Myths and heroes : How has the American Dream evolved since the XXth century? Is it still achievable for everyone today?

Myths and Heroes

        We are going to talk about the topic Myths and Heroes. Myths originally aimed to explain the origins of a given community or social group. They deliver a universal message about the human condition and collective identity of this community.

Through the ages, new myths have thus been created and have evolved.

        The questions that arose around this topic are the following: How has the American Dream evolved since the XXth century? Is it still achievable for everyone today?

        First we will talk about the The American Dream since de XXth century, then we will see if it is still achievable for everyone? (the latter s'emploie avec the former lorsque tu as deux éléments que tu ne souhaies pas répéter)

        In order to answer these questions, we will refer to 4 documents:

                -An extract from “ The Rise of David Levinsky”

                -A series of interviews by Cattlin Brown entitled “The American Dream”

                -A report from BBC worldwide series dated March 28th 2011

                -A report for an awareness campaign called “Illegal Immigration, one story”.

        First of all, pretty much everyone has already dreamt about the American Dream. Why was it and why is it still so appealing to such a large part of the population? Most probably because it represents the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is a push factor, which encourages people to quit their former life and to start over a new one in the USA, in the hope of succeeding there.

This idea is illustrated in the extract from Abraham Cahan's: “The Rise of David Levinsky” which was written in 1917. It refers to two immigrants who managed to live their own dream and climb the social ladder. Through this novel we see that during the XXth century, everything was possible and everyone could start from nothing, like the narrator, and succeed with some will. The passage remains an illustration that the American Dream was achievable for everyone at that time.

        Secondly, before, the American dream was achieved only through sacrifice, risk-taking and hard work, not by chance. The USA was a safe haven but to succeed, migrants had to stack all the odds in their favour to have a better life and live their American Dream. It is the point of view that is explained in a series of interviews by Caitlin Brown entitled “The American Dream”. Indeed it is composed of 7 stories from either Americans whose parents or grand-parents were immigrants, or actual immigrants. They all said that everybody could reach their own American dream by working hard and that it was a real chance to have a better life.