Torres 1 Martin Torres Wingate English 114B 22 April 2013 The Dream is Alive The American Dream is concept

that people in the United States have constantly looked back on for hope and inspiration. Many immigrant view the United States as a place where they can come to and have a better life. Many immigrants believe in the American Dream; in fact, I believe that they believe in it more than actual Americans do. One of the reason immigrants believe in the American Dream more than Americans is, because if just one person from their village or neighboring village became successful by coming to the U.S then they are going to dream about also becoming successful. Everyone wants to obtain different accomplishments from the American Dream, for example immigrants might just want citizenship and Americans might just want to have a successful career. I do believe that the American still exist and that many people still believe that they can accomplish it. The American Dream is always going to make people successful in the United States and in order for people to obtain that success they need citizenship, work and/or education, and to be dedicated and have faith towards achieving the dream. Citizenship is something that is necessary to achieve the American Dream and it could also be a dream for an immigrant to obtain citizenship. The American is still alive because immigrants are still constantly trying to obtain citizenship and will continue to want to obtain citizenship because they want to live without fear of deportation. In the article, Young Immigrants Take Baby Steps Towards Legalization, Fulfilling American Dream, the author Keegan Hamilton explains, Full citizenship for Barrera and her family suddenly seems like a

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very real possibility (Hamilton 1). The article explains how Mari Barrera can obtain work and can no longer be deported thanks to Barack Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program. Mari Barrera was able to obtain security from deportation from the Deferred Action for Children Arrival program which is taking her and her sister one step close to their dream of gaining citizenship. Mari Barrera is not the only person to gain security from the Deferred Action for Children Arrival program because my cousin has also gained security from it. About three months ago my cousin was able to qualify for the Deferred Action for Children Arrival program and he has just received his social security card so it is a great feeling knowing that he will be able to stay around without being afraid of being deported. One of the reasons why I believe that the American Dream is still alive is because I have constantly seen or heard how some of my family members accomplished their American Dreams. For example, my Dad came to the United states as an immigrant and now he has full citizenship, owns his own home, and has his dream job as a cook/kitchen manager. Also, I have two cousins that qualified for the Deferred Action for Children Arrival program so I can relate to Barrera wanting her entire family to have full citizenship. My dad is proof that Barreras dream can be accomplished and thats why I believe that the American Dream is still alive, but I also believe that it can be difficult to achieve for certain people. Citizenship is a dream and also a process for achieving a higher dream, and sometimes obstacles can appear to stop some of the dreamers from achieving their dream. In some cases it does not make sense to deport someone if they have achieved so much and have a promising future ahead of them. In the article, Should Benita Veliz be deported? An American-in-waiting needs the Dream Act. So does America the author Lawrence Downes believes that Benita Veliz should not be deport by stating, In fact, shes a hard-working college graduate from San

Torres 3 Antonio who is bursting with ambition--and a dream that she has set aside because her paths to achieve them have all been closed (Downes 1). Why deport anyone who is just trying to find a better life for themself in the United States? It was the Pilgrims who decided to leave England to find a better place for themselves. If it were not for them the United States would not be the country it is today, so how can we not allow someone to be in the U.S if the first settlers came here looking for a better life just like Benita Veliz and her family. The article came out in 2009 so by now Veliz has already been deported but if she had not of had been deported then she would still be here and probably would have qualified for Deferred Action for Children Arrival program. She truly did want a better life for herself and was close to achieving it but one roadblock was enough to ruin all of that. I still believe that the American Dream exists but not everyone is able to achieve it and move forward towards a bigger American Dream. Work can also be another American dream for both immigrants and Americans and it can differ as to what type of work they want. Some immigrants dream might be to just obtain a job to be able to provide for their family, while other immigrants and American might want a highpaying job to help have certain luxuries. In Hector Tobars The Tattooed Soldier Guillermo Longoria is a man living in Los Angeles and living in a one bedroom apartment without any roommates because he is able to provide for himself by working at his job as dealing with customers with complaints. Tobar mentions how Longoria feels about his job by explaining, There was a certain discipline involved in his work, and Longoria liked that (Tobar 26). Another important factor about having a job or work as part of the American Dream is to make sure that it is a job that the person wants makes them happy. There is no reason to say to your dream is to work at a job that makes you feel miserable every time you have to go work there. The American Dream should make people happy and make them feel proud of themselves. If someone wants a high-paying job or career then most of the time they will have to get an

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education which can take a lot of work. For example, when Lawrence Downes offers background on Benita Veliz he reveals that, She was valedictorian at Jefferson High School, graduating at 16. She went to St. Marys University in San Antonio on a full scholarship, double-majored in biology and sociology, volunteered at a hospital, and waited tables (Downes 1). I cannot imagine how Veliz managed to make enough time to do some of those tasks at the same time. I too go to a University and volunteer, at my church youth group, and I know it can get stressful but I cannot imagine myself taking on a job with all that I have going on already. I praise her for being bale to accomplish all those things at once and it is proof about how hard a person can work to try to accomplish their American Dream. If a person can try as hard as Benita Veliz to gain citizenship and a great job then I believe it is safe to say the American Dream is still alive in the minds of most people and college students especially. In some cases it can take as much work as Benita Veliz to accomplish the American Dream. If a person truly believes in the American Dream and want to achieve it then they are going to have to trust that they can accomplish it and be dedicated towards achieving it. Not everyone has the patience it takes to finish accomplishing their American Dream. No matter how good or bad things get while someone is trying to accomplish their American Dream they should not stop working hard to achieve it. Believing that you can complete an objective has the greatest importance when trying to accomplish the objective, because you need to believe you can do something to become dedicated to achieving it. Keegan Hamilton mentions that even though it might take a while for Mari Barrera and her entire family to gain full citizenship that they are giving up by observing that Mari Barrera remains cautiously optimistic that the time has come for folks like her family to receive the treatment for which they have waited so long (Hamilton 3). Although the Deferred Action for Children Arrival program does not give Barrera the full

Torres 5 abilities to do all the acts that full citizens can do it is still helping them get closer to gaining citizenship. People also need to be dedicated towards achieving their goal to be able to accomplish it. In fact they might need to be as dedicated as Antonio was when he saw Longoria, the man who killed his wife and child, in the park and figured out he was getting a second chance to get revenge. Tobar tells us that Antonio want a chance to avenge his family by explaining that Antonio would stay in Los Angeles and track down the soldier and make him pay for his crimes (Tobar 183). Antonio had so much anger built up inside of him that he vowed to make sure that the soldier, Longoria, would not be allowed to live his new life without being confronted for what he did to cause the extreme amount of pain that continues to attack Antonio. Antonio was so dedicated to get revenge that when he failed the first time he looked at what he did wrong and corrected it so that he was able to get his revenge the second time. If someone wants to achieve the American Dream then they should be as dedicated to achieving it as Antonio was towards getting revenge. To achieve the American Dream any person in the United States has to obtain citizenship, a job or form of work, and dedication and belief that they can achieve their dream. In order for someone to have an American Dream they have to be American, live in America, or have plans to come towards America. Once people are in the United States their dreams should shift towards work and I believe that people have an American Dream to have a successful job or career to support and provide for loved ones. The American Dream does exist because you see people dedicated to working hard have a better life in the future and that can call their a dream life. People also believe in creating a better future, not just for themselves, but also for their future generation. People always want to make steps toward complete happiness in their live and that is proof that the American Dream is alive.

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