Catherine Melnick

Mr. Smith

Junior Honors English

9/23/22

The ever changing American Dream

It is an understatement to claim that a good job and a fortunate family will guarantee the

perfect American life. The American Dream is the idea that if you follow society’s rules and

standards, you are guaranteed to have a successful life. That is what many perceive being an

American is like, before they step into the country itself. Over time in American history, the idea

of the “American Dream” has fluctuated, people are finding it harder to make a living; with

prices of everyday items skyrocketing, it has become difficult for Americans to financially get

ahead, never mind living their dream American life.

The American Dream has a different meaning for everyone. But even with all of these

different meanings, Americans today have found it more difficult to get ahead financially, while

also being able to work in a job they truly enjoy. In the articles, “American Dream Faces Harsh

New Reality” by Ari Shapiro, and “Is the American Dream Over?” by Marcus Lu, it revolves

around the ideas of how the American dream has differed over the past decades. Shapiro explains

, “I wasn’t smart enough to go to college, so I wanted to get a steady job with decent pay,

…‘With my overtime I was able to buy a house, take trips to Europe and visit relatives there. I

don’t think a young person — woman or man — coming out of high school now could ever

achieve that.’” (Shapiro 11). The American Dream used to be easy and more achievable. Within

the past decades of US history, it was easier for Americans to achieve their best lives. The

Strandberg family story emphasizes this. Their family was able to achieve things the average
American today couldn’t even think of doing without some struggle.

One outlook on the American dream may suggest the dream is just a hard reality, but

another could suggest that the original American Dream is no longer a thing in our society. Lu

explains where this idea comes from. Lu explains the harsh new reality forced upon current

American generations as he states, “Americans are less likely to earn more than their parents, but

this doesn’t mean that upward mobility has completely disappeared– it's just becoming less

accessible” (Lu 12). Previous generations have been able to be more successful than their parents

very easily. With the populations of the middle classes growing, United States citizens today are

struggling to do as well as their predecessors once did. Looking at what Lu and Shapiro have

said, they both express the message that the American Dream is not what it used to be. The

American Dream has almost flipped itself around, making it hard for U.S. citizens to get by.

Americans are finding it difficult to financially keep up with all of the dues and responsibilities

put forward.

Through some conducted studies, it has been shown that the American Dream has

changed, making it difficult even for Americans to just simply make a living on their own. How

the American Dream changed is a difficult question. In the text, “The Transformation of the

American Dream” by Robert J. Shiller and the poem “America in 4 minutes” by Brandon

Wellington. Shiller discusses how change has occurred within the American Dream. The

American Dream has changed and probably will continue to change into the next decades. “But

the last decade has shown that with a little encouragement, many can easily become excessively

lustful about homeownership and wealth, to the detriment of our economy and society” (Shiller

19). The mindset of Americans has changed, therefore changing our overall economy and

mindset to what it means to succeed in America. It hasn’t taken long for this change to happen
either. This has only occurred in the past decade. Similar to Shiller, Wellington also states the

harsh new realities of how America has changed. He states that living in America isn’t always

cupcakes and rainbows. “It’s also home of people with bad credit/ that can't afford the American

dream house/ In our America, a vast majority of us go into debt/ Because we go to work, we get

our checks, we spend what’s left/ Because in American school systems most aren't taught how to

properly invest” (Wellington 12-16). Wellington uses his word choice to expose the many flaws

that America has developed overtime. The American dream just is becoming more difficult and

harder to accomplish. Shiller and Wellington both use their texts to explain how an American’s

mindset has changed. This has caused the whole country to change how it runs and operates; and

the challenges citizens face to succeed. They both expose the new harsh American Dream reality

we live by. America has changed due to the mindset of the individual which has then had the

domino effect on the rest of our economy. Because we changed how we view the American

Dream, it has made it more unrealistic for others to achieve it.

Bringing these thoughts all together, the American Dream has changed dramatically over

the past decade. This essay mentioned how the American Dream changed and its impact on

others. That being said, connecting back to today’s world, the dream is becoming more

impossible for others to achieve; as our corrupt government continues to make the most

vulnerable of Americans struggle. With wars and pandemics, prices increasing going up, we

begin to question, what is the modern American Dream?

 Works Cited

Lu, Marcus. “Is the American Dream over? Here’s What the Data Says.” World Economic

Forum, World Economic Forum, 2 Sept. 2020,

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/social-mobility-upwards-decline-usa-us-ameri

ca-economics/.

Shapiro, Ari. “American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality.” NPR, 29 May 2012. NPR,

https://www.npr.org/2012/05/29/153513153/american-dream-faces-harsh-new-reality.

Shiller, Robert J. “The Transformation of the ‘American Dream.’” The New York Times, 4 Aug.

2017. NYTimes.com,

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/upshot/the-transformation-of-the-american-dream.

html.

Wellington, Branden. “America in 4 Minutes.” Have My Thoughts,

http://brandenwellington.blogspot.com/2012/11/1st-video-poem.html. Accessed 3 Oct.

2022.
 American Dream Essay Rubric

Skill Advanced Proficient Foundational Not

Yet
Thesis establishes a Appears in first Identifies a topic
complex claim paragraph

Thesis establishes a
topic and a claim

Thesis Comments:
 Includes specific, Includes multiple pieces Includes two or
meaningful, and of evidence (from 4 fewer sources
well-chosen evidence sources) that clearly
that relates to the relate to the thesis Some evidence
thesis relates to the thesis
Includes multiple pieces
of evidence in each body
Evidence paragraph

Comments:

Explains well-selected Explains how evidence Summarizes

points of comparison supports topic sentence sources
among sources and of individual paragraphs
evidence and their
connection to the Explains how evidence
thesis supports the thesis of
Analysis the essay

Comments:

Clearly explains Explains how the Little connection

relationships among texts/sources are between texts;
texts (how they related, though points difficult for the
confirm or challenge could be more selective reader to see how
each other, build on or better developed the texts are
each other, provide related
Synthesis differing perspectives, Includes multiple
etc.) sources in each body
paragraph

Comments:

No errors in MLA format Heading is correctly Some elements

formatted missing or some
 errors in MLA
Pages are numbered format

In-text citations are

correctly formatted

Works Cited format:

hanging indent,
double-spaced,
MLA Format alphabetized, starts on a
new page

Works Cited: each source

entry is in correct MLA
format
Comments:

All quotes are correctly Most quotes are correctly Shows evidence of
integrated integrated basic proofreading

Shows evidence of Follows essay

Conventions careful proofreading organization

Shows evidence of
proofreading

Comments:
Catherine,
This is a big improvement from our first conversation. To improve more, I would suggest
expanding your analysis. Most of your analysis right now borders on summary. For each text
you need to dig into the significance of the evidence. Especially with Wellington, you say
“Wellington uses his word choice to expose the many flaws that America has developed
overtime” How does he do so? Also, you need to clear up some of the format in terms of texts
and authors, and how you introduce them.

Grade: B

Update:
Improved analysis, although it still needs some work. Writing focus for future assignments: more
precise and formal language.

New Grade: B+