Research Paper about The American Dream

The American Dream is is an ideal that is desired by all that exists here in the US. Even immigrants come to this country for that specific ideal. The American Dream is the idea of working hard and achieving a comfortable life with no worries whether that be financial or emotional. Having a complete family that an individual can easily provide for would be a great example. That being said, the American Dream has changed. The abundance of riches and opportunities shown in The Great Gatsby has changed from something that can be achieved via hard work to a distant dream of a brighter past, as illustrated in Barabara Ehrenreich’s Nickled and Dimed. The American Dream is not attainable anymore for the average person due to the cruel lack of opportunity in modern society. Conversely, it only affects those who have the financial capability to get a head start in life as they have prerequisites to extreme success.

The American Dream is not attainable anymore for a normal person in the US as “Today, you must be able to successfully navigate yourself “through a filter” that earns you the right to be considered for the opportunity” (Source H). This “filter” that is mentioned is what hides the opportunity that you could previously unlock with just a decent education and drive. To succeed nowadays a person needs to take all that they know and learned in life and be able to apply it to specific structured situations. Therefore, Average people do not know how to tap into the complex reality of the modern world. This is why those with massive wealth have an advantage as they know from previous experience how to succeed. No matter how much drive Holly and the Maids in Nickled and Dimed had, they would never end up like their employers as they do not know how to break into the wealth the real world offers. In a bizarre, modern twist, The American Dream, an idea that everybody had the chance to succeed, has been inverted into an elitist program where those who started ahead, stay ahead. 

 Many detractors will say, look at all of the modern world-acclaimed billionaires from Andy Grove to Rajat Gupta (source E). Look at Jay Gatsby (Great Gatsby). All of these people have worked their way up from the dirt to become the definition of success. While yes, this is true, these men are the fringe exception to a problem affecting tens of millions. For every Vinod Dham, there are millions of people who live without their American Dream, having to worry about how they will pay this year’s mortgage that rose due to government incompetence (Source E). Not even close to everyone will reach the American ideal of success as that is impossible, both economically and socially. It is a jump in logic to suggest that just because a few individuals succeeded, all of us have the potential to. This is why, those who start with wealth often achieve the American Dream, of living in comfort and basking in the rays of their own personal success. They have the economic capability to meet the now harsh prerequisites to achieving the American Dream. The dream isn’t dead for the wealthy.

 The American Dream once was a tangible idea as everyone could succeed if they truly worked hard. But now, in the dreary modern reality, we live in, The American Dream has all but disappeared for the average person. Normal people are gatekeeped from succeeding by a cruel and advanced society while the wealthy know how to exploit the system. Yes, some may say that there are billionaires that rose from the dirt to succeed like a phoenix rising from its ashes. They are the extremely small minority in the otherwise large population of the US. The American Dream has left the majority of the US citizens like a dying breeze.