural self-sufficient citizen, becoming a company executive millionaire, or living various other mainstream ideas of the American dream. Although many people think in this black and white manner, the American dream can be a different dream for every citizen. In essence, the American dream is the freedom to choose how you wish to live your life. As Dinesh D'Souza, an immigrant from India says in his essay Becoming American, "In America...you get to write the script of your own life." This is true, but in some cases is not as easy as it sounds. In reality, achieving the American dream may be a harder task for some than for others due to obstacles such as race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Nevertheless, everybody has the capability and opportunity to succeed in achieving their idea of the American dream. Whether a black male, gay male, Latin woman, Chinese girl with pressuring parents, or any other case, people are bound to be stereotyped, especially in a country which has allowed so many cultures and virtually all races and ethnicities to enter during the last half-century. Unfortunately, not everyone understands cultures and ethnicities outside of their own, so they tend to be wary or ignorant, which creates obstacles for others. These obstacles can either lead to one's demise, or in Brent Staples case as he writes about in Just Walk On By, can strengthen one's character as "I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal". Judith Ortiz Cofer also expresses strength in overcoming her obstacle, as she tells about in The Myth of the Latin Woman, where "my anger [towards the stereotyping woman at the restaurant] gave my reading fire". Even the homeless have the opportunity to achieve limitless success, as Lars Eighner, a gay male who's Mother kicked him out of the house at eighteen, made the best
of his situation by Dumpster diving, "a modern form of self-reliance" which he wrote about in his essay On Dumpster Lars Diving. Eighner, a homeless homosexual lacking a supportive family was able to eventually become rather wealthy through his own perseverance. Eighner is a great example of the resilience and high-yielding nature of the American dream. Although such obstacles exist in America, many times people become resigned to their fate, giving up their dreams and living a life of anger and resentment towards others. These people blame others for the predicament that they find themselves in, when they the ones being weak-willed and subsequently indolent. For example, in Amy Tans Two Kinds, she speaks of a Chinese immigrant mother who takes the belief that "you could be anything you wanted to be in America", the wrong way, and puts overwhelming pressure on her daughter to be a prodigy. Dinish D'Souza, in Becoming American, confirms that "it is considered very improper, however, for [parents] to try to force your [childs] decision". Unfortunately the mother in Tans Two Kinds resigned to her fate, which was her own fault due to placing all of her hope and "foolish pride" in her daughter rather than in herself. In a much broader sense, inhabitants of America who complain of the apparent inequality that results in their poverty do not realize that in America,"he poor life comparatively well", as D'Souza states, and their their changes to fulfill their idea of the American dream are not far fetched as long as they are willing to exert the effort required to succeed. The American dream is all about individually defined success. Although everybody has their own obstacles in which they must overcome and some people struggle more than others, everybody must struggle in order to strengthen and subsequently succeed in reaching their dreams. The American dream is the freedom to lead your own path in life, choosing your own short and long term goals along the way, and working to fulfill them. The American dream
applies to every inhabitant of the Unites States, but one must realize that it is not a free ticket to success. The opportunity to flourish freely is what the American dream holds, but in order to reach ones dreams, one must exert his own effort.