Brianna Martinez

Redefining the Journey

Luis Perez is 29 and born and raised in the United States with a mexican heritage.
Although, I am not where I wanted to be, Im thankful for these struggles because without them
I wouldnt be where I am today. Luis is very stable right now, and is preparing himself to get his
diploma and have a better future. He believes the American Dream is not only for whites but for
everyone who has faith in it. At the age of 29, he has accomplished many opportunities, he has
gained all types of experiences with these jobs, which is very helpful when he applies for a job.
Luis became a party organizer, soccer coach, working for the radio station and helping with
different types of expos with the help of friends and family members.
Luis was in a big room, with plants in every corner and the smell of febreeze all over. He
now realized he was being discriminated by the teachers in middle school. He was always put on
the spot and always accused of doing things he did not really do. He felt the need to defend
himself, but at the same time he didn't want to simply because he learned something valuable as
a kid, which was to respect his elders. As a young teen, he was always slacking off and he would
not participate for anything in class. He would procrastinate and never finished his homework.
Until one day, he said, they had testing and the teachers pulled him and his friends to go test
somewhere else. He immediately thought to himself why just us? "They didn't tell us straight
forward but we knew it was because they thought we would cheat." explains Luis. As he said
these words, his eyes seemed like he wanted to burst into tears. His eyes turned red and watery.
He was disappointed in his own self because he did nothing to defend himself. How
discriminated him and his friends were for being mexican. It took him till this day to realize it.
He expressed it in a way that made it unbelievable. All Luis was trying to do was get his
education and have a better future for himself. Something that was part of his American Dream.
Throughout his whole education, he was forced to become an ignorant kid. "I decided to
actually become what they said I was," he started to cause trouble because he wanted to prove
them right. He was tired of everyone describing him as a troublemaker which was the total
opposite of who he truly was. When he said those words, he looked as if a tear was going fall
across his face. Luis American Dream was to have a good job and become someone in life. He
wanted to avoid the situation he was in that moment, depending on others for rides or having
trouble finding a job. Having a job that doesnt pay well and not having a chance to achieve his
dreams. With all the discrimination he went through, he didn't finish school and didn't receive his
high school diploma. Luis did not feel any emotion towards not receiving his diploma since he
wouldn't be the only one not having it from his family. Only one of his sisters out of three
graduated and none of his brothers did, so he thought he was gonna be fine. Not realizing
growing up was gonna be a tough journey for him. Challenges started to come, he was afraid of
doing anything and regretted not going back to school to get his diploma. He had to wait for

something good to come along, even if he didnt believe something positive could happen in his
life. He was in denial of everything but he slowly started to believe he was capable of doing
more than he thinks. With that being said, he has yet to accomplish his American Dream. His
American Dream is to have a big house in Beverly Hills, cars that are owned by him and a good
career where he is payed well. Sadly, throughout his journey he no longer believed he will have
those things. Not graduating high school has affected his life in so many ways. When applying
for a job, he gets asked for his diploma and he gets embarrassed to say he doesn't have one. He
has been in that situation multiple times and it does not feel good. He has given up so much in
life and has only gained more struggles. Race has taken over in so many ways. If youre white or
asian, you are more likely to succeed. But if you're mexican or black everyone believes in the
stereotypes that you don't have what it takes to become a better person. He then realized he
needed to do better things for himself, to prove others wrong.
Luis has overcome each and every struggle life has thrown at him no matter how difficult
it might have been. Despite those difficult days, he has managed to keep going and try new
things to gain experience. In order to have something he really wants, he had to be patient until
the right time came. Before having a fairy tale life, he has to go through rough times and
overcome them. Luis might not be where he wanted to be, but he's happy with his life. He has a
family who supports him and will always be there no matter what the circumstances are.
However, he has gained many opportunities, like working for expos, and volunteering to be a
coach those are major things Luis can count as experiences when he applies for a job. Luckily, he
was able to find a job that does not require a high school diploma. He worked as a coordinator
for a huge Quinceaera Expo, it might not have been his dream job, but Luis is satisfied with
what he was able to get. He believes without those struggles he wouldn't be who he is today. He
learned how hard the real world is but so far Luis has had many great opportunities and has done
plenty of things. After accomplishing the Expo he realized he loves to be in charge and to prove
others he has talent to put something so big together like the expo. That is something huge he
never thought he would ever accomplish in his 29 years.
After everything Luis has been through, he has finally decided to get his diploma and
accomplish all his life goals, to become more independent and to own valuable things and to be
able to say he made it with nobody's help. He had to learn the hard way that not everything in life
is easy to get. If he really wants something, he needs to go after it and make it happen. He needs
to work hard for it and not give up when things get tough because that usually means he's closer
than he thinks. If he makes all this happen, Luis will finally be able to accomplish his so called,
American Dream. However, this might be easy to say but society and history make it hard to
believe.
History has changed, but not as much as we hoped it would. In the past three decades,
economic growth has generally benefited only those at the very top of the income ladder (Dr.
Heather Boushey). People who get paid well or are financially stable are the only ones who can

achieve their dream. This isnt fair, what if others had dreams? They were not going to be able to
accomplish the American Dream because no one believed in the lower or middle class. No one
had faith in them. Compared to 2000, residents of extreme-poverty neighborhoods in 2005-09
were more likely to be white, native-born, high school or college graduates, homeowners, and
not receiving public assistance (2011-2012) The high class was more likely to finish their
education since they were given more resources . The American Dream in the 2000s is defined
as only being achieved by the wealthy and upper class people not the lower or middle class. This
relates to Luis story in many ways. He never finished his education and he wasnt as wealthy as
other people in his generation. He would always notice how other kids would have more
opportunities than him. Some kids at his school having new clothes and shoes but Luis parents
couldn't afford that. Luis was just a kid who was picked on for not having nice clothes or clean
shoes and for being mexican as well.
The American Dream is known to be a hope for a better, richer, and happier life for all
social classes. For almost all Americans, this entails earning a college degree, gaining a good job,
buying a house, and starting a family. Although this seems wonderful, a large amount of the
American population believe that the Dream has changed immensely because of increased prices
in todays society, the price of tuition being highly unaffordable, as well as the unemployment
rate increasing and not enough jobs being available to unemployment people. While some
American citizens believe it has changed, others believe that the American Dream has not
changed. The American dream is something common to all people, but it is something that
everyone views in different ways. The American Dream is different for everyone, but they share
some of the same aspects of it. For example, everyone has to go through challenges in order to
achieve what they want. To make the American Dream come true all Americans have to work
together. The American Dream is supposed to be for each American, despite all social groups.(
Eva Michels ) The dream is dependent mainly on the setting of where one lives and ones social
status, which is very unfair.
That dream has become the aspiration not only of every child and adult in America, but
the dream of billions throughout the world. This dream translates into the belief that to be happy,
one must have a home of ones own, preferably a large, single-family home in a good
neighborhood, two cars per family, and substantial savings for the golden years. In that dream,
every new arrival to America can become wealthy and prosperous if only he or she works hard
enough. James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America (U.S.A. Taylor & Francis, 1935) This
quote explains who believes in the American Dream and who doesnt. Also, how the American
Dream is defined to most americans. It is more common for children and adults who were born
and raised in the United States.
Unfortunately, todays reality is not The American Dream. In reality, tens of millions
Americans cannot work hard and make their dreams come true simply because they cannot get a
job. Luis, was one of those millions of citizens who was not able to accomplish their dream yet
was lucky enough to get a job that did not require a high school diploma. Although, Luis is still
struggling day to day, he has not given up. In fact, he is working harder than he has ever done.
The biggest surprise about the American Dream is not that only a few make that dream come
true, but it is the fact that even those who do succeed are not any happier.

Citations:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/regulation/news/2005/04/08/1418/what-happenedto-the-american-dream/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tiziana-dearing/us-wealth-gap_b_1093582.html