What does it mean to be an American? by Olivia Desjardins

"For the sake of our children, for the sake of the spiritual and material well-being of our total community we must be able to demonstrate competence to ourselves. For the sake of our psychic stability as well as our physical well-being we must be free men and exercise free choices."

oliviadesjardins — 2024-05-29 17:29:37 UTC

The American Dream is biased and only see for certain racial groups. Clyde Warrior, says that for the sake of everything, Native American men must be free and have choices. This dream that is hoped upon is only achievable for White American Men even though this dream was for immigrants and other racial groups that fought against the wrongs of society. For some they are able to reach that goal and make the dream a reality, but the realities of many others are it is just an illusion and truly just a dream.

"The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads. I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and coloured. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My country, right or wrong. Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me.- "

oliviadesjardins — 2024-05-29 18:01:53 UTC

The woman in the image is Zora Hurston, she explains what it's like being her and describes in great detail by comparing herself to objects. It's not until she it put against a white background where she then feels African American. This woman is a great inspiration for the American Dream because she died doing what she had loved which is writing and spreading the word. People of different races shouldn't have to feel like they stick out, and shouldn't have to work 10x harder than a white person. Everyone should have an opportunity to achieve their idea of the American Dream, without having to worry about the racial, and sexist views of others.

"The American Dream is very limited. A person has to have a certain background to achieve it. The American Dream is an illusion. America wants one to believe that they have the perfect set of materialistic things to make their life better.--- Not everyone can achieve that though because of the barriers that they have in this country. The American Dream is not achievable by all people because individual’s divergent backgrounds."

oliviadesjardins — 2024-05-31 13:57:14 UTC

I was searching around for the idea of the American Dream being an illusion, and I found this essay from a girl that explains perfectly the struggles of the American Dream for people from different backgrounds. The people that had the idea of the American Dream were people who didn't have everything, people that struggled from their race. Then this dream was turned into something else, more of an ideal for white people. It's a dream that can crumble depending on the person you are and where you come from.

"“The boys could have been many things had they not been ruined by that place. Doctors who cured diseases or perform brain surgery, inventing shit that saves lives. Run for president. All those lost geniuses - sure not all of them were geniuses, Chickie Pete for example was not solving special relativity - but they had been denied even the simple pleasure of being ordinary. Hobbled and handicapped before the race even began, never figuring out how to be normal.”

oliviadesjardins — 2024-05-31 14:13:20 UTC

This shows the restraints on people trying to achieve this dream. Young African American boys, that could have done amazing things if society didn't put these stereotypes and racist views on them. The ideals of the dream shouldn't be to have all of something, but instead to improve society as a place just like the boy, Elwood in this book. His dreams were to change, improve, and become a figure for others, that is the American Dream. Doing what one loves to improve society, themselves, and the way people live.

"Your money draws them and you're absolutely helpless. They have all the law and all the machinery on their side. Tell everybody, when you write your story, that they're scalping our souls out here."

oliviadesjardins — 2024-05-31 14:20:18 UTC

Native American people who had turned the dream into a reality became targeted and killed. This novel shows how selfish white people can be when it comes to money, and having it all. The land that the Native American people had been on forever were ripped away from them bit by bit because other were jealous, and afraid of them getting ahead in life. The American Dream can be given, but it can also be taken away by others just because one is different from the rest.

"Did I want to get rich, did I want to live? Did I want to bring what I got to the block. To the block like this, like this, like this?"

oliviadesjardins — 2024-06-04 13:37:53 UTC

This song in a way shows how people achieve the dream through good or bad. The struggles of having the dream become a reality is giving something up thats apart of you. Everyone gains the dream in their own way, and there shouldn't be ideals for the American Dream. The dream should be what makes one happy, and leave the corrupted side of the dream an illusion.

"I really came up from the bottom Strugglin', my momma on her last dollar Hustlin' and I've been puttin' in these hours. The government been tryna take away what's ours. It's really all about the money and the power. I just wanna see my people empowered"

oliviadesjardins — 2024-06-04 13:45:38 UTC

This song shows the struggle of the racial impacts against African American people. Others that are working hard to achieve the dream are being put down for their work, and aren't getting as much credit as others. For this dream to be real it needs to be achievable for everyone.

“The American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion, as the US now has the lowest rate of social mobility of any of the rich countries,”

oliviadesjardins — 2024-06-04 14:08:37 UTC

This is from a news article stating that we are slowly losing what used to be the American Dream. It also goes to show that this dream is a lot about money and being able to support oneself. People are finding it harder to support themselves with corruption and inflation, and it's causing more people to become homeless. A dream now corrupted with the thought of money, and money only.

"O, let my land be land where Liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wealth, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe"

oliviadesjardins — 2024-06-04 15:10:45 UTC

The poem is about America being a land where people of different races are free. They brought the dream with them and the hopes to rebuild their life and make new of what was old. Overtime it was built up to the American Dream which was then brought back downt o be an illusion because of the ideals of this dream. A simple dream turned into a over- exaggerated illusion.

"Men of America, the problem is plain before you. Here is a race transplanted through the criminal foolishness of your fathers. Whether you like it or not the millions are here, and here they will remain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down. Education and work are the levers to uplift a people. Work alone will not do it unless inspired by the right ideals and guided by intelligence. Education must not simply teach work—it must teach Life."

oliviadesjardins — 2024-06-04 15:15:32 UTC

To gain information about the American Dream and how it came about then education is needed. I believe the American Dream is taught through education because to be educated is to be impactful, and make change in the world. Through hard work and dedication to something as well as enjoying what one is doing is a dream. Sometimes we don't recognize how well we have it until we see how others live. Education is the number 1 important factor to achieving the ones dream.