My American Dream

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My American Dream

Steve Moore ENGL-108 DeVry university

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In, the United Stated today, the typical preconceived notion of the American dream is pretty much agreed upon; a man and his wife in a decently sized single family home with two kids, a dog, and a white picket fence in the front yard. This image of the perfect American life was conceived during post World War II era Americans with the hopes of coming home from fighting, grabbing their G.I. bill benefits and reaping the aforementioned scenario for themselves. But the American dream, in essence, has nothing to do with any pre-conceived notions of a cookie cutter life for everyone. Instead, the very idea behind the founding of America and therefore the basis for the American dream is that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Thus, America was founded as a place for men to be free to shape their own version of the American dream free from persecution, making the American dream really in the eye of the beholder.

Take for example, three essays written from completely different perspectives of Americans seizing the dream for themselves. First there is Silent Dancing by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the story of a young woman as she and her family move to the United States from Puerto Rico in search of a better life. Second, there is This Old House by David Sedaris, The story of a young man who was unaccepted for who he was at home finding a place that he fits in. Lastly there is The Mansion: A Subprime Parable by Michael Lewis, a story of a well-off man in search of a place to live in his home town of New Orleans only to end up with a mansion. These stories all include the authors fighting for a chance at their own unique idea of the American dream.

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First off, in Silent Dancing by Judith Ortiz Cofer the person fighting for the American dream is her father as she is too young at the time to carve out a life for herself. In the story her father joins the United States navy in an effort to escape what she only mentions as economic pressures. After a while he is able to secure an apartment in Brooklyn, NY for his family to come and live while he worked. He describes his hardship finding a place for his family to live due the fact that it was during the 1950s where racism still ran rampant and Spanish immigrants were looked down upon. He was only able to find an apartment in a complex that already housed several other Puerto Rican families in a lower class area. He told his family very strictly not to associate with the surrounding neighbors telling the reader that this is not the notion of a better life he had in mind. The reader can speculate that Cofers father is ashamed of his culture and that he originally brought his family to America to have a life more similar to the cookie cutter American Dream of their own house to live in a good neighborhood but had to settle due to the willingness of landlords willingness to take on Puerto Rican tenants at the time.

In the next story, This old house by David Sedaris, a young man almost accidentally falls into his version of the American dream. In his young age, David was fascinated by the past. He liked dressing in old clothes and had an appreciation for antiques and classical music. Unfortunately for him though, his father did not facilitate his choice in lifestyle and always gave Sedaris a hard time for his interests. It wasnt until he got much older, that he met another person who shared the same interest in a classical lifestyle that he did. As it turned out the person he met was also the landlord of a boardinghouse who was looking to take on tenants. David quickly moved in and found himself immersed in a house of antiques and classical music

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that made him feel right at home. The two would sit out on the porch of the old house for hours on end talking about things they admired and how the world has changed from the lifestyle that they adored so much. Unfortunately due to an influx of new tenants in the house who were not on the same page , David was quickly knocked out of his dreamland and found himself in just an old house full of old things. He knew then that it was time for him to move out of the house and say goodbye.

Finally that brings us to our last story, The Mansion: A Subprime Parable by Michael Lewis. This story is much unlike the other two being as the author and main character Michael Lewis is very well off and therefore has a much better chance of achieving his version of the American Dream. In the story, Lewis is moving back to his hometown of New Orleans in order to find a good home for his family. He has since become a successful author and contacts what seems to be the only real estate agent in New Orleans and tells her he wants to buy a house. She shows him a huge mansion and Lewis thinks it over for several weeks before and decides that even though he is considered upper middle-class that he is going to go all out and rent the house. Unfortunately for him it becomes more than he can handle. Not being used to such a big house it becomes too much to bear, he loses people in the same house, he doesnt have enough stuff to fill all of the closets, he is always getting startled by people popping up out of nowhere, and the air conditioning system starts to malfunction . Finally he decides enough is enough and moves out.

From comparing these three stories the reader can get a better idea of the true nature of the struggle to attain the American Dream. It doesnt matter who someone is, what social

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class theyre from, what nationality they are or anything else. Everyone has a unique vision of the American Dream. It seems that the American Dream is more of a goal than a reality. Every person has their own idea of what life they want to life, or what they think they want rather, but never expect to attain it. In the case of all three authors theyre American dream did not turn out to be anything like what they imagined which goes to show, Maybe human beings dont really know what they want only that they always want a better life for themselves. All in all, the reader can see how different people from all over have their own version of the American Dream and all that it really is what a person considers a comfortable life. But rather blanketing every person with the same cookie cutter American Dream its important to realize that every person is different and therefore their aspirations vary from one another.