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The American Dream is still a hopeful aspiration but is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve due to economic and social challenges. In the article “your emails: chasing the american dream,” CNN supports this claim by arguing that the american dream has changed over time and is harder to reach for many people. For example, Tim Smithwick from media, pennsylvania, says “I dream of an america that remains respected and admired. And i dream of an america where a child can grow up believing their country sets a positive example for the world.” This means that smithwick believes the american dream isn't just about personal success but also about america being a role model for the world. FUrthermore, carla hale from lompoc california develops this claim further in the same article by stating that “There are no jobs. We both work as does our daughter and she works five days a week and is paying for her college, and taking four classes. My dream of homeownership is slipping away.” Hales experience shows the economic difficulties many people face making it hard to achieve traditional goals like owning a home. Moreover, Adam white from santa clarita, california also supports this claim by arguing that “With a college degree in a productive major yes the american dream is attainable. Without such a degree not likely.” This suggest that education is very important for achieving the american dream, but not everyone has access to it. IN the poll report “How do americans define the american dream in 2015?” 60 minutes/ Vanity fair supports this claim by showing that many people think the american dream is about giving their kids a better life, and two thirds believe their lives are better than their parents,’ which means the system works. The report also argues that “THere's no mystery about how to achieve this american dream: through education.” with 47 percent of people saying education is key. Additionally the report highlights a political divide: “45 percent of democrats say immigrant mostly help the united states; 53 percent of republicans say they mostly hurt it.” This shows how opinions about the american dream can vary based on political views. Ultimately what smithwick and white are trying to convey is that while the american dream is still important it's getting harder to achieve due to economic and social challenges. Both sources show that education is seen as crucial but access to it and other opportunities can be limited, making the dream less attainable for many people

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National: Defining the American Dream | The New York Times

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The American Dream

What people mean by success or the American Dream embodies fundamental assumptions about moral action on the public as well as the individual level. Yet tragically, there is almost no place in American public life where these issues can be discussed...[Only when] people are open to question the cultural ground of their lives...will Americans have public purchase on how to enact new definitions of success, the good life, and the American Dream that may restore a broader sense of purpose to our individual endeavors.

Elizabeth Long
The American Dream and the Popular Novel, 1985

What is the American Dream?
Interrelations of Freedom-Equality-Success
by Charles Brock

INDIVIDUAL DREAMS

From Horatio Alger to the present day we have pushed at the dream of success. Many associate successes with moral virtue - your victories show that you are a good citizen, a loved child, an upright parent, and favored by God. This has energized millions and doubtless has helped America socially and economically. Hard work, reliability, and inventiveness are claimed to be the mainstays of American international success as well.

But what if you fail? Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is an American classic. Christopher Bigsby writes in the Introduction to the Penguin edition [1998]:

...Willy Loman, a sixty-three-year-old salesman, stands baffled by his failure...The American Dream faded. And yet, not so. Myths as potent as that, illusions with such a purchase on the national psyche, are not so easily denied. In an immigrant society, which has, by definition, chosen to reject the past, faith in the future is not a matter of choice. When today fails to offer the justification for hope, tomorrow becomes the only grail worth pursuing. Arthur Miller knows this. When Charley, Willy Loman's next-door neighbor, says that "a salesman is got to dream," he sums up not only Willy's life but a central tenet of his culture.

Willy ran his car into a tree. Was that because of a constricted, or damaging, or even hollow American Dream? We must ask, what are the criteria of success in America? Are they healthy criteria? What alternative definitions of success might we collectively embrace? Does our wealth and security depend on motivating people to pursue a potentially harmful dream of success? Is this a sly way to keep the rich in place?

NATIONAL DREAMS

Malcolm X said: 'I don't see an American Dream-I see a nightmare.' Yet from the beginning America had visions of itself as a chosen and successful nation set apart to show the world the virtues of democracy, capitalism, individualism, and service to others. Internally, Americans prided themselves on the ability to turn the country around on social issues, but even though slavery ceased, Abraham Lincoln called America the "almost chosen people" realizing many faults were not yet overcome.

The lesson of Lincoln's life [was]...that the quest for prosperity is no remedy for melancholy, but that a passion to secure justice by erasing the line that divides those with hope from those without hope can be. [ The Real American Dream, Andrew Delbanco, Harvard, 1999]

Martin Luther King, Jr., standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, called for a restatement of the dreams of the founders and Lincoln so that freedom and equality could be gained for African Americans and other oppressed American groups:

So I say to you, my friends, that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal... [let us] speed up that day when all of God's children - black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants - will be able to join hands and to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

We can ask if America has a mission to the world to promote the dream of success, freedom, and equality as many Presidents and others have claimed. If so, how can the Dream creatively relate to competing ideologies and religions without being imperialistic? It is always time to look again at the ways of understanding the American Dream spiritually and materially, to its positive and negative aspects, and to ask the founders' question - what is America for?

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The American Dream has always seemed like a really big idea to me. Growing up, my parents would tell me stories about how they had worked so hard to give me and my sister a better life how they didn't want us to go through the things they had as kids, and how anyone could achieve their dreams if they put in the effort. Their stories made me believe that if I worked hard enough, I could achieve anything I had in mind. But now, as a junior in high school, I'm starting to see things a bit differently. I notice that some people seem to have an easier time reaching their goals while others struggle, making me wonder if the American Dream is the same for everyone.

The American Dream has been exciting and challenging in my life. It made me want to aim high, do well in school, and positively think about my future. But I've also seen friends and family members face tough obstacles that make it harder for them to succeed, even when they work hard. These experiences make me think that the American Dream is more complicated than just working hard and getting rewarded. I still believe that effort can lead to success, but I also think we need to ensure everyone has a fair shot at achieving their dreams.

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Image #1 connects to me because it has the statue of liberty ad to me that's a symbol of piece which is why I choose that image. For image #2 it says save the American Dream and I agree with this picture because like me and most other people we are loosing faith in the American Dream.