The American Dream
What We Strive To Achieve: "The American Dream" The American Dream is something that every American aspires to achieve, as it is called a "dream." The dream we so aspire to be is defined as: "of political and religious freedom, equal access to education, equal opportunity in the workplace, and ultimately, success and wealth" as stated in "The Blair Reader" (391). Also in "The Blair Reader," are a few essays that pertain to, and discuss the American Dream. Of these essays are: "Bharti Mukherjee's "American Dreamer," Lars Eighner's "On Dumpster Diving," Thomas Jefferson's "Declaration Of Independence," and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream." Each of these stories incorporates the American Dream in one of the four ways mentioned above, which are political and religious freedom, equal access to education, equal opportunity in the workplace, and success and wealth. In Bharti Mukherjee's "American Dreamer," Mukherjee incorporates the American Dream when she strives for political and religious freedom by marrying a Canadian man after she came to study in America, where as her native land of Bengal is very strict on marrying within the religion and being restricted to certain limitations of freedom. In Lars Eighner's "On Dumpster
's "I Have A Dream", King speaks of his want for freedom and racial equality. Mukherjee was happy with her new life, married to her Canadian husband, therefore she was satisfied, which is for the most part, what the American Dream is all about. In Mukherjee's "American Dreamer," the author discusses briefly the differences between traditional Hindu families and American families. When she came to America, she had this freedom of experiencing different things, such as having a classroom with boys in it, and getting married to a Canadian, which is completely against her culture. He states that black and white men are equal, that black and white men should have equal access to education, and equal opportunity in the workplace, basically equal everything such as stated in the Declaration Of Independence. 's "I Have A Dream," King stresses on two aspects of the dream, which are equal access to education, and equal opportunity in the workplace. Mukherjee took full advantage of the American Dream, since she took it upon herself to be free politically, religiously and in any sense you may have it. "I'm always very pleased, when I can turn up exactly the thing I've most wanted to find but in spite the element of chance, scavenging more than most other pursuits tends to yield returns in some proportion to the effort and intelligence brought to bear" (431). He spoke of equality for all me, no matter what race you are. This quote reminds us that achieving the American Dream no matter what that dream may be, is worth the struggle. The Declaration of Independence also spoke of equality for men, but then again spoke of America's needing to dissolve ties with Great Britain. In this statement, Jefferson reveals part of the American Dream, which is equality, no matter what type of equality it might be. In Lars Eighner's "On Dumpster Diving," Eighner expresses his American Dream in that he is trying to teach us how to be successful at scavenging dumpsters, taking what you actually need, to be happy with your work, and to be successful and wealthy in that sense. The American Dream in this essays is referred to as: "diverse cultures coming together as a constantly reforming, transmogrifying 'we'" (406). "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness" (449).
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Acceptance Essays
