Kanokporn Upaiboonsin(Fang)
English 101
Professor Chocos
May 13, 2015
American Dream Is Real
Once upon the time, people dream of one day they would have been found a land
that it is going to be a new paradise for them. All people can live there with love and peace.
The dream is not a dream anymore when Christopher Columbus found a new land or it was
called a new world in 1492. Later, this new land is familiar in the named of United State of
American. The idea that American has become the new paradise is not only exist in the past
year but also it is exist through nowadays. People still believe in American dream and they
are full of hope to seek for their better life in this freedom country. Because American used
to be a colony of United Kingdom so it is undoubtedly for people in this land that they will
understand and want the freedom for themselves and send it to their next generation or
even the immigrants in their country too. This country are establish to be a truly land of
freedom. American dream is about how people get their freedom whether the human
rights, opportunity, or equality in this land. America is proved to have this dream and the
dream become true.
Some people is no longer believe in American dream because they have experienced
or seen the nightmare in America such as a “the 1911 Triangle Fire tragedy” which the poor
immigrants died because of an attempt to become success in this land of freedom.
However, the nightmare is not always happen for everyone. There is a group of people who
believe in American dream and make it come true. That is how the dream works; it exists to
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everybody but not everybody can get it.
In American history, there is a problem which the colored skins was used to
separate people in two groups. The black people were looked down and assumed to be a
low-class in society. This event was looked that they are no way for African-American to be
success and work in a big office like white people. The possibility for black people’s dream
is almost impossible for them. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she reflects on
the problem of black and white people that have to live in specific area in the same of their
race and also the inequitable treatment for black people. In the story, a black family,
Younger family, who lives in the ghetto reflects on an unequal opportunity in career and
seeks for better life. Their American dream is to escape from their ghetto and have their
own house surrounded by white neighbors. The Younger’s family has to confront so many
barriers such as the chairman of Clybourne Park Improvement Association came to say to
them that “You’re got to admit that a man, right or wrong, has the right to want to have the
neighborhood he lives in a certain kind of way. And at the moment the overwhelming
majority of our people out there feel that people get along better, take more of a common
interest in the life of the community, when they share a common background” (117). The
Younger doesn’t welcome in the community because of their background as different
attitude, work, and dream. At the end of this fiction, even they confront so many obstacles
however the Younger’s family has their dream become true. It shows that when people
start to dream about something, the dream can come true if they try hard and not give up
the dream. This story reflects on Hansberry’ dream that she doesn’t want the
discrimination to happen. Later on, Black and White people can live together like nowadays
following her dream.
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People can have a better life in America. The opportunity in this land and the better
of education in this land make people come to American. In “An American success Story” by
Samuel Nakasian, he is a successful lawyer who immigrants to America. He is very proud to
come to America and later being an American citizen. He points out that, “If you came here
to escape discrimination because you are a member of a minority in your religious beliefs,
ethnic origins, or political preference, here you are guaranteed your religious rights and
personal freedom. This court and other courts are here to serve you by protecting your
rights and to hear your petitions with impartial justice. If you came here to make a better
life for yourself and your family, to have the opportunity of formal education to the highest
level of your capacity, ours is one of the few countries where you can climb the economic,
intellectual, and cultural ladder to the top”(73). He claims that America has everything to
support people who come to this land. If people make affords to their work and they have a
dream, the dream can absolutely come true in America. America gives freedom to their
people. Everybody can access to the education whether they are poor or rich. There is a
way in America to have opportunities which don’t have in other country. It also shows that
people in American have freedom to show their opinions toward their political which in
some country don’t give this opportunity to their people to speak out loud about political
yet, or to have their religious rights which some country people don’t have their rights to
choose their own religious. To him, America gives him this opportunity and makes him to
be a successful person. He who has a dream to become a lawyer, America gives the ability
and opportunity to him and makes his dream come true.
In America, life is a lot better than some of the country in the world. Some countries
still have a war which there is no guarantee for safety. Some still don’t have an access for
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education. Some obstruct people to see the outside of their country. These problems are
not existing in the past but it is still a problem in this twenty-first centuries. Although some
people feel that it is really hard and barely impossible for people who are not American
citizen, the life in America is still better than those countries. According to the research, “An
Interview with Tong Chu Han, a U.S. Citizen with North Korean Roots” by Gloria Jin Kim, he
interviews a guy who escapes from North Korea to US. His story is about how he escapes
from North Korea and what happen in North Korea which outsiders can’t imagine about
how ruthlessness and there is no humanity out there in his country. He makes the case, “In
1978, with the money I saved, I was able to own and operate several different grocery
markets until 2006, when I retired, I was forcefully retired due to bankruptcy in 2006. I lost
all I had earned. My American dream was shredded into a formless bubble without any
warning. Though we did not have any direct impact due to the L.A. riots in the early 1990s
we were indirectly affected by it and had downfalls since that time. With or without
financial blessings, my life was and is good in America”(4). He expresses his point of view
that he knew that being the immigrants in American is hard to be success because the
limitation of language, or access to the same opportunities but he once experience to own
his grocery markets. Even though there is a bankrupt during his time nevertheless he still
assures that his life is good in American more than his country which people are hopeless
and no freedom for people. Although his American dream is fail at the end, he can create his
new dream in American. If he were in his country, he might not even know the dream still
exist. He is really happy to have an opportunity to come to America.
What makes America different and is chose to be a country for immigrant? This
country gives people a freedom. People can do anything without caring their race, or their
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skin. It is not important for American of where people are from but it is about dream that
this country gives the dreams to available to all. It is about you people who come to
America and make the dream come true or not. There is no doubt that there are a lot of
opportunities in this country. The opportunity to learn, to work, or to speak are always in
America. The opportunity in this country is everywhere. People have to find it by
themselves and grab it in their pocket and make that dream comes true. American dream is
different for everyone but still “if you can dream it you can do it”. This quote is by Walt
Disney. Someone might think that American citizen have more opportunities than
immigrants. This is not true if people consider to successful people, it is not only American
citizen that can make the dream come true. Everyone can be successful people, but people
have to dream it first and make the process for trying so hard to make dream come true in
so many times. However, because America that gives people more freedom to have their
rights to choose what they want and the opportunities that give to everyone so America
become the land of opportunity that people around the world choose this land to risk and
to create their dream here.
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Citation
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Random House, 1959. Print.
Nakasian, Samuel. “An American Success Story”. In Our Own Words: Student Writers at
Work. 3 rd ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge,1996. Print.
Kim, Gloria Jin. "An Interview With Tong Chu Han, A U.S. Citizen With North Korean
Roots." Asian American Policy Review 17.(2008): 1-7. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 18 May 2015.
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