Rachel Mock

Jon Drinnon

English 122

November 2, 2004

The American Dream Turns Nightmare

In this day in age, the standards of American society essentially value immediate results, how one is viewed by the public, and most of all, monetary worth or material possessions. Words such as fast food, fad diets, reality television, and cosmetic surgery (including the latest Botox injections) are all part of our regular vocabulary, words we hear and use everyday. In America, most people dream of achieving success. Yet success is superficially marked by material possessions and excessive lifestyle, and one's worth is characterized by a person's salary, wealth, and social and economic status. We are an individualistic society, with a Me First mentality and dog-eat-dog competitiveness. Ironically, we claim to have moral codes of equality and egalitarianism, yet endeavor for an ideal of success defined as separating ourselves from the norm and living above everyone else. The aforementioned values, attitudes, and aspirations about success have become part of what has been historically known as the American Dream. The American Dream is often portrayed as a guarantee to success and happiness, yet in reality, it is a mythical concept that creates competition and greed among the general public, while putting money in the pockets of the big corporations and investors, the rich and powerful, of the country.

The roots of the American Dream have a strong foothold in our history as a nation, and little if anything has changed in how the Dream is defined. Dating back to before the founding of the country, the promises of the "new world" were exaggerated to say the least. Hector St. Jean de Crèvecoeur, an early immigrant to the "new world," described how the early immigrants to America were "all animated with the spirit of an industry which is unfettered and unrestrained, because each person works for himself… the rewards of [a man's] industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labor" (Colombo 295). Crèvecoeur was also proud to announce that "we have no princes, for whom we toil, starve, and bleed: we are the most perfect society now existing in the world" (Colombo 295). Little did he know that future business machines and corporations would take the place of the corrupt and demanding royalty he spoke of to create the same hardship he claimed people were escaping. Benjamin Franklin was also a benefactor of the Dream, believing that "without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything. He that gets all he can honestly, and saves all he gets… will certainly become RICH" (Colombo 296). While times may have changed since it's founding, the American Dream is practically unchanged. It is the concept that "success comes with hard work" (Blue/Naden 307), and it's as simple as that: what you put in is what you get out. It is the notion that "everyone has the chance to succeed. Success in the United States requires no more than hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance" (Mantsios 320). Everyone, regardless of sex, race, or station, can become a self-educated, self-made man who strikes it rich to create a rags-to-riches success story. Therefore, the only reason for failure is laziness. The Dream stresses an individual effort and emphasizes that you must "think of yourself—Number One… You and you alone are responsible for your success or failure" (Colombo 296). Yet the concepts the Dream puts forth are misleading in nature.

The American Dream allows people to assume that everyone has an equal chance to succeed regardless of class or social standing, yet this assumption is in strong contradiction with the realities of our society. In a cartoon called "Troubletown" by Lloyd Dangle, a caption reads, "Across town, in a poor neighborhood, you can't even find a supermarket! The big grocery chains won't locate there" (Mantsios 332) and the illustration shows nothing but liquor stores in the background. The environments in poor and rich neighborhoods are sharp in contrast, and that in turn has an influence on the people who are products of those environments. It is simply not true to say that "each of us has the power to create our own opportunities" (Dalton 313). For example, there are several good reasons to own a home in the United States. There is tax relief for home owners, the ability to start acquiring wealth instead of living off of income, as well as the social statement of owning your own home, an independent place to call your own. Yet the prices of housing in California are outrageous and are only getting worse. How is one supposed to create their own opportunities if they cannot even own their own home and begin acquiring any amount of wealth? In contrast to what the wealthy investors and corporations of the United States would want the public to believe, "it is by now generally agreed that there is a large category of Americans – some have called it the underclass – for whom upward mobility is practically impossible without massive change in the structure of the economy and in the location of public resources" (Dalton 313). The big business people reap the benefits of this because the American Dream "serves to maintain the racial pecking order. It does so by mentally bypassing the role of race in American society" (Datlon 315). Investors and corporations need to have a working and lower class so that money will be made. That money will eventually find its way into their pockets. "In the United States the richest fifth of the population earns eleven times as much income as the poorest fifth, one of the highest ratios in the industrialized world" (Loewen 209). The gap between the rich and poor is tremendous and continues to grow. Yet class is not the only reality that makes the American Dream a mythical concept.

Race and gender are two more barriers that can supposedly be overcome if one believes in the virtues of hard work and the American Dream, yet this too is false. The Dream fosters "beliefs that themselves serve to trivialize, if not erase the social meaning of race… these and other features of our national life created a racial caste system that persists to this day" (Dalton 315). Unfortunately, racial discrimination and prejudice is still very much a part of our society today and it places unnecessary hindrances on people of color in our nation. Exceptions to the rule of course are put in the spotlight by the higher powers in our nation. While people such as Dr. Condoleeza Rice, the current National Security Advisor, and the Secretary of State Colin Powell have accomplished great things in their lifetime, it cannot be said that their success is a measure of women's and minorities' growing success across the nation. It is still obvious that "women and minorities find themselves in subordinate positions vis-à-vis white men… inequalities in the class structure distinguish social functions and individual power, and these distinctions carry over to race and gender categories" (Mantsios 332). The glass ceiling is still a very real concept in the work world today. Studies show that "the incidence of poverty varies greatly by race and gender… being female and being nonwhite are attributes in our society that increase the chances of poverty and of lower-class standing" (Mantsios 333). Yet the American Dream covers up all of this with a smile and stands firm in the belief that hard work will pay off to gain success; it's as simple as that. Some barriers cannot be risen above so easily. That is a reality that society must learn to face with a clear eye and compassionate heart.

The individualized manner that is necessary to pursue the American Dream feeds into the greedy, egotistical nature of our society and illustrates America as an exceptional nation in all its supposed democracy, equality, and freedoms for all. It is a reality that the American Dream creates greed, cut-throat competition, and individualistic thinking, as opposed to unifying the country in happiness by good will. Instead, it unifies the country in the will to win. In a simple Monopoly board game, a winner argues that "I accumulated my wealth and income by my own wits" (Mantsios 331) and therefore should not have to share it with others who have less. This greed and survival-of-the-fittest mentality spreads through the hearts of many like wildfire. It becomes a ripple effect of greed. The wife of a prominent technology C.E.O remembers "being told five years ago, if you don't have $25 million you're not a player – now that number sounds so small. If you have $250 million, well, you need to be a billionaire. The ripple effect of this on a society is large and alarming" (Fallows 362). Although the stakes rise and the greed snowballs, the economic inequality becomes larger as well. Several studies have been conducted to compare the economic equality in the United States to other industrial countries around the world and "the United States has ranked sixth of six, seventh of seven, ninth of twelve, or fourteenth of fourteen" (Loewen 209). Facts such as these do not hinder our nation from spreading our "exceptional" country's democracy around the globe. Therefore, it is no surprise that "the areas that have been the most under U.S. control are some of the most horrible regions in the world" (Chomsky 65). The American Dream has turned U.S. investors to do whatever it takes "to maintain a climate that is conductive to investment, and to ensure conditions which allow for adequate repatriation of profits to the West" (Chomsky 64). Spreading democracy and gaining control over Third World countries for our own profit are now practically one in the same. The American Dream still thrives in our culture and continues to spread.

There are those who argue that the American Dream is a strong motivator for people if nothing else. The Dream gives people a goal, something to live up to and strive for. Some believe that optimism is the key and "in order to succeed in life, especially when the odds are stacked against you, it is often necessary to first convince yourself that there is a reason to get up in the morning" (Dalton 314). While optimism is always better than a pessimistic attitude towards life, it is one thing to motivate people and another to consciously mislead. Americans are forced to believe that their failure in the eyes of society is their own fault even when they cannot help the environmental problems and cultural barriers that hinder their success. James W. Loewen, the author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, expresses that "if to understand is to pardon, for working-class children to understand how stratification works is to pardon themselves and their families. Knowledge of the social-class system also reduces the tendency of Americans from other social classes to blame the victim for being poor" (Loewen 207). Being poor, or even less than affluent, in this country is something that is looked down upon. There is a feeling of being ashamed of one's background and humiliation of one's status. Does this sound like a Dream?

The American Dream has brought innumerable amounts of people to the United States in search for success and the answers to their prayers. Many have turned away empty-handed, discouraged, and disillusioned. It is not to say that one should not work hard or strive for success. But it should be made known that hard work does not guarantee success in this "land of opportunity." This silent truth is necessary to demonstrate that the American Dream is in actuality a nightmare. The United States is not a mystical land where money grows off trees and oil runs in every stream. Yet there is constant and historical propaganda that would lead others to believe that there is something exceptional about this country that guarantees success and happiness. Subsequently, people receive a false sense of security. As a society, we must talk aloud about what is really going on in our country: there is a cycle of growing disparity between the rich and poor of this nation and it is because all of the power resides with the powerful rich population. Our society must raise its voice and work together to gain popular control in order to create some sanity to the madness of this growing cycle. There is still hope for true democracy in this country.

Works Cited

Blue, Rose and Naden, Corinne. "Colin Powell: Straight to the Top." Rereading America. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford / St. Martins, 2001. 305-310.

Chomsky, Noam. "Democracy Under Capitalism." Understanding Power, The Indispensable Chomsky. Eds. Peter R. Mitchell, John Schoeffel. New York: The New Press, 2002. 64-65.

Colombo, Cullen, Lisle. "Money and Success." Rereading America. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford / St. Martins, 2001. 295-297.

Dalton, Harlon L. "Horatio Alger." Rereading America. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford / St. Martins, 2001. 311-317.

Fallows, James. "The Invisible Poor." Rereading America. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford / St. Martins, 2001. 356-369.

Loewen, James W. "The Land of Opportunity." Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York: Touchstone / Simon & Schuster, 1995. 200-213.

Mantsios, Gregory. "Class in America: Myths and Realities." Rereading America. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford / St. Martins, 2001. 318-333.