American Dream essays

American Dream essays What exactly is the American dream? Most people have never really thought about this before even though deep down inside they have an idea of what their personal dream is. Ever since the first settlers arrived in Jamestown to set up a new colony in this vast new world, it stood as a place of freedom that was not available anywhere else in the world. People flocked here in search of a new, better life. Over the course of history, however, this dream has changed in many ways. Through interviewing people from different generations, this change in the American dream becomes evident. Helen was born in 1922 into a poor family that lived on a farm. She was put to work on the farm during her early childhood. When I was growing up, children were expected to do their share of the work. I worked some days from sunrise to sunset with my father on the farm along with my brothers and sisters (Bell). Though she had wanted to graduate, Helen only went to school through the eighth grade before she had to drop out in order to help her sick sister. She had dreams of growing up and becoming a music teacher, however she ended up working in a pants plant for 45 years of her adult life. According to her, the perfect life consisted of being ...a good, godly woman with a loving husband and a roof over our heads (Bell). To her, money was not as important as it is to many people in todays society. She found contentment in other things besides wealth, as she lived a happy life with her caring husband and, eventually, became the mother of a family of eight kids. Eddie was born in 1948. With the exception of not having a father, he had a fairly normal childhood until the age of 14 when he moved out to live on his own. Growing up, I always thought of the perfect life as having a loving family, lots of money, a nice house, and a nice car (Edwards, E). He stayed in school and eventually ...