american dream still exists essay

Is the American Dream Still Alive? Essay

Introduction, the american dream.

• Factors affecting the achievement of the American Dream
• Is the American Dream achievable for all people? Why or why not
• The future of the America Dream

The debate about the American Dream has been common in recent years. Some people have held that the American dream is alive, whereas others have contested this argument asserting that the American Dream remains elusive.

There are various events which have taken place in the United States that have greatly impacted the aspect of the American Dream. Nonetheless, the future of the dream rests with the people and their resilience in pursuing it. This paper will elaborate on the concept of the American Dream in a modern day America.

The American Dream can be defined as a summation of national values entrenched in the culture of the United States. The dream emphasizes on the freedoms and rights of American citizens, and promises the prospect of prosperity and accomplishment. In early 1930s, James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream as something different from the conventional belief.

He argued that the dream should not be defined in terms of material things and good employment opportunities. Instead, the definition should be based on social grounds, whereby every individual has to exploit his or her potential maximally irrespective of his or her background (Davis-Laack,para 4).

In essence, the definition of the American Dream depends on an individual. Some people define it in respect to economic success; others in terms of education; while others define the term in relation to equality in social justice. It is true that as the American society keeps changing, so does the definition of the American Dream.

During times of economic hardship, people define the dream in respect to the economy; in times of civil strive, as the case during the civil rights movement, it was defined in terms of social justice and equality. Everyone coming to the United States holds a unique definition of the American Dream (Davis-Laack,para 5).

Factors affecting the achievement of the “American Dream”

In the pursuit of the American Dream, there are various factors which come in the way of individuals concerned. Race and ethnicity are among the various factors that affect the pursuit of the American Dream.

In this regard, the minority groups in the United States are often on the receiving end when pursuing the American Dream. For instance, when the economic recession hit the U.S., most of those who were affected were Latinos and African Americans. This is because a huge percentage of those who lost their jobs were from these minority groups (Hernandez,para 5).

Another aspect affecting the achievement of the dream is the economic environment. In this case, most individuals hope to land a job opportunity to make a living. In addition, to have achieved the American Dream, individuals struggle to have a home of their own. Therefore, people measure their achievement in respect to having secured a decent job and being able to own a home (Hernandez, para 11; Davis-Laack, para 5).

Apart from the economic and race factors, there is another factor which affects achievement of the American Dream. This includes equal treatment of people irrespective of their nationality, race, ethnicity and financial position. In his famous speech, Martin Luther King Jr. elaborated on the need to treat individuals based on the content of their character as opposed to the color of their skin.

He outlined social injustices as a major impediment towards the realization of the American Dream among the African Americans. Martin Luther King longed for a society where everyone will be treated equally and social justice upheld among all racial groups (King, Jr., paras 13; 17).

Is the “American Dream” achievable for all people? Why or why not

In the modern American society, it can be observed that the American Dream has remained elusive to many Americans. This is because many people in the United States have found it difficult to realize the dream. The immigrant population in America is the most affected. This is because they have found it difficult to realize the American Dream.

This is despite the fact that it was the main attracting factor that made them leave their home countries. The American society is viewed as one in which democratic tenets are the main pillars. In this case, America is depicted as a society which offers an opportunity to individuals to express themselves and enjoy the necessary freedoms and rights as human beings. America is also seen as a society that is tolerant to differences and one that embraces diversity (lam, para 20).

The immigrants had a hard time coming to the United States in the recent past. Things turned from bad to worse following the September 11 th terrorist attacks. The immigrant population in the United States has been subjected to unfair treatment, all under the guise of national security (lam, para 3).

Essentially, the American society often shifts blame to the immigrant population when things go haywire. Following the economic crisis that rocked the U.S., immigrants were blamed for having been the cause. In addition, in the war against terrorism, the immigrants are often used as a scapegoat and blamed for terrorist activities (lam, para 5).

In most instances, the immigrants are denied their rights and freedoms under the pretense of facilitating national security. The adoption of the U.S.A. Patriot Act has made it official to arrest immigrants without warrants and rubberstamped the subsequent detention of suspects for undesignated period (lam, para 6).

The government security agencies conduct unchecked surveillance over the immigrant population. Immigrants of Arab origin are more likely to bear the brand of the new security measures as they stand the risk of being arrested and deported on trivial grounds.

The advancement in technology has worsened the situation for the immigrant population. They are subjected to surveillance and wiretapping without their knowledge. A new program, Total Information Awareness, that is aimed at identifying terrorists is being developed by Pentagon and might be put to usage in the near future.

The right to privacy of the immigrants has been infringed as the government security agencies are protected by legislation to spy on the immigrants (lam, para 12). The immigrants also risk losing their jobs if they speak out their opinion. All these aspects make the achievement of the American Dream futile to some people.

Apart from the immigrant population, it can be noted that the minority groups in the United States find it difficult to achieve the American Dream. Racial profiling is a common trend among the police. In this regard, people of African American descent and other minority groups are arrested and imprisoned on trivial violations of the law. Essentially, there has been a bias in the manner in which the police conduct their arrests.

The future of the “America Dream”

The American Dream has remained an elusive aspect even though it is the driving engine that puts the United States in a leading position in the world. The American Dream lays emphasis on hard work which guarantees an individual some respect in the society and a good life.

The American Dream has been carried on for generations, and it still lives on. This means that the American Dream will continue to thrive in the future. As much as there are assertions that people have failed to realize the American Dream, it can be argued that this is what has made America to become a great nation.

For the American Dream to stay alive, it is necessary that people should come up with renewed energy to revamp the chase for the dream. Though it may appear as if the American Dream has remained elusive for long, it would continued to attract many people around the world.

The immigrants come to the U.S. with expectations, but they need to reenergize themselves in the pursuit of the American Dream. In order for the American Dream to continue being alive, people should not be afraid of coming to the U.S.; instead, they should come and aspire to realize the dream. This is what has kept America going. The future of the American Dream looks bright as many people from all over the world keep fighting for a chance to advance their lives, and the US is seen as the land of opportunities.

There is no doubt that the American Dream will continue to thrive now and even in the future. What is amazing about the American Dream is the fact that it keeps changing to adapt to the theme of the moment. As many more people immigrate to the United States, they hope to achieve the ever elusive dream. Nonetheless, this is what has kept people to come through challenging times.

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The American Dream Is Alive and Well

Most people in this country say that they are living it — but what they mean by the phrase might surprise you.

Jairo, Miami: “My American dream lies where courage, freedom, justice, service and gratitude are cherished and practiced. I dream of that America that fought for me to become who I am today. An America where all children can have that opportunity to dream and succeed.” Credit... Ian Brown, from “American Dreams”

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By Samuel J. Abrams

Dr. Abrams is a political scientist.

• Feb. 5, 2019

I am pleased to report that the American dream is alive and well for an overwhelming majority of Americans.

This claim might sound far-fetched given the cultural climate in the United States today. Especially since President Trump took office, hardly a day goes by without a fresh tale of economic anxiety, political disunity or social struggle. Opportunities to achieve material success and social mobility through hard, honest work — which many people, including me, have assumed to be the core idea of the American dream — appear to be diminishing.

But Americans, it turns out, have something else in mind when they talk about the American dream. And they believe that they are living it.

Last year the American Enterprise Institute and I joined forces with the research center NORC at the University of Chicago and surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,411 Americans about their attitudes toward community and society. The center is renowned for offering “deep” samples of Americans, not just random ones, so that researchers can be confident that they are reaching Americans in all walks of life: rural, urban, exurban and so on. Our findings were released on Tuesday as an American Enterprise Institute report.

What our survey found about the American dream came as a surprise to me. When Americans were asked what makes the American dream a reality, they did not select as essential factors becoming wealthy, owning a home or having a successful career. Instead, 85 percent indicated that “to have freedom of choice in how to live” was essential to achieving the American dream. In addition, 83 percent indicated that “a good family life” was essential.

The “traditional” factors (at least as I had understood them) were seen as less important. Only 16 percent said that to achieve the American dream, they believed it was essential to “become wealthy,” only 45 percent said it was essential “to have a better quality of life than your parents,” and just 49 percent said that “having a successful career” was key.

This pattern — seeing the American dream as more about community and individuality than material success and social mobility — appeared across demographic and political categories. In the case of political party affiliation, for example, 84 percent of Republicans and independents said having freedom was essential to the American dream, as did 88 percent of Dem­ocrats; less than 20 percent of those in either party held that becoming wealthy was essential.

The data also show that most Americans believe themselves to be achieving this version of the American dream, with 41 percent reporting that their families are already living the American dream and another 41 percent reporting that they are well on the way to doing so. Only 18 percent took the position that the American dream was out of reach for them.

Collectively, 82 percent of Americans said they were optimistic about their future, and there was a fairly uniform positive outlook across the nation. Factors such as region, urbanity, partisanship and housing type (such as a single‐family detached home versus an apartment) barely affected these patterns, with all groups hovering around 80 percent. Even race and ethnicity, which are regularly cited as key factors in thwarting upward mobility, corresponded to no real differences in outlook: Eighty-one percent of non‐Hispanic whites; 80 percent of blacks, Hispanics and those of mixed race; and 85 percent of those with Asian heritage said that they had achieved or were on their way to achieving the American dream.

Income did make a difference, with 72 percent of those earning under $35,000 expressing a positive outlook about the American dream, compared with 90 percent of those earning over $100,000 — but those numbers are still overwhelmingly positive. Another difference was generational. Eighty-three percent of baby boomers, 80 percent of Gen Xers and 81 percent of millennials were optimistic about the American dream. But those in Gen Z — Americans born in 1997 or later — were notably less optimistic at 73 percent.

In general, though, the data are clear: Individuality and family, not wealth and real estate, are what Americans seek and believe they are finding in the national “dream.”

What conclusions should we draw from this research? I think the findings suggest that Americans would be well served to focus less intently on the nastiness of our partisan politics and the material temptations of our consumer culture, and to focus more on the communities they are part of and exercising their freedom to live as they wish. After all, that is what most of us seem to think is what really matters — and it’s in reach for almost all of us.

Samuel J. Abrams is professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Is the American dream really dead?

Subscribe to global connection, carol graham carol graham senior fellow - economic studies @cgbrookings.

June 20, 2017

This piece was originally published on The Guardian on June 20, 2017.

T he United States has a long-held reputation for exceptional tolerance of income inequality, explained by its high levels of social mobility. This combination underpins the American dream – initially conceived of by Thomas Jefferson as each citizen’s right to the pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This dream is not about guaranteed outcomes, of course, but the  pursuit  of opportunities. The dream found a persona in the fictional characters of the 19th-century writer  Horatio Alger Jr  – in which young working-class protagonists go from from rags to riches (or at least become middle class) in part due to entrepreneurial spirit and hard work.

Yet the opportunity to live the American dream is much less widely shared today than it was several decades ago. While 90% of the children born in 1940 ended up in higher ranks of the income distribution than their parents,  only 40% of those born in 1980 have done so .

Attitudes about inequality have also changed. In 2001, a study found the only Americans who reported lower levels of happiness amid greater inequality were left-leaning rich people – with  the poor seeing inequality as a sign of future opportunity . Such optimism has since been substantially tempered: in 2016, only 38% of Americans thought their children would be better off than they are.

In the meantime, the public discussion about inequality has completely by-passed a critical element of the American dream:  luck .

Just as in many of Alger’s stories the main character benefits from the assistance of a generous philanthropist, there are countless real examples of success in the US where different forms of luck have played a major role. And yet, social support for the unlucky – in particular, the poor who cannot stay in full-time employment – has been falling substantially in recent years, and is facing even more threats today. 

In short, from  new research  based on some novel metrics of wellbeing, I find strong evidence that the American dream is in tatters, at least.

White despair, minority hope

My research began by comparing mobility attitudes in the US with those in Latin America, a region long known for high levels of poverty and inequality (although with progress in the past decades). I explored a question in the Gallup world poll, which asks respondents a classic American dream question: “Can an individual who works hard in this country get ahead?”

I found very large gaps between the responses of ‘the rich’ and ‘the poor’ in the US (represented by the top and bottom 20% income distributions of the Gallup respondents). This was in stark contrast to Latin America, where there was no significant difference in attitudes across income groups. Poor people in the US were 20 times less likely to believe hard work would get them ahead than were the poor in Latin America, even though the latter are significantly worse off in material terms.

Another question in the poll explores whether or not respondents experience stress on a daily basis. Stress is a marker of poor health, and the kind of stress typically experienced by the poor – usually due to negative shocks that are beyond their control (“bad stress”) – is significantly worse for well being than “good stress”: that which is associated with goal achievement, for those who feel able to focus on their future.

In general, Latin Americans experience significantly less stress – and also smile more – on a daily basis than Americans. The gaps between the poor and rich in the US were significantly wider (by 1.5 times on a 0–1 score) than those in Latin America, with the poor in the US experiencing more stress than either the rich or poor in Latin America.

The gaps between the expectations and sentiments of rich and poor in the US are also greater than in many other countries in east Asia and Europe (the other regions studied). It seems that being poor in a very wealthy and unequal country – which prides itself on being a meritocracy, and eschews social support for those who fall behind – results in especially high levels of stress and desperation.

But my research also yielded some surprises. With the low levels of belief in the value of hard work and high levels of stress among poor respondents in the US as a starting point, I compared optimism about the future across poor respondents of different races. This was based on a question in the US Gallup daily poll that asks respondents where they think they will be five years from now on a 0-10 step life satisfaction ladder.

I found that poor minorities – and particularly black people – were much more optimistic about the future than poor white people. Indeed, poor black respondents were three times as likely to be a point higher up on the optimism ladder than were poor whites, while poor Hispanic people were one and a half times more optimistic than whites. Poor black people were also half as likely as poor whites to experience stress the previous day, while poor Hispanics were only two-thirds as likely as poor whites.

What explains the higher levels of optimism among minorities, who have traditionally faced discrimination and associated challenges? There is no simple answer.

One factor is that poor minorities have stronger informal safety nets and social support, such as families and churches, than do their white counterparts. Psychologists also find that minorities are more resilient and much less likely to report depression or commit suicide than are whites in the face of negative shocks, perhaps due to a longer trajectory of dealing with negative shocks and challenges.

Another critical issue is the threat and reality of downward mobility for blue-collar whites, particularly in the heartland of the country where manufacturing, mining, and other jobs have hollowed out. Andrew Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University finds that poor black and Hispanic people are  much more likely than poor white people  to report that they live better than their parents did. Poor whites are more likely to say they live worse than their parents did; they, in particular, seem to be living the erosion of the American dream.

The American problem

Why does this matter? My research from a decade ago – since confirmed by other studies – found that individuals who were optimistic about their futures tended to have better health and employment outcomes. Those who believe in their futures tend to invest in those futures, while those who are consumed with stress, daily struggles and a lack of hope, not only have less means to make such investments, but also have much less confidence that they will pay off.

The starkest marker of lack of hope in the US is a significant increase in premature mortality in the past decade – driven by an increase in suicides and drug and alcohol poisoning and a stalling of progress against heart disease and lung cancer – primarily but not only among middle-aged uneducated white people. Mortality rates for black and Hispanic people, while higher on average than those for whites, continued to fall during the same time period.

The reasons for this trend are multi-faceted. One is the coincidence of an all-too-readily-available supply of drugs such as opioids, heroin and fentanyl, with the shrinking of blue-collar jobs – and identities – primarily due to technological change. Fifteen per cent of prime age males are out of the labour force today; with that figure projected to increase to 25% by 2050. The identity of the blue-collar worker seems to be stronger for white people than for minorities, meanwhile. While there are now increased employment opportunities in services such as health, white males are far less likely to take them up than are their minority counterparts.

Lack of hope also contributes to rising mortality rates, as evidenced in  my latest research with Sergio Pinto . On average, individuals with lower optimism for the future are more likely to live in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with higher mortality rates for 45- to 54-year-olds.

Desperate people are more likely to die prematurely, but living with a lot of premature death can also erode hope. Higher average levels of optimism in metropolitan areas are also associated with lower premature mortality rates. These same places tend to be more racially diverse, healthier (as gauged by fewer respondents who smoke and more who exercise), and more likely to be urban and economically vibrant.

Technology-driven growth is not unique to the US, and low-skilled workers face challenges in many OECD countries. Yet by contrast, away from the US, they have not had a similar increase in premature mortality. One reason may be stronger social welfare systems – and stronger norms of collective social responsibility for those who fall behind – in Europe.

Ironically, part of the problem may actually  be  the American dream. Blue-collar white people – whose parents lived the American dream and who expected their children to do so as well – are the ones who seem most devastated by its erosion and yet, on average, tend to vote against government programmes. In contrast, minorities, who have been struggling for years and have more experience multi-tasking on the employment front and relying on family and community support when needed – are more resilient and hopeful, precisely because they still see a chance for moving up the ladder.

There are high costs to being poor in America, where winners win big but losers fall hard. Indeed, the dream, with its focus on individual initiative in a meritocracy, has resulted in far less public support than there is in other countries for safety nets, vocational training, and community support for those with disadvantage or bad luck. Such strategies are woefully necessary now, particularly in the heartland where some of Alger’s characters might have come from, but their kind have long since run out of luck.

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Is the American Dream over? Here's what the data says

Is it? Image:  REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

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Stay up to date:, united states.

• Historic data shows how likely Americans are to outearn their parents - a key part of the so-called American Dream.
• The suggests that it's becoming harder to achieve this dream.
• Stagnating wages and income inequality are just two of the factors behind this.

The decline of upward mobility in one chart

For decades, a majority of Americans have been able to climb the economic ladder by earning higher incomes than their parents. These improving conditions are known as upward mobility, and form an important part of the American Dream.

However, each consecutive generation is finding it harder to make this ascent. In this graphic, we illustrate the decline in upward mobility over five decades using data from Opportunity Insights .

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Understanding the chart

This graphic plots the probability that a 30-year-old American has to outearn their parents (vertical axis) depending on their parent’s income percentile (horizontal axis). The 1st percentile represents America’s lowest earners, while the 99th percentile the richest.

As we move from left to right on the chart, the portion of people who outearn their parents takes a steep decline. This suggests that people born into upper class families are less likely to outearn their parents, regardless of generation.

The key takeaway, though, is that the starting point of this downward trend has shifted to the left. In other words, fewer people in the lower- and middle-classes are climbing the economic ladder.

Declines can be seen across the board, but those growing up in the middle-class (50th percentile) have taken the largest hit. Within this bracket, individuals born in 1980 have only a 45% chance of outearning their parents at age 30, compared to 93% for those born in 1940.

Stagnating wage growth a culprit

One factor behind America’s deteriorating upward mobility is the sluggish pace at which wages have grown. For example, the average hourly wage in 1964, when converted to 2018 dollars, is $20.27 . Compare this to $22.65 , the average hourly wage in 2018. That represents a mere 11.7% increase over a span of 54 years .

However, this may not be as bad as it sounds. While the prices of some goods and services have risen over time, others have actually become more affordable. Since January 1998, for example, the prices of electronic goods such as TVs and cellphones have actually decreased. In this way, individuals today are more prosperous than previous generations.

This benefit is likely outweighed by relative increases in other services, though. Whereas inflation since January 1998 totaled 58.8% , the costs of health and education services increased by more than 160% over the same time frame.

Income distribution

While wages have been stagnant as a whole, it doesn’t paint the full picture. Another factor to consider is America’s changing income distribution.

Like the data on upward mobility, the middle class takes the largest hit here, with its share of U.S. aggregate income falling by 19 percentage points . Over the same time frame, the upper class was able to increase its share of total income by 20 percentage points .

Is it all bad news?

Americans are less likely to earn more than their parents, but this doesn’t mean that upward mobility has completely disappeared—it’s just becoming less accessible. Below, we illustrate the changes in size for different income classes from 1967 to 2016.

The upper middle class has grown significantly, from 6% of the population in 1967 to 33% in 2016. At the same time, the middle class shrank from 47% to 36% and the lower middle class shrank from 31% to 16%.

The data suggests that some middle class Americans are still managing to pull themselves up into the next income bracket—it’s just not an effect that was as broad-based as it’s been in the past.

Does the American Dream still exist?

The American Dream is the belief that upward mobility is attainable for everyone through their own actions. This implies that growth will be continuous and widespread, two factors that have seemingly deteriorated in recent decades.

Researchers believe there are numerous complex reasons behind America’s stagnating wages. A decline in union membership , for example, could be eroding employees’ collective bargaining power. Other factors such as technological change may also apply downwards pressure on the wages of less educated workers.

Income inequality, on the other hand, is clearly shown by the data. We can also refer to the Gini-coefficient, a statistical measure of economic inequality. It ranges between 0 and 1, with 0 representing perfect equality and 1 representing perfect inequality (one person holds all the income). The U.S. currently has a Gini-coefficient of 0.434 , the highest of any G7 country.

Long story short, the American Dream is still alive—it’s just becoming harder to come by.

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Perspective: An exceptional dream

What do american exceptionalism and the american dream really mean, and do they still exist today.

By Rod Arquette

Editor’s note: For years, the Deseret News’ editorial page carried the epigraph: “We stand for the Constitution of the United States as having been divinely inspired.” In honor of Constitution Month, the Deseret News is publishing a variety of articles examining the Constitution’s continued importance.

Recently, a new national survey was released that should alarm every American and wake us up to an approaching danger. The survey , conducted by The Wall Street Journal and NORC at the University of Chicago, revealed that America has pulled back from the values that once defined it. This survey is conducted every 25 years, the last one in 1998, and is a snapshot in time as to how we, as Americans, prioritize the values we claim to cherish.

Or at least, the values we once cherished.

The survey of 1,000 adults was conducted in August 2019 and the results point to a disturbing trend in revealing attitudes that could cause a civil society to come unglued. It also found a country sharply divided by the battles waged by political parties over social and domestic issues.

The poll’s key findings include that only 38% of respondents said patriotism is very important to them, down sharply from 70% two decades earlier. The same survey showed shocking results when respondents were asked about the importance of religion; just 39% prioritize faith. Again, down from 62%. The last disturbing finding was the significant drop in value placed on family and children.

What does this say about the soul of the nation and the challenges we will face as we move deeper into the 21st century? Many are concerned that this grand experiment designed by our Founding Fathers is starting to crack, and this idea that we can govern ourselves may be nearing an end.

A recent article written by Addison Smith for the conservative website, Just the News, featured a headline that read, “ Are Liberal Handouts replacing the American Dream with a culture of entitlements? ” 

People often wonder what American exceptionalism and the American dream really mean, and if they still exist today. If you asked 100 Americans for a definition of either, you would most likely get 100 different answers. Popular conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was often asked how he would define those terms. On the question of American exceptionalism, Limbaugh said that “in the broad sense,” it “is not a bunch of braggadocious words people say, ‘Yeah we’re better people. We have a better country. We are a higher class of people.’” Limbaugh pointed out, “That’s not what it is. America was and is today the exception to the way most human beings prior to America lived.” 

What about the American dream? Limbaugh often joked that, “There is no Russian dream. There is no European Union dream. There is no Chinese Communist dream, except maybe to get out. But there is and always has been an American dream. And the dream is still possible and can become real.”

The American dream in action

There was an American named Bill who lived the American dream. Bill was the 13th of 15 children. He dropped out of high school after his sophomore year so he could work on the family farm. When he was older, he left the farm and went to work for a man who owned a local grocery store. Along the way he learned about the business, and retail, and how to cut meat. He became a butcher.

While working at the store, he met a woman named Mary Claire. They dated for a short time and eventually got married in a simple ceremony by their Catholic priest. Bill’s dream was to own his own store, but he realized he had a long way to go and would have to leave the grocery store where he worked.

Six children came into the family and to support them, Bill would get up at 4:30 every morning, six days a week. He delivered bread, first to the students at two nearby colleges, and then back to the distribution center to fill up his truck again and head out on his normal route. 

Upon arriving home, Bill would have dinner, always at 6 p.m., and then head to his remodeled garage where he would cut meat until late into the evening. His customers included people who wanted their cows or pigs butchered, and during hunting season he would butcher deer and an occasional bear.

One day, while on his route, one of his customers asked Bill if he’d like to purchase his store. The store had serviced its small community for many years and was in need of a lot of fixing up. Bill saw this as the opportunity he was waiting for. He rounded up the needed capital to purchase the store and in the short span of 12 years, Bill was able to build his business into a profitable venture.

He then built a small café that he named after his youngest daughter, Jackie. He went on to invest in several apartment complexes to satisfy the housing needs of nearby students. Bill became active in his community, serving on the local school board, and even made a run for higher political office. 

Bill’s children all attended parochial school and the nuns who taught them never went hungry. Every month, he made sure their kitchen was stocked with food, and always at no charge. He was consistently one of the first to step up in raising money for the community, and would often put the squeeze on others with means who weren’t as eager.

Bill’s life was cut short by a sudden heart attack at the age of 48. During his short life of hard work, dedication and service, he lived the American dream. Bill’s grocery store was named Arquette’s Superette with the slogan “If we don’t have it … you don’t need it.”

There are many in this country trying to convince us that America and its dream are dead. They would tell you that government can provide everything you and your family need, from the cars you drive, to the electricity in your home, to the education your children will receive. This ‘generosity’ comes with a price.

Bill was my father, a man I love and admire. A man who showed my siblings and me that through hard work, responsibility, and a little bit of luck, each of us can realize our American dream. 

There are many in this country trying to convince us that America and its dream are dead. They would tell you that government can provide everything you and your family need, from the cars you drive, to the electricity in your home, to the education your children will receive. This “generosity” comes with a price.

The Founding Fathers envisioned a country where “We the People” govern ourselves and choose our own dreams, without interference from those elected to represent us. I still believe it’s possible for each of us to make our own way and millions of my fellow Americans, just like my father Bill, are working every day to realize their own exceptional dream.

Rod Arquette is the host of the “Rod Arquette Show,” a radio show that explores news, opinion and conversation about what matters to Utah.

The 'American Dream' has always been elusive. Is it still worth fighting for?

Was the American Dream ever real? Or was it a mirage?

With so many young people burdened by student loan debt and questioning whether they'll ever be able to afford a home, it's a question worth asking. It's a question worth mulling over when older Americans are working longer – not because they’re bored, but because grocery bills are busting their budgets, their children need support deep into adulthood, and the pensions that once knit together a financial safety net are for many a long-ago memory .

A series of stories by USA TODAY reporters reveals how ephemeral and tenuous the so-called American Dream has become, and also how a younger generation is setting its own terms for what constitutes a life of financial stability and fulfillment.

Child care more expensive than college in many states

The realities are stark.

Learn more: Best personal loans

A first-time homebuyer would need an income of roughly $64,500 a year to buy a so-called starter home, according to Redfin. That’s 13% more than what was needed just a year ago, and what's necessary to purchase a smaller property that typically sold for $243,000 in June – a record high.

Among millennials, student loans make up 36% of their debt, the highest of any generation. In 28 states, child care is more expensive than the cost for a student to attend a public college in their home state, according to lending platform NetCredit.com.

And it’s expected to cost a middle-income, married couple, $233,610 to raise a child born in 2015 through their 17 th birthday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

It’s no wonder 65% of Gen Zers and nearly 3 in 4 millennials say they feel their financial starting point is far behind where previous generations were at the same age, according to an online poll of more than 2,000 U.S. adults conducted exclusively for USA TODAY by The Harris Poll. And two-thirds of Americans agree that younger people are dealing with difficulties that earlier generations didn’t have to.

“They're telling us they can't buy into that American Dream the way that their parents and grandparents thought about it ‒ because it's not attainable,” said The Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema. 

Segregation, urban renewal, made the American Dream hard to attain

Of course, dreams, by their very definition, are aspirational with no assurance they can become reality. They shimmer in the distance, or in our imaginations.

One person may feel they've missed the mark if they don't become a multimillionaire. For others, a comfortable home, a family and a little extra cash in the bank is more than enough.

Whatever the nuances, the American Dream is fundamental to the American identity, and there is little doubt that some iteration of it loomed large for the 967,500 people who became American citizens last fiscal year, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

My mother was an immigrant. Though she grew up in an affluent family in her native Guyana, she says she and her peers would read American magazines, watch Hollywood epics and imagine that the streets here were paved with gold. When she came to the U.S. to attend college and graduate school, brushes with racism tarnished the fantasy. But she, together with my father, forged a good life, and when she officially became a U.S. citizen in the early 1970s, the photos at the celebration show her smiling, triumphant and proud.

Yet the American Dream has always been hazy, its contours in the eye of the beholder. Depending on who you were, and from where you came, the ladder up was often missing a few rungs, and many had to pull themselves up with no ladder at all.

Maybe your piece of the American Dream was bulldozed for a freeway, like the many Black and brown residents whose homes were demolished in the 1950s and ’60s in the name of urban renewal. Maybe it was denied because you loved someone of the same gender and weren’t allowed to marry. Or perhaps your dream languished because pay inequities based on your being a woman or a person of color made it difficult to build and hold onto generational wealth.

Despite the odds, the dream wasn’t impossible. Among Black Americans, 38% owned a home in 1960, though that was far below the 65% of white Americans who had property. But the hurdles that had to be overcome were arduous. Redlining denied loans to those who were trying to buy homes in minority neighborhoods. Segregation and housing discrimination were rampant. Owning the place where you lived, a cornerstone of the American ideal, was a pillar that was hard won.

The Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 made redlining illegal. But still today, lawsuits have found that appraisers assign lower values to homes owned by Black people compared with their white counterparts. The gap between white home-owning households and those that are Black (73% vs. 44%) is greater now than it was in 1960, according to the Urban Institute.    

It's also very hard to get ahead when you don't earn enough. Women are paid 82 cents for every dollar earned on average by a man, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. Black and Hispanic women (70% and 65% respectively) are paid even less.

And while the ability to obtain an abortion legally in the wake of the Roe vs. Wade decision being overturned raised the likelihood of women finishing college by nearly 20%, the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 that took away that federal protection now puts the economic stability and advancement of millions of women in jeopardy.    

Forging a new American Dream

I know from my own conversations with Generation Zers that many resent having to clean up a mess largely caused by their elders. Still, the future belongs to the young.

Maybe a generation that has had to face the grimmest of realities, from a once-in-a-century pandemic to a relentless plague of gun violence to a democracy in stunning decline, no longer has the optimism to dream at all. They are fighting for survival, to reshape a world they did not make, and so they don’t have time to wish and wonder.

Or perhaps they are curating a different sort of dream.

Members of Gen Z save more and also spend more on what they truly care about. That’s a worthy change. Debt, while often necessary, can be suffocating, so if you must take it on, why not make sure it’s for what gives your life purpose and joy?

Buy a house to have an abode to call your own, or a haven that frees you from the whims of a landlord, not just so you can keep up with the proverbial Joneses. Choose college if it’s a building block for your desired career. But if an apprenticeship will get you where you want to go, that should be fine too.

And while raising a family can give you contentment that’s hard to convey, if you don’t want a spouse and 2.5 kids, it’s too significant a responsibility to take on just because society says you should.      

In a piece written by USA TODAY reporters Bailey Schulz and Kathleen Wong, Matt Marino, a 27-year-old teacher in New York City said that while his peers see owning their own house as “impossible,’’ they would also prefer to have “more freedom,’’ such as being able to do work that they love. 

How liberating it must be to care less about status than about having a life where you have the bandwidth to truly enjoy the fruits of your labor.

How gratifying that the ability to breathe fresh air and preserve the Earth means more to many young adults than a bottomless pile of material possessions. 

Whatever version of the American Dream you aspire to, if that vision is to be preserved, all of us, across generations, must commit to making it a real possibility for all.

Is the American Dream still possible? How younger workers are redefining success

How much does it cost to raise a child? College may no longer be the biggest expense.

That’s not easy when too many continue to view financial insecurity as a mark of personal failure. It’s a tall task when some believe certain Americans, based on their gender, race, sexual identity, or immigration status, are less worthy of opportunity, comfort and freedom, than others.

But one can dream.  

Is the American Dream still achievable?

Is it still possible to pursue a happy life with a stable job, a family, and wealth or success in life?

 “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. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” ― James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America. The American dream, to some families, might mean pursuing a happy life with a stable job, a family, and wealth or success in life. The American dream is made possible due to equal opportunity to all. To some people, this dream isn’t possible, it is just a dream. Although it’s not easy to achieve the American dream, with passion, hard work and dedication, it is very possible to achieve.

The American dream is the ideal that every us citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The term was first used in 1932 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America, but even before the 1930’s, the mindset of the American dream was active. The Declaration of Independence only extended the American dream to white property owners. After time, laws were added to extend these rights to women, non property owners, and slaves. In this way, the American Dream changed the course of America itself. In the 1920s, the American Dream started morphing from the right to create a better life to the desire to acquire material things. From that point, the American dream adapted throughout time, making the next generation better than the one before.

There are a lot of Americans that do not believe in the American dream, or believe that it became unachievable. These people lacking faith, believe that factors such as discrimination and unequal opportunities provide barriers to one's chance of reaching this "American dream". While others believe anything is possible with determination and overcoming obstacles. Some believe that coming from nothing and becoming insanely successful is only a myth, many have lived it, one of them is Oprah Winfrey, one of the richest women in the world. Winfrey was an orphan raised by her grandma with little money. She has overcome child abuse, rape, weight gain, depression, failed romance, and other hardships to attain her success. Oprah Winfrey symbolizes the individual who by such means rises above the torment to become one of the wealthiest and most recognized public figures in the world.

Far fewer Americans say “becoming wealthy” is essential to the American dream than say the same about personal freedom and a good family life. Overall, 36% of U.S. adults say their family has achieved the American dream, while another 46% say they are “on their way” to achieving it, according to an August survey by Pew Research Center. People who say they have already achieved the American dream are generally older, and better-educated than those who say they are on their way to achieving the American dream and those who say it’s out of reach.

Whites (41%) are more likely than blacks (17%) or Hispanics (32%) to say they have achieved the American dream. But more blacks (62%) and Hispanics (51%) than whites (42%) say they are on their way to achieving it. Notably, there are no significant racial or ethnic differences in the shares who say the American dream is out of reach for their families. Millennials are wrong about the American dream, it’s not dead. Though fate, chance, and luck have a lot to do with one's success, so does willpower, the control of one’s behavior. It is in one's hands to shape life, seize opportunities, get an education, resist failure, set goals and ultimately become somebody.

The American dream is a dream made possible due to equal opportunity to all. If kids once living in poverty and in slums can becomes lawyers or doctors, if an immigrant can become California's governor, if handicapped kids can play basketball, if ordinary people can become extraordinary people, then the American Dream is possible.  

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What Defines The American Dream Today?

What exactly is The American dream, and does it even exist anymore, and if so, does The American Dream have the same meaning today as it had in the past? Is The American Dream only for Americans, or do people from around the world still move to the U.S., hoping to achieve their dreams?

The phrase “American Dream” was invented during the Great Depression. It was the author James Truslow Adams who in his 1931 book Epic of America  wrote, “But there has been also The American Dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” The years that followed after the Great Depression, The American Dream came true for many of the young people, but the definition of The American Dream has changed over the years.

The American Dream is considered an opportunity for success, and according to Adams, success is earning money. For others, success is all about family and happiness. My ancestors emigrated from Sweden to the United States, hoping for a better life. During that time, the definition of The American Dream was something different compared to what it is today. Back then, The American Dream was more about survival rather than success in terms of money. When one struggles to provide food and shelter for their families, any change for the better is success. The great majority of people who emigrated from Sweden to the U.S overcame difficulties and became successful in their eyes. A few years later, my ancestors returned to Sweden financially strong and were able to buy land and start over but this time with a more stable foundation. We do not need money and fancy cars in order to call ourselves successful. Sometimes food and a roof over our heads is what we wish to have and therefore, my ancestors were living what I define as The American Dream.

April is from Sweden. She came to the United States three years ago without any expectations. April believed she had the same opportunities to reach her goals in the U.S as in Sweden. “The reason I moved to the United States was that I wanted to start over and try something different.” April believes, “With high student loan debts and not being eligible to work, it is very hard to achieve my goals as an international student.”   Yet, t he world still sees America as the land of opportunities. There are around 1.18 million international students in the U.S today. The American Dream is not dead for international students — but it can come at a cost. April explains that for her, it is a dream about freedom and success in terms of happiness.

Gabriela grew up in Peru and was living there until a couple of years ago with her husband and their two young children in a poor town.  Gabriella admitted, “we were working long days for a minimum salary, which made it hard to provide enough food and shelter for the family.” Gabriela and her husband knew that they had to do something about the unsustainable situation. “I moved to the U.S not only to fulfill my dreams but also my families dreams. I have been on both sides, but today, I can finally say that things are going well for my family and me and compared to our lives before, we are now living the dream.”

The American Dream is still alive; it just depends on how you define it. For me, The American Dream is about success in terms of what you wish for. Compared to many other countries in the world, America is a place where you have the opportunity to determine your own success. The American Dream is also about getting an education, building a family and to reach happiness and satisfaction. In fact, it has a different meaning for each of us, but I’m sure we can all agree that the American Dream includes hope for a richer life with freedom and opportunity.

About Author

Cecilia rosell.

Cecilia Rosell is an outgoing girl from Sweden. She is a BA student studying Communication and Media. Cecilia’s passions and background are in both photography and graphic design. Coming to Santa Barbara supports Cecilia’s goal of traveling and exploring the world. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time in nature with her camera, family, and friends.

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Book Guides

The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it's most commonly understood as a pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a limited amount of social cache in 1920s NYC, only to be rejected by the "old money" crowd. He then gets killed after being tangled up with them.

Through Gatsby's life, as well as that of the Wilsons', Fitzgerald critiques the idea that America is a meritocracy where anyone can rise to the top with enough hard work. We will explore how this theme plays out in the plot, briefly analyze some key quotes about it, as well as do some character analysis and broader analysis of topics surrounding the American Dream in The Great Gatsby .

What is the American Dream? The American Dream in the Great Gatsby plot Key American Dream quotes Analyzing characters via the American Dream Common discussion and essay topics

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book.

To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.

What Exactly Is "The American Dream"?

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (read: rich) if they just work hard enough. The American Dream thus presents a pretty rosy view of American society that ignores problems like systemic racism and misogyny, xenophobia, tax evasion or state tax avoidance, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class hierarchy.

The 1920s in particular was a pretty tumultuous time due to increased immigration (and the accompanying xenophobia), changing women's roles (spurred by the right to vote, which was won in 1919), and extraordinary income inequality.

The country was also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone could "strike it rich" on Wall Street. However, this rapid economic growth was built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, well before the crash, but through its wry descriptions of the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on display in 1920s New York was just as ephemeral as one of Gatsby's parties.

In any case, the novel, just by being set in the 1920s, is unlikely to present an optimistic view of the American Dream, or at least a version of the dream that's inclusive to all genders, ethnicities, and incomes. With that background in mind, let's jump into the plot!

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Chapter 1 places us in a particular year—1922—and gives us some background about WWI.  This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in Chapters 2 and 3. And as we mentioned above, the 1920s were a particularly tense time in America.

We also meet George and Myrtle Wilson in Chapter 2 , both working class people who are working to improve their lot in life, George through his work, and Myrtle through her affair with Tom Buchanan.

We learn about Gatsby's goal in Chapter 4 : to win Daisy back. Despite everything he owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-top mansion, for Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. So in Chapter 5 , when Daisy and Gatsby reunite and begin an affair, it seems like Gatsby could, in fact, achieve his goal.

In Chapter 6 , we learn about Gatsby's less-than-wealthy past, which not only makes him look like the star of a rags-to-riches story, it makes Gatsby himself seem like someone in pursuit of the American Dream, and for him the personification of that dream is Daisy.

However, in Chapters 7 and 8 , everything comes crashing down: Daisy refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks down and kills Gatsby and then himself, leaving all of the "strivers" dead and the old money crowd safe. Furthermore, we learn in those last chapters that Gatsby didn't even achieve all his wealth through hard work, like the American Dream would stipulate—instead, he earned his money through crime. (He did work hard and honestly under Dan Cody, but lost Dan Cody's inheritance to his ex-wife.)

In short, things do not turn out well for our dreamers in the novel! Thus, the novel ends with Nick's sad meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream. You can read a detailed analysis of these last lines in our summary of the novel's ending .

Key American Dream Quotes

In this section we analyze some of the most important quotes that relate to the American Dream in the book.

But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. (1.152)

In our first glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something in sight but definitely out of reach. This famous image of the green light is often understood as part of The Great Gatsby 's meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are always reaching towards something greater than themselves that is just out of reach . You can read more about this in our post all about the green light .

The fact that this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy end and also marks him as a dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy who were born with money and don't need to strive for anything so far off.

Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.

A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.

"Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ."

Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (4.55-8)

Early in the novel, we get this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream—we see people of different races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of unfathomable possibility. This moment has all the classic elements of the American Dream—economic possibility, racial and religious diversity, a carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like "anything can happen," even a happy ending.

However, this rosy view eventually gets undermined by the tragic events later in the novel. And even at this point, Nick's condescension towards the people in the other cars reinforces America's racial hierarchy that disrupts the idea of the American Dream. There is even a little competition at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play between Gatsby's car and the one bearing the "modish Negroes."

Nick "laughs aloud" at this moment, suggesting he thinks it's amusing that the passengers in this other car see them as equals, or even rivals to be bested. In other words, he seems to firmly believe in the racial hierarchy Tom defends in Chapter 1, even if it doesn't admit it honestly.

His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete. (6.134)

This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby's larger dreams for a better life —to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the novel's tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold up under the weight of the dream Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he also fails to achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the novel as a somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an optimistic one.  

...as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." (9.151-152)

The closing pages of the novel reflect at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. It also ties back to our first glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the Buchanan's green light. Nick notes that Gatsby's dream was "already behind him" then (or in other words, it was impossible to attain). But still, he finds something to admire in how Gatsby still hoped for a better life, and constantly reached out toward that brighter future.

For a full consideration of these last lines and what they could mean, see our analysis of the novel's ending .

Analyzing Characters Through the American Dream

An analysis of the characters in terms of the American Dream usually leads to a pretty cynical take on the American Dream.

Most character analysis centered on the American Dream will necessarily focus on Gatsby, George, or Myrtle (the true strivers in the novel), though as we'll discuss below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of discussion. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream, carefully consider your chosen character's motivations and desires, and how the novel does (or doesn't!) provide glimpses of the dream's fulfillment for them.

Gatsby himself is obviously the best candidate for writing about the American Dream—he comes from humble roots (he's the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously wealthy, only for everything to slip away from him in the end. Many people also incorporate Daisy into their analyses as the physical representation of Gatsby's dream.

However, definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream, people achieve their goals through honest hard work, but in Gatsby's case, he very quickly acquires a large amount of money through crime . Gatsby does attempt the hard work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, but that doesn't work out since Cody's ex-wife ends up with the entire inheritance. So instead he turns to crime, and only then does he manage to achieve his desired wealth.

So while Gatsby's story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that he gained his money immorally complicates the idea that he is a perfect avatar for the American Dream . Furthermore, his success obviously doesn't last—he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back. In other words, Gatsby's huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy  ("He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God" (6.134)) are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself.

George and Myrtle Wilson

This couple also represents people aiming at the dream— George owns his own shop and is doing his best to get business, though is increasingly worn down by the harsh demands of his life, while Myrtle chases after wealth and status through an affair with Tom.

Both are disempowered due to the lack of money at their own disposal —Myrtle certainly has access to some of the "finer things" through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn't have the funds available. He even has to make himself servile to Tom in an attempt to get Tom to sell his car, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the evidence of his wife's affair. So neither character is on the upward trajectory that the American Dream promises, at least during the novel.

In the end, everything goes horribly wrong for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that in this world, it's dangerous to strive for more than you're given.

George and Myrtle's deadly fates, along with Gatsby's, help illustrate the novel's pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. After all, how unfair is it that the couple working to improve their position in society (George and Myrtle) both end up dead, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly dangerous situation, and Daisy, who killed her, don't face any consequences? And on top of that they are fabulously wealthy? The American Dream certainly is not alive and well for the poor Wilsons.

Tom and Daisy as Antagonists to the American Dream

We've talked quite a bit already about Gatsby, George, and Myrtle—the three characters who come from humble roots and try to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. But what about the other major characters, especially the ones born with money? What is their relationship to the American Dream?

Specifically, Tom and Daisy have old money, and thus they don't need the American Dream, since they were born with America already at their feet.

Perhaps because of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream—Daisy by refusing Gatsby, and Tom by helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy .

This is especially interesting because unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively hope and dream of a better life, Daisy and Tom are described as bored and "careless," and end up instigating a large amount of tragedy through their own recklessness.

In other words, income inequality and the vastly different starts in life the characters have strongly affected their outcomes. The way they choose to live their lives, their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn't seem to matter. This, of course, is tragic and antithetical to the idea of the American Dream, which claims that class should be irrelevant and anyone can rise to the top.

Daisy as a Personification of the American Dream

As we discuss in our post on money and materialism in The Great Gatsby , Daisy's voice is explicitly tied to money by Gatsby:

"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . . (7.105-6)

If Daisy's voice promises money, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth, it's not hard to argue that Daisy herself—along with the green light at the end of her dock —stands in for the American Dream. In fact, as Nick goes on to describe Daisy as "High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl," he also seems to literally describe Daisy as a prize, much like the princess at the end of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the end of a Mario game!).

But Daisy, of course, is only human—flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. So this, in turn, means that the American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually hold weight, especially in the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of 1920s America.

Furthermore, you should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy represents Gatsby's ultimate goal, but at the same time (as we discussed above), her actual life is the opposite of the American Dream : she is born with money and privilege, likely dies with it all intact, and there are no consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between.

Can Female Characters Achieve the American Dream?

Finally, it's interesting to compare and contrast some of the female characters using the lens of the American Dream.

Let's start with Daisy, who is unhappy in her marriage and, despite a brief attempt to leave it, remains with Tom, unwilling to give up the status and security their marriage provides. At first, it may seem like Daisy doesn't dream at all, so of course she ends up unhappy. But consider the fact that Daisy was already born into the highest level of American society. The expectation placed on her, as a wealthy woman, was never to pursue something greater, but simply to maintain her status. She did that by marrying Tom, and it's understandable why she wouldn't risk the uncertainty and loss of status that would come through divorce and marriage to a bootlegger. Again, Daisy seems to typify the "anti-American" dream, in that she was born into a kind of aristocracy and simply has to maintain her position, not fight for something better.

In contrast, Myrtle, aside from Gatsby, seems to be the most ambitiously in pursuit of getting more than she was given in life. She parlays her affair with Tom into an apartment, nice clothes, and parties, and seems to revel in her newfound status. But of course, she is knocked down the hardest, killed for her involvement with the Buchanans, and specifically for wrongfully assuming she had value to them. Considering that Gatsby did have a chance to leave New York and distance himself from the unfolding tragedy, but Myrtle was the first to be killed, you could argue the novel presents an even bleaker view of the American Dream where women are concerned.

Even Jordan Baker , who seems to be living out a kind of dream by playing golf and being relatively independent, is tied to her family's money and insulated from consequences by it , making her a pretty poor representation of the dream. And of course, since her end game also seems to be marriage, she doesn't push the boundaries of women's roles as far as she might wish.

So while the women all push the boundaries of society's expectations of them in certain ways, they either fall in line or are killed, which definitely undermines the rosy of idea that anyone, regardless of gender, can make it in America. The American Dream as shown in Gatsby becomes even more pessimistic through the lens of the female characters.  

Common Essay Questions/Discussion Topics

Now let's work through some of the more frequently brought up subjects for discussion.

#1: Was Gatsby's dream worth it? Was all the work, time, and patience worth it for him?

Like me, you might immediately think "of course it wasn't worth it! Gatsby lost everything, not to mention the Wilsons got caught up in the tragedy and ended up dead!" So if you want to make the more obvious "the dream wasn't worth it" argument, you could point to the unraveling that happens at the end of the novel (including the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George) and how all Gatsby's achievements are for nothing, as evidenced by the sparse attendance of his funeral.

However, you could definitely take the less obvious route and argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, despite the tragic end . First of all, consider Jay's unique characterization in the story: "He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that--and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty" (6.7). In other words, Gatsby has a larger-than-life persona and he never would have been content to remain in North Dakota to be poor farmers like his parents.

Even if he ends up living a shorter life, he certainly lived a full one full of adventure. His dreams of wealth and status took him all over the world on Dan Cody's yacht, to Louisville where he met and fell in love with Daisy, to the battlefields of WWI, to the halls of Oxford University, and then to the fast-paced world of Manhattan in the early 1920s, when he earned a fortune as a bootlegger. In fact, it seems Jay lived several lives in the space of just half a normal lifespan. In short, to argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, you should point to his larger-than-life conception of himself and the fact that he could have only sought happiness through striving for something greater than himself, even if that ended up being deadly in the end.

#2: In the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred," Hughes asks questions about what happens to postponed dreams. How does Fitzgerald examine this issue of deferred dreams? What do you think are the effects of postponing our dreams? How can you apply this lesson to your own life?

If you're thinking about "deferred dreams" in The Great Gatsby , the big one is obviously Gatsby's deferred dream for Daisy—nearly five years pass between his initial infatuation and his attempt in the novel to win her back, an attempt that obviously backfires. You can examine various aspects of Gatsby's dream—the flashbacks to his first memories of Daisy in Chapter 8 , the moment when they reunite in Chapter 5 , or the disastrous consequences of the confrontation of Chapter 7 —to illustrate Gatsby's deferred dream.

You could also look at George Wilson's postponed dream of going West, or Myrtle's dream of marrying a wealthy man of "breeding"—George never gets the funds to go West, and is instead mired in the Valley of Ashes, while Myrtle's attempt to achieve her dream after 12 years of marriage through an affair ends in tragedy. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail.

As Nick Carraway says, "you can't repeat the past"—the novel seems to imply there is a small window for certain dreams, and when the window closes, they can no longer be attained. This is pretty pessimistic, and for the prompt's personal reflection aspect, I wouldn't say you should necessarily "apply this lesson to your own life" straightforwardly. But it is worth noting that certain opportunities are fleeting, and perhaps it's wiser to seek out newer and/or more attainable ones, rather than pining over a lost chance.

Any prompt like this one which has a section of more personal reflection gives you freedom to tie in your own experiences and point of view, so be thoughtful and think of good examples from your own life!

#3: Explain how the novel does or does not demonstrate the death of the American Dream. Is the main theme of Gatsby indeed "the withering American Dream"? What does the novel offer about American identity?

In this prompt, another one that zeroes in on the dead or dying American Dream, you could discuss how the destruction of three lives (Gatsby, George, Myrtle) and the cynical portrayal of the old money crowd illustrates a dead, or dying American Dream . After all, if the characters who dream end up dead, and the ones who were born into life with money and privilege get to keep it without consequence, is there any room at all for the idea that less-privileged people can work their way up?

In terms of what the novel says about American identity, there are a few threads you could pick up—one is Nick's comment in Chapter 9 about the novel really being a story about (mid)westerners trying (and failing) to go East : "I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (9.125). This observation suggests an American identity that is determined by birthplace, and that within the American identity there are smaller, inescapable points of identification.

Furthermore, for those in the novel not born into money, the American identity seems to be about striving to end up with more wealth and status. But in terms of the portrayal of the old money set, particularly Daisy, Tom, and Jordan, the novel presents a segment of American society that is essentially aristocratic—you have to be born into it. In that regard, too, the novel presents a fractured American identity, with different lives possible based on how much money you are born with.

In short, I think the novel disrupts the idea of a unified American identity or American dream, by instead presenting a tragic, fractured, and rigid American society, one that is divided based on both geographic location and social class.

#4: Most would consider dreams to be positive motivators to achieve success, but the characters in the novel often take their dreams of ideal lives too far. Explain how characters' American Dreams cause them to have pain when they could have been content with more modest ambitions.

Gatsby is an obvious choice here—his pursuit of money and status, particularly through Daisy, leads him to ruin. There were many points when perhaps Gatsby ;could have been happy with what he achieved (especially after his apparently successful endeavors in the war, if he had remained at Oxford, or even after amassing a great amount of wealth as a bootlegger) but instead he kept striving upward, which ultimately lead to his downfall. You can flesh this argument out with the quotations in Chapters 6 and 8 about Gatsby's past, along with his tragic death.

Myrtle would be another good choice for this type of prompt. In a sense, she seems to be living her ideal life in her affair with Tom—she has a fancy NYC apartment, hosts parties, and gets to act sophisticated—but these pleasures end up gravely hurting George, and of course her association with Tom Buchanan gets her killed.

Nick, too, if he had been happy with his family's respectable fortune and his girlfriend out west, might have avoided the pain of knowing Gatsby and the general sense of despair he was left with.

You might be wondering about George—after all, isn't he someone also dreaming of a better life? However, there aren't many instances of George taking his dreams of an ideal life "too far." In fact, he struggles just to make one car sale so that he can finally move out West with Myrtle. Also, given that his current situation in the Valley of Ashes is quite bleak, it's hard to say that striving upward gave him pain.

#5: The Great Gatsby is, among other things, a sobering and even ominous commentary on the dark side of the American dream. Discuss this theme, incorporating the conflicts of East Egg vs. West Egg and old money vs. new money. What does the American dream mean to Gatsby? What did the American Dream mean to Fitzgerald? How does morality fit into achieving the American dream?

This prompt allows you to consider pretty broadly the novel's attitude toward the American Dream, with emphasis on "sobering and even ominous" commentary. Note that Fitzgerald seems to be specifically mocking the stereotypical rags to riches story here—;especially since he draws the Dan Cody narrative almost note for note from the work of someone like Horatio Alger, whose books were almost universally about rich men schooling young, entrepreneurial boys in the ways of the world. In other words, you should discuss how the Great Gatsby seems to turn the idea of the American Dream as described in the quote on its head: Gatsby does achieve a rags-to-riches rise, but it doesn't last.

All of Gatsby's hard work for Dan Cody, after all, didn't pay off since he lost the inheritance. So instead, Gatsby turned to crime after the war to quickly gain a ton of money. Especially since Gatsby finally achieves his great wealth through dubious means, the novel further undermines the classic image of someone working hard and honestly to go from rags to riches.

If you're addressing this prompt or a similar one, make sure to focus on the darker aspects of the American Dream, including the dark conclusion to the novel and Daisy and Tom's protection from any real consequences . (This would also allow you to considering morality, and how morally bankrupt the characters are.)

#6: What is the current state of the American Dream?

This is a more outward-looking prompt, that allows you to consider current events today to either be generally optimistic (the American dream is alive and well) or pessimistic (it's as dead as it is in The Great Gatsby).

You have dozens of potential current events to use as evidence for either argument, but consider especially immigration and immigration reform, mass incarceration, income inequality, education, and health care in America as good potential examples to use as you argue about the current state of the American Dream. Your writing will be especially powerful if you can point to some specific current events to support your argument.

What's Next?

In this post, we discussed how important money is to the novel's version of the American Dream. You can read even more about money and materialism in The Great Gatsby right here .

Want to indulge in a little materialism of your own? Take a look through these 15 must-have items for any Great Gatsby fan .

Get complete guides to Jay Gatsby , George Wilson and Myrtle Wilson to get even more background on the "dreamers" in the novel.

Like we discussed above, the green light is often seen as a stand-in for the idea of the American Dream. Read more about this crucial symbol here .

Need help getting to grips with other literary works? Take a spin through our analyses of The Crucible , The Cask of Amontillado , and " Do not go gentle into this good night " to see analysis in action. You might also find our explanations of point of view , rhetorical devices , imagery , and literary elements and devices helpful.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Most think the ‘American dream’ is within reach for them

Despite persistently low levels of public satisfaction with the state of the nation, most Americans say they have achieved the “American dream” or are on their way to achieving it. Only about one-in-five (17%) say the American dream is “out of reach” for their family.

The American dream means different things to different people, however. Far fewer Americans say “becoming wealthy” is essential to the American dream than say the same about personal freedom and a good family life.

Overall, 36% of U.S. adults say their family has achieved the American dream, while another 46% say they are “on their way” to achieving it, according to an August survey by Pew Research Center . (The survey asked people about the “American dream,” as they define it.) People who say they have already achieved the American dream are generally older, more affluent and better-educated than those who say they are on their way to achieving the American dream and those who say it’s out of reach.

Whites (41%) are more likely than blacks (17%) or Hispanics (32%) to say they have achieved the American dream. But more blacks (62%) and Hispanics (51%) than whites (42%) say they are on their way to achieving it. Notably, there are no significant racial or ethnic differences in the shares who say the American dream is out of reach for their families.

The partisan differences in impressions of whether people have reached the American dream are relatively modest: 41% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they have achieved it, compared with 32% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.

Freedom of choice, family widely viewed as essential elements of American dream

While people differ on the meaning of the American dream, very few – just 11% of the public – say “being wealthy” is essential to their own view of it.

By contrast, majorities say “freedom of choice in how to live” (77%), having a good family life (70%) and retiring comfortably (60%) are essential to their view of the American dream.

Smaller shares say making valuable community contributions (48%), owning a home (43%) and having a successful career (also 43%) are essential to their view of the American dream, but relatively few (no more than 9%) say these are not important to the American dream.

However, 40% say being wealthy is not important in their vision of the American dream, by far the highest share among the seven items asked about.

There are modest educational differences in attitudes about what is essential to the American dream. For example, 87% of those with at least a four-year college degree say freedom of choice in how to live is essential, as do 82% of those with some college experience. By comparison, a smaller majority (65%) of those with no more than a high school diploma say this.

And while 15% of those with a high school education or less say becoming wealthy is essential to the American dream, fewer of those with college experience say the same (8% of college graduates and 9% of those with some college experience).

Partisanship is not a major factor in these views. Across all items, there are modest or no partisan differences in views of what is essential to the American dream.

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Home — Essay Samples — Economics — American Dream — Does the American Dream Still Exist: Adam Shepard Case

Does The American Dream Still Exist: Adam Shepard Case

• Categories: American Dream Personal Statement

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Published: Feb 9, 2023

Words: 1133 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Table of contents

Shepard’s point of the project:, my thoughts about this project, what i can do, works cited.

• “Can Homeless People Get Jobs?” Career and Recovery Resources, Inc, 3 Apr. 2019, www.careerandrecovery.org/can-homeless-people-get-jobs/.
• “Homelessness/Poverty Fact Sheet.” Family Promise, Family Promise, familypromise.org/homelessness-fact-sheet/.
• Jaggi, Sophie. “The Many Forms of Homelessness.” JOIN, 25 Jan. 2019, joinpdx.org/the-many-forms-of-homelessness/.
• Shepard, Adam. Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream. HarperCollins, 2008. 

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• How Kevin Kim’s immigrant story fuels NYC’s small businesses

In 1975, Kevin Kim’s mom and dad picked up their lives and brought their two kids from South Korea to New York, moving into a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in Sunnyside, Queens.

Kim, who is commissioner of New York City’s Department of Small Business Services, was 5 at the time, his sister was 9, and their parents were working 14- to 16-hour days, seven  days a week, trying to build up their artificial flowers business. Kim’s maternal grandmother moved in to help out.

Mom would create the flower designs and dad would head over to the garment district, knocking on wholesalers' doors to sell those designs. After seven years of doing that, the family finally made it out of that tiny apartment.

His parents’ struggle to make it — especially because they spoke limited English and “had no clue about any government resources,” he said — informed a lot about how Kim has engaged immigrant small business communities in New York City. There are over 200,000 small businesses across the city, and about half of them are owned by immigrants.

Kim’s own experience as an entrepreneur, even after living in New York City most of his life, was similar — he also didn’t know what government resources he could access.

"When I came into this role, the first thing that was so glaring was that — wow, this agency New York City Small Business Services has so many incredible programs already,” he said in a recent interview. “And yet, if people don't know about it, it's all for naught.”

He set out to make sure people just like his parents would know about SBS, which provides a long list of resources for small businesses, including funding, commercial lease assistance and government contracting opportunities.

He spoke to the Mastercard Newsroom about his work at SBS and the sentiment he’s hearing in the streets from small businesses today. Kim also talked about the creation of the city’s $85 million NYC Small Business Opportunity Fund — the biggest public-private loan program for small businesses in the city’s history – which was created in partnership with Mastercard and Goldman Sachs. He also made sure to plug the upcoming SBS Small Business Month Expo on May 29, which will bring a variety of small business resources under one roof.

After being appointed to the position more than two years ago, Kim this month announced plans to step down at the end of June .

The following Q&A was edited for length and clarity.

You mentioned how much you wanted to focus on outreach at SBS. So how did you manage to get the word out?

Kim: I came in and we ended up reorganizing our agency to create the first-ever outreach team, and we put a team of about 10 people in there. We also put the existing RV unit, which we affectionately call Mobie, into action — that allowed it to go around the city multiple times a week.

I realized that our social media was lagging and, in this day and age, without robust social media activity, you're not going to get the audiences that you're aiming to get. The way we disseminated the programming information out to this 8.5 million-person city of 700 different languages being spoken every day became my focus.

We are clearly seeing the engagement with our agency just skyrocket. It was an intentional effort to make sure people knew that if they needed us, we were there and they knew how to get to us.

And that was all part of this grand strategy to make sure that people knew about all of our services, in language and in historically underserved communities, and that they wouldn't have to wait seven years like my parents to have a successful small business — that maybe they could cut that time in half.

What are you hearing from small businesses today — is there more optimism since the pandemic?

Kim: One of the best parts of this job is that I do get to go around to all the commercial quarters in every borough in so many neighborhoods. I ran into this small business owner, a Haitian bakery in Queens who opened during the pandemic. The fact that they were doing really well by the time I visited tells you something, right? The history, the resiliency, the hope of New Yorkers coming here with very little and starting a small business and not just helping their own family, but I know that particular business was giving back to the Haitian American community. And so it's that cycle, living the American dream right here in New York City that still exists. That just really reminded me of my own personal story.

It's not just them living their dream, but they're really impacting the community by hiring New Yorkers as well. So it feels like everybody's chipping in, the mood out in the streets is much more vibrant. I'm not trying to brush over some of the challenges that are still out there. Of course, retail theft is still out there.

The optimism, I feel it. I think the types of programs and investments the Adams administration has made, that's made a huge impact when you invest in the commercial corridors.

Tell me about the city’s Opportunity Fund.

Kim: We were able to have such great private partners in Goldman Sachs and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth . The design of the program was so collaborative, having discussions about not just how much money is going to go out there, but what's the biggest impact we can have.

When you come out with a loan program by a government entity, you sometimes look for the easiest way to implement it and that could have been just picking the three or four largest CDFIs [community development financial institutions, which provide financial services to low-income communities] and then just working through them and calling it a day. What was extremely impactful here was that Mastercard, Goldman Sachs, SBS — we all had that second layer of intentionality saying, if we're going to do this, and maybe it takes a little bit longer to design it and to roll it out fully, let's make sure we focus on capacity building for some of our smaller CDFIs.

And that's what we did. And that second prong to this, I think, really impacted the results we got and who got the money, because the smaller CDFIs were really rooted in historically underserved communities. So after one year of the implementation of this program, we ended up with 1,046 businesses getting an average of $80,000.

You could just see the demand that was out there, because in the first couple of weeks, we had over 10,000 businesses express interest.

Kevin Kim, right, speaks with Shamina Singh, the president of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, on the role of public-private partnerships in supporting small businesses at a recent summit for Strive, a global philanthropic initiative working to empower small businesses for a digital future. (Photo credit: Rebecca Abraham)

The results again mirrored so much of that outreach, with 80% MWBEs [minority and women-owned business enterprises] receiving the money. We had 69% who are self-identified as BIPOC [black, indigenous, and other people of color]. We had 59% of recipients being located in low- and moderate-income communities.

Because of the success, we're already trying to think about what a 2.0 version would look like.

What’s a success story from the Opportunity Fund?

Kim: We had chef Jae Lee, from a restaurant called Nowon . It is a Korean American bar and restaurant in the East Village. They became very well known on Instagram and social media for their kimchi burgers. I've tried it. It's very good.

They were trying to expand to a second location in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and the traditional bank said, “Sorry, you're not eligible.” Chef Lee applied for this Opportunity Fund, got $250,000, subsequently was able to open in Bushwick — a larger space, and now he employs over 50 New Yorkers.

So what this story really highlights is that when you get the right business that gets the right capital access, again, it's not just about that business. It's about the impact of hiring those 50 New Yorkers. It’s about that new, bigger location. It's about providing an experience to people in that community. And so that kind of economic impact is something that needs to be fully appreciated. So that was one of our great success stories.

Especially thinking about your parents’ story, how does that make you feel that you were an important part in making success stories like Nowon’s happen?

Personally, I feel as if this is one of the most rewarding experiences I've had, having the privilege of being commissioner of SBS. But I want to make it so clear that it was really the years-long effort of my capital access team and other leaders here at SBS who finally made this happen.

Banner photo: Kevin Kim, left, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, right, at a June event in which they announced that more than 600 small businesses had received funding from the Opportunity Fund since its inception in January. (Photo courtesy of New York City Department of Small Business Services)

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