I’ve been thinking about the collective American Dream a bit too much, something most of my EXPO class has been centering on. I have noticed little tidbits of personal anecdotes and the American Dream, like individual stories in Black Wall Street and references to individual ideals in Behold America. It’s another perspective I’ve considered before, something I was planning on making my research paper about for the (hopefully) final project, but I didn’t have enough attachment to the idea to make a whole 8-page essay about it. So instead, I’m making a blog post.
The American Dream is a broad concept, broad enough to allow for personal interpretation. A lot of people, naturally, took the American Dream and applied it to themselves in some way. Foreigners in poor countries saw the relative prosperity of America and made it their American Dream to become an American citizen, like my mother (refer to Foreign Perspective). Many American citizens make it their American Dream to succeed in their specific field, like football players and businessmen. They could be dreams about financial success, dreams about power and control, any desire could be an American Dream.
All of the above points bring up a fair few questions: What exactly makes an “American Dream”? Is it the dream of an American citizen? Is it anyone’s dream related to America? Is it when it affects the country as a whole, or just the individual? Is it just a matter of “I say so”? Does it even matter if it’s American or not?
I’m not here to answer those questions, I’m mostly here to ponder. Then again, it’s hard for anyone to answer those questions definitively, it’s opinion and interpretation. It’s also hard to say if this fact really matters. American Dream or not, a dream is a dream, something ought to be pursued if it’ll leave a net positive impact.
Whether or not they’re “American Dreams”, I’d prefer America stay as a country that can foster dreams. And based on what I’ve learned about the modern economy, that could be an issue, hence why I’m writing about it for my (again, hopefully) final paper for EXPO.
This shouldn’t be my last post for this blog, but it will be for regular credit. The posts following this (assuming I can come up with more ideas) will be for extra credit. I don’t know if I need it, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.