The American Dream

Being a foreign student, Althen’s analysis of American ideals wasn’t the first time I realized the difference between cultures. Before I came to America, we had a family friend who is American and my family would be shocked at some of their behaviors. For example, when their 14-year-old daughter walked out of their house with sandals or sometimes even barefoot, we couldn’t believe it.             Now that I’ve lived in the U.S. for 7 years, I’m accustomed to the U.S. values and feels like I’ve been assimilated into the culture. I’m much more aware of my privacy and became more informal in my life (as I’m slouching in my chair while writing this post).             One value I want to focus on is individualism. As Althen states: “It is not unusual for Americans who are beyond the age of about twenty-two and who are still living with their parents to pay their parents for room...

        During his campaign for Presidency, Barack Obama was under the attack of rumors based on his name, his race, and his origins. I was only about 7 to 8 during the campaign so I never paid attention to this presidential election. But I am aware of the discrimination in our society and I'm sure it played a big role for him. In his speech in 2008 at the Constitution Center, he addressed some rumors and controversies surrounding him at the time to reconstruct his ethos and to further strengthen his presidency. A lot of people attacked him for not being an American, asking him to prove that he was born in the U.S. and claiming that he is a Muslim. Due to the effect of 911, a lot of people in U.S. had a discriminatory mindset toward Muslims and it would be beneficial for Obama to cut the connection and prove his Christianity.  In his speech, He briefly discussed his family background to prove his American status. He states that “I was raised with the help of...

        Reading this academic article brought back memories of last semester when I sat in our library for hours and hours writing research papers for my two classes. I used a lot of academic writings I found online through our library OneSearch database, and they are very similar to Thonney's writing. What really stood out to me is the amount of in-text citation these academic writings include. Soo many parentheses with long names and numbers. I guess we really need to support our claims with sufficient evidence.          As I read the six "standard moves" that Thonney described, they reminded me of what my RWS-100 teacher taught me last semester. Introduce what others have said about the topic, have a strong thesis that maps out your paper, and include opposing opinions. Well, the thesis part can be traced back to middle school when our teacher would give us a strict 5 paragraph outline for our entire paper.       ...

Woah. Wow. That's what went through my mind as I read the assigned reading in Chomsky. He presents such a negative view of the political system in America that is hard to take in. Especially the way he condemned the system, calling it "the vicious circle" that keeps the power in the hands of the elite. The first few pages are basically Chomsky condemning America's political system, ranting about how bad it was when U.S. was first founded. He states that: "James Madison, the main framer of the Constitution...felt that the United States system should be designed...so that power rests in the hands of the wealthy" (1). He thinks that the Madison ideal causes America to have a severe concentration of power in the wealthy and elite, and the system must be fixed. I mean, yeah, the system is not perfect. And I will agree with Chomsky that at the beginning of America, it wasn't a true democracy as women and other races were excluded from elections. However, don...

The term American Dream has withstood the test of time through centuries since the Declaration of Independence. It is a promise to Americans that their hard work will be rewarded. It is a promise that everyone will have a fair chance at achieving his or her personal dream.  There is no question that the American Dream still persists in the society to this day. So, what exactly makes this ideal so powerful and long-lasting? Why do the American people continue to believe in this dream even during economic disasters such as the Great Depression? Let’s start answering these questions by defining the American Dream. Historian James Adams described it as a dream of a better quality of life, “with opportunity for each according to ability or achievements” (White and Hanson 3). Accepting his Democratic presidential nomination, Obama also defined the American Dream in his speech: “that through hard work and sacrifice each of us can pursue our individual dreams…to ensure that the...