I Dreamed A Dream

Dreams. They're the building blocks of a life full of "life".

The American Dream

Most commonly, the American Dream is a checklist; a rather depressing checklist. The checklist is essentially the movie Marley and Me, which I'm sure you are all familiar with.

- go to college

-get a degree

-meet a significant other and get married

-have a steady job that make lots of money

-buy a puppy

-have a baby

-raise a family

- live your life

This, my friends, is the "American Dream" to most people. Society is essentially wired to strive to make money and have a family of their own, hence a life of their own. This dream for so many people is the social norm of the century. Most importantly, in order to have said dream, one must become successful in terms of monetary value. Monetary value is essentially the standard of society socially speaking. An example would be celebrities; celebrities' importance is often related to their net worth, which is much higher the more "important" the celebrity is. In result, many Americans strive to fulfill the social standard established in society and work effortlessly until they successfully do so. But this "American Dream" in my opinion is rather miserable. My perception of the American Dream is the idea that you can be whatever you want to be, no matter where you're from or who you are. This side of the American Dream caters to the side of society who strive to break social norms and destroy the checklist. Gatsby defied the odds and became the opposite of origin and essentially lived in the American Dream.

Wealth

Wealth is a plethora of anything beneficial to you or the people around you. This plethora can be in terms of money, time, knowledge, and so many other areas. Wealth is essentially tangible or non-tangible prosperity. Gatsby was wealthy in terms of money but not necessarily in knowledge and he believed he was still missing something, that something a was relationship with someone and that someone was Daisy.

The American Perspective on Wealth and Poverty

In America, diversity is a major factor of our society, yet the wealthy and poor are divided in opportunities. Although we like to think that this does not occur, often, people with less money have a much more difficult time climbing the social ladder and making a life for themselves outside of where they were raised. Society like to think that they are open-minded and accepting of people unlike them but ultimately surround themselves with people who are very similar to themselves. Socially speaking, the wealthy often look down upon the poor as inferior to them and hence consciously or subconsciously surround themselves with wealthy people as well. In The Great Gatsby, the west egg and east egg were both extremely wealthy and stayed inside of their wealthy social circle. They are close-minded to the exterior people outside their wealth and this is displayed throughout in their stuck up, self-absorbed attitude.

Me

Personally, I try very hard to be accepting of people who are not like me and are not from similar backgrounds. I like to think that I exceed the societal norm on the perception of people, but as much I don't want to accept it, I believe I fall in with the rest of society. Although, I have a wide variety of friends from different backgrounds and different interests, I spend an abundance of my time with my close friends, whom are all very similar to me. It's not necessarily that I am discriminatory, but that I am drawn to people who share interests, style, and weirdly enough have very similar lives to me. Although my friends and I are very similar, we are still very different in terms of what we wear, our personalities, our interests, and much more. My best friend is Livy and we are oddly opposites but at the same time twins. I am an extrovert, she's an introvert. We both love to wear very fun, interesting, weird clothes that almost no one else would ever wear. I love pickles, she HATES pickles. Just some examples of how similar yet so different we are.

This assignment made my think. I never really realized how subconsciously I made choices regarding the people I surround myself with. I hope that in the future I begin to spend more time with random groups of people from different places, with different interests. I intend to carry out my life in a way contradicting the social norms, and making a difference in the world around me. The American Dream affects all of us, and affects me in the way in which I hope to make a difference in the world around me. 

Comments
Anne Ross- I swear I love your blog every week. You go into so much detail and use lots of evidence and examples to support your standpoint and I am in awe of your ability to write. I loved the personality and personal connection you put into this. Great job going overboard in an amazing, totally positive way. AMAZING!

Waverly- I loved your alternate approach on the American Dream. I totally agree that the American Dream is differing depending on who you are and what you believe. Thats most definitely true. Loved it. Also I love your references to such relatable things like AirPods and instagram. Great job explaining your perspective!