The Wake-Up Call of the American Dream

The American Dream is a dream that promotes and expands opportunities for all.  It inspires us to be achievers despite what race, gender, or class we may be. It is a dream placed in our heads when we are a little child sitting cross-legged during story time listening to the teacher recite Dr. Seuss and how “You’ll be on your way up!/ You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers/ who soar to high heights” (9), from Oh the Places You Will Go.  We sit at our art table drawing pictures of what we want to be when we grow up, and besides slight variances, we all, at one point or another, have a vision of a successful career, a family and an abundance of material items that would lead us to perpetual happiness and bliss.  Everyone imagines the storyline and pictures from when we are little, but looking deeper, the dream creates an ideal that is simply unattainable by the majority of the nation.

The American Dream is something that everyone wants to attain.  This leads to a more cut-throat environment, a dog eat dog every man for yourself, an untelevised “Real-World Survivor.” America was originally founded upon the ideals of our founding fathers to become an independent country to have land, freedom of religion, and to let the people have a government that represented and satisfied their demands and dreams.  Then as time progressed, and generations passed, the Dream became more personal and people began wanting to come to America so that, as Spock from “Star Trek” said, “live long and prosper.” 

Despite it all, the want to exceed social, ethnic, or class boundaries and to live a fulfilling life, the American Dream is merely that: a dream.  The concept of the American Dream ignores factors of success such as luck, family, language and wealth one is born into.   Even if people were able to overcome the race, gender and wealth barriers, the melting pot of society would literally spill over because the dream would be attained and people would no longer be working a 12 hour shift placing caps on tubes at a toothpaste factory. 

Though many citizens have an American Dream, it really is little more than wishes and desires drawn up in their heads and occasionally strewn about at that “typical family-night dinner”.   Though the government may be in control by a minute upper-class, the core to America is the middle-class.  This class is what actually fuels the American Dream.  The middle class’ complacency with being “average” has put the American Dream at a standstill.  Yes there are the poor who struggle and have every desirable intention to make it to the top, but very few will succeed.

There will never be the ideal “sunny day and relaxing family vacation free of work and other worries,” or the idea that everyone in society will one day gain tolerance for each other and Miss America will finally be granted her dream of world peace.  Yes, the American Dream may propel us to succeed well in school and continue to put our blood and sweat into our work jobs for economic prosperity, but if the starting point is compared with the ending point, advancement may be seen, but like the great Dr. Seuss said “And will you succeed?/ 98 and ¾ percent guaranteed” (Seuss 32).  This is where we realize that no matter what we do it is not enough.  The American Dream is unattainable.  It is merely a dream we strive for but never reach; the 1 ¼ percent left is the unreachable American Dream.