The American Dream The American Dream, a stereotypical dream of being married and having two kids, or better yet, get really wealthy. This typical dream is a growing concept among all. No matter where people came from, what their background was, they still have a chance to make a better life for themselves. However, as time has progressed, human desires have become much more demanding, but when times are bad, they still look toward this dream. The dream today has changed quite a bit. Economic conditions have changed and the things people strive for have become much more than the desires before. When things were at its worse, people looked at this Dream and did what they could to achieve it. This American is still here, but the view on it has changed significantly, yet it’s still within grasp of many. During an earlier time, the American Dream had a much different meaning to it then, than now. The stereotypical dream before was “being married, having two children and living in a three-bedroom home” (Grosz). People had this as a simple goal in their life. Anyone who came to the America or lived there had grown up with this set as their goal. The Dream was promising and had many hopes for anyone. However, as time has progressed and America has gone through some economic crisis, and this made many people change their view on the American Dream. Americans and immigrants did what they could to survive. As things got better though, this led to change the dream again. The current generation, during that time, didn’t want for this crisis to happen again, so they do what they can do prevent it and make a brighter future. Nowadays, after all those catastrophic issues, the American Dream has many different views as to what it is. The Dream changed many times, and this has led it to become unclear and seem unobtainable.
When America went through an economic crisis, the American Dream shifted a bit and the new Dream “meant freedom from starvation” (Harrop). Many had this as a new goal and wanted to survive the crisis. This helped many get through those hard times, since there were many who were in poverty. Slowly as time kept progressing, the economy would recover and so it wasn’t as hard to survive anymore, thus the Dream would change again. The new Dream after the crisis was for the next generation “to live a better life” (Grosz) than the current generation. Anyone in the current generation wouldn’t want the same crisis to happen again, so they would do what they can to help out the next generation and prevent this issue from occurring. From this point, technology would be improving and so many things get easier and more complex. The American Dream was bound to change, and in the 2000’s many believed it was “more about personal fulfillment” (Grosz). Those in America “believe their nation is the land of opportunity and well more than half say they are