American Dream or American Nightmare Essay Example

The American Dream is not fairly attainable for all. Whether the rich, the poor, black or white, there is an unequal balance in accessibility for the Dream. Expectations for immigrants traveling to America include a well-rounded education system, world-class healthcare, and most importantly, freedom, equality, and wealth. While these aspects are present in the American lifestyle, not everyone is granted the same opportunities as their peers. For minorities, or more specifically, a group of people who coexist subordinately to a more dominant group,  it is very difficult to access the different concepts of the Dream.  The American Dream is the type of life everyone aspires to have, however, the standards of the Dream are not equally achievable for all. 

To others outside of America, the US represents the opportunity for prosperity and success, or in the Dream’s words, wealth. In America, the idea of equal opportunities for affluence is very prominent in the culture, and this success is supposed to be so easily attainable that even Cadillac claims, “It’s pretty simple. You work hard; you create your own luck, and you gotta believe anything’s possible.” While some people in America possess the privilege to become wealthy at the snap of a finger, this idea is untrue for most people. According to the Dream, everyone has the ability to own a home, raise a family, have a career, and retire comfortably, but this is excluding the splinter group. Marist Poll even goes as far as to say, “85% of US adults think, when it comes to getting ahead, there are different rules for the well-connected and the wealthy. Only 14% report everyone plays by the same rules”.  In America, there is significant wealth inequality and it is particularly unequal by measures of race. In American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality Ari Shapiro states that “... lower-income African Americans are more skeptical about the American Dream.” In addition to the racial wealth gap, the United States also houses a gender-specific imbalance of wealth called the “gender pay gap”.  The gender pay gap refers to the difference in earnings between men & women. Women consistently earn less than men, and the gap is wider for most transgender and immigrant women. Additionally, women of color also experience negative effects on their income. “Throughout much of the 20th century, the average woman earned about 60% of what the average man earned. Starting in the late 1970s, there was a substantial increase in women’s relative earnings, with women coming to earn about 80% of what men earned,” (U.S. Department of Labor) this means that while women are and have always been earning less than men, the problem with wealth inequality is slowly decreasing, however, this information does not mean that the fight for women’s rights is over. 

Many immigrants come to America for education, in hopes to provide their children with better resources and opportunities to become successful. The belief in a better life for your children is so prominent that 44% of Americans say “Giving your kids a better life” when they are asked “How would you describe the American Dream?”, according to Vanity Fair’s Poll. In addition, 47% of Americans say, “a college education” in response to Vanity Fair’s poll asking, “Which is most important in achieving the American Dream?” However, their expectations are drastically lowered when they realize how American school systems really are. Discrimination is often seen in American schools, whether it be because of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. Children who experience discriminatory actions are more likely to have lower academic motivation or performance, as well as, housing a negative attitude towards school. These students are also at an increased risk of dropping out of high school. According to  Marist Poll, the American school systems have evolved to be so bad that “61% of residents want the government to concentrate on education,” highlighting society’s concern for the government’s lack of attention to detail when it comes to their school systems.

A common misconception that is made when speaking about the American Dream or America, in general, is that our society supports equal and free ideals. And, while that may be the case for some people, it’s not true for everyone in America. The inequality targets people of color, women, and those part of the LGBTQ+ community. When people think of the freedoms allowed in America, the ideas of speech, assembly, religion, etc. come into play, however, saying that we’re allowed to do these things, and truly being able to do them are two completely different conversations. Minorities don’t have the freedom or privilege to do everyday things like walking their dog, taking their children to the park, or even simply going to the grocery store. In addition, in the 1950s, African Americans struggled to live in the suburbs, just like everyone else. The Suburban American Dream of the 1950s says that “Residents had to pledge to mow their lawns on a weekly basis. African Americans were excluded by practice. The irrational need to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ was born in the American Suburb”. These actions cannot easily be performed by minorities in America without the fear of being harassed, or in most cases, much worse.  In addition,  the ideas of segregation are on the rise. “Racial discrimination continues to be in the labor market. An experiment carried out in Chicago and Boston during 2001 and 2002 shows that resumes with “white-sounding” names, whether male or female, were much more likely to result in callbacks for interviews than were those with “black-sounding” names (even though the resumes were otherwise identical).” (Bertrand) America is continuing to make it difficult for people of color to get jobs and, in turn, create the “American Dream” kind of life for themselves and their children. 

In summation, the aspects of the American Dream are not equally accessible to everyone in America. Concepts of the Dream like wealth, education, and equality, are only meant for people who fit into a small box. When it comes to the ideas of the ¨perfect life”, differences including race, gender, religion, and sexuality have a large impact on deciding who can live a good life in American society. And, while it is possible to live well in the United States, the American Dream is more like the American Nightmare to most.