The American Dream Essay Example for Free

The American Dream Essay What is the American Dream? The American Dream is an idea people have that they can have happy and successful lives if they work hard enough. Since the Mayflower brought over the first settlers, America has attracted people all over the world to relocate to our country just to start a new and free life. They all had a dream, something we call the â€Å"American Dream†. We may think the American Dream doesn’t mean much but for some it could mean everything. The American Dream can mean different things to each individual. For example, in the novel Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, George and Lennie mentioned that they wanted to live on the fat of the land. This was their dream because George doesn’t want anybody around telling him what to do and Lennie wants to tend many of his own rabbits. Whereas, in the nonfiction story Of Plymouth Plantation written by Bradford, the pilgrims are brought to America to seek better lives. They wanted to escape religious persecution. Their dream was to be able to worship God and find land to own. America is known as the land of opportunity. People from other countries dream of bringing their families to the United States of America. They just want to own their own home and have stable jobs. We Americans don’t realize how lucky we are to be free. Other countries would give up anything to be given the opportunity to come here. The desire among many parents is for their children to lead happy lives. This is especially for immigrants because many of them left their home countries die to difficult living conditions. Although the concept of the American Dream is well known most people don’t realize how long it’s been around. Back in the 1900’s it was about being free and treated equal. Being free and treated equal meant more to African Americans because they were done with being so discriminated against. They worked so much harder than whites and got little to nothing in return. For example, Langston Hughes’ poem, â€Å"I, Too, Sing, America† is about an African American that gets mistreated. He has to eat dinner away from everyone else when company comes over. He finally plans to stand up for himself by eating at the table no matter what anyone says. His dream was to be free of racism and treated equal. Now days, it’s difficult for people to capture their American Dream. The economy has gotten so bad overtime to where people have to get more than one job to bring in enough income. In reality, your income decides your way of living which is utterly ridiculous. Money shouldn’t have to play such a big role in our lives. I think one job should be enough to buy all the necessities and then some but, unfortunately its not. My mom has 3 jobs with loads of stress piled on her shoulders and it’s still not enough to 100% support us. Her American Dream shouldn’t be about having less stress and more money but should be about her living a happy stable financial life. In other words, the American Dream can mean so many different things but in the end it all related in some way. Everyone wants to be successful with no worries. Not everyone is as lucky as us Americans to have a dream that we at least have an opportunity to achieve. People all over the world dream about coming to America for better lives. If you try hard enough, you may be lucky enough to achieve your dream.