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Samantha Lara
Professor Kelly J. Fischer
CRWT 101-04
26 September 2022
Realizing the American Dream
The American dream has been associated with wealth, a successful career, and even
the ability to achieve more than one’s parents. It is something that people in the United
States still want to be a part of yet there has been a huge topic of debate about whether or
not the American is still alive or not. Some believe that the opportunity to realize the dream
has been declining while others are on the other side of the spectrum, believing that it is still
attainable. The three articles, “The American Dream is Dead: Here’s Where it Went,” “By
Our Own Bootstraps,” and “Long Live the American Dream,” explore whether or not the
American dream is still alive. Even though the “Land of Opportunity” does not provide
everyone with equal results, it isn’t necessarily a sign of failure since America provides
everyone with plenty of opportunities that allow them to still strive for the American dream.
In Adele Peters’s article, “The American Dream Is Dead: Here’s Where It Went,” the
topic of why the American dream is slowly becoming a myth in America and a reality in
other countries is discussed. Peters argues that upward mobility requires an equal start in
life, equal earnings, and effective progressive policies, however, the United States falls short
of these things. Peters believes that success in American society greatly depends on what
privileges you were given at birth. She claims that an American born into the lowest
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socioeconomic class has an 8% chance of rising to the top, however, the credibility of this
statement is questionable due to a lack of source (McCuen-Metherell and Wrinkler 57).
Peters then draws a comparison between success in American society with success in other
foreign countries, stating that the likelihood of success is now roughly twice as great in
foreign countries like Denmark (McCuen-Metherell and Wrinkler 58). In the eleventh
paragraph, Peters recognizes huge inequalities among schools throughout the United States
due to a majority of schools being locally tax-funded. Due to this, nicer communities within
America will receive better education; however, within foreign countries, school funding is
equally distributed leading to equal schooling systems (McCuen-Metherell and Wrinkler
59). This argument, however, is lacking in strength as Peters fails to mention which
countries are doing better. Rather, Peters writes that “countries with more progressive
policies–systems for taxes or education or healthcare…–also end up having more mobility”
instead of providing solid evidence (McCuen-Metherell and Wrinkler 58). She generally
establishes sound correlations between mobility and certain factors such as unequal start in
life and unequal opportunities but seemingly a common theme throughout the article, Peters
fails to provide a backbone to any of her statements through a lack of external support. Her
arguments would have been more effective had she mentioned specific countries for
comparison. Providing sound data and information would mean that the argument is also
sound. The article does not effectively back up her claim that the American dream is dead
even though a lot of facts and evidences, albeit weak, are included in the article.
In “Long Live the American Dream” by Shikha Dalmia, the author refutes the idea
that America is failing to keep pace with other economic leaders such as China and India by
listing reasons why the American dream will never die. These reasons include talented
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migrants, advanced infrastructure, stable social security, more opportunities, and more. It
seems that she was blindly writing and making it seem like the American dream is within
everyone’s reach when it is not. Interestingly, she says, “making the Great Depression look
like a beach party” (McCuen-Metherell and Wrinkler 64). America’s situation may not be as
bad as other countries but the Great Depression was one of the hardest times America had to
endure. This comment is distasteful and inconsiderate. In most of the paragraphs, she
supports her claims by providing statistical data from credible sources. She includes data
from authors, studies, statistics reports, and more. Despite starting really strong, she ended
with weak arguments and little evidence since it appears that she was expressing her own
opinion rather than facts in the last three paragraphs. She says that China and India are
overly optimistic even though they lack valid justifications (McCuen-Metherell and
Wrinkler 65). Without realizing it, she is being quite condescending about how the Chinese
and Indians are choosing to be positive despite their situation. She also says that Americans
will homeschool their kids if the public school monopoly fails them (McCuen-Metherell
and Wrinkler 65). She does not realize that a lot of Americans cannot afford to homeschool
their children and does not acknowledge the other option, which is that they might decide to
forgo education altogether. Peters and Dalmia have different views on the American dream.
Dalmia’s arguments, however, are valid, and stronger. The pieces of evidence she provides
also substantiate her conclusion that the American spirit will always keep the American
dream alive.
The article “By Our Own Bootstraps” by Cox and Alm expresses the viewpoint that
attaining the American dream requires a focus on opportunity rather than equality. Opportunity is
the reason why people come to the United States and what has driven the U.S. economy’s
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expansion and success thus far (McCuen-Metherell and Wrinkler 62). This idea is very different
from that of Peters, which is that the American dream is dead because of all kinds of inequality.
While Peters’ and Dalmia's arguments are in sharp contrast to each other, Cox and Alm’s are in
between. Cox and Alm discuss that incomes vary for plenty of reasons, however, that is not the
only measurement of success in a country like America where a great number of opportunities
are available for everyone. They do not force the belief onto their readers that the American
dream is attainable for everyone, unlike Dalmia. Instead, they stress that everyone can succeed if
they put in the work and if they were to be given equal opportunities instead of equal incomes.
The American dream is a dream for people who are willing to sacrifice and succeed. A
lot of people think that the American dream is what they deserve but find it hard to attain it. “The
American Dream Is Dead: Here’s Where It Went” presents the idea that the American dream is
dead because of unequal opportunities and unequal start in life. On the contrary, “By Our Own
Bootstraps” says that America gives equal opportunities to everyone. It’s what everyone makes
of that opportunity that determines their chances of success. Lastly, “Long Live the American
Dream” supports the notion that the American dream is alive and will endure in America, all
thanks to the American spirit. Even though it is true that there may be a lot of hindrances to
attaining the American dream, anything is possible if the people are given the right opportunities
and resources but that in itself is not enough. One may be given all the opportunities there are in
the world, but if they do not work hard enough and put in the time and effort, realizing the
American dream certainly would not be an easy task.
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Works Cited
McCuen, Jo Ray, and Anthony C. Winkler. "By Our Own Bootstraps.” Readings for
Writers, Wadsworth, Belmont, 2019, pp. 60-62.
McCuen, Jo Ray, and Anthony C. Winkler. "Long Live the American Dream." Readings
for Writers, Wadsworth, Belmont, 2019, pp. 62-65.
McCuen, Jo Ray, and Anthony C. Winkler. "The American Dream Is Dead: Here's Where
It Went." Readings for Writers, Wadsworth, Belmont, 2019, pp. 57-60.