Spaces and exchanges: how did the American Dream shape the United States? Is the myth of the American Dream always of actuality?

I am going talk about spaces and exchanges. First at all, I would like to give a definition of this notion. An exchange is the act of giving or receiving something in substitution for something else. In today’s modern – day world these exchanges can take several forms: economic – work exchanges, exchange of goods, trading across borders; cultural – exchange of ideas, information, education; movement of people – immigration, student exchanges, gap years... our modern – day world is changing quickly and seems to be a smaller place due to improvements in technology and communication. Information exchange has become easier thanks to the internet and international trade has enabled us to expand our markets for goods and services that might not have been available to us. These different cultural, economic, sociological and language interactions have transformed and characterised our modern – day world – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. In order to illustrate this notion I have chosen to talk about the American Dream.

How did the American Dream shape the United States? Is the myth of the American Dream always of actuality?

I will first deal with construction of America by the first waves of immigration. Then I would address the question of the sustainability of the American Dream today.

The idea of the American Dream is older than the USA itself – it dates backs to the 1600s, when people began to have hopes for what was a new and largely unexplored continent to European immigrants. People dreamt of owning land establishing a prosperous business and hoped that this would make them happier. Coming to America appealed to many immigrants from the southern and northern parts of Europe as they found a way out of situations of persecution and oppression as well as political and economic difficulties.

People were yearning to live in an open society, where they would become well-off and could afford expensive materials and clothes. They were dreaming of being treated on an equal footing, hoping that in America, they could overcome the social barriers. They were longing to climb the social ladder and to start from scratch. Bruce Springsteen's vision of America is idealised so.

Today’s the definition of the American dream is much different. Rather than looking for great wealth or success, people hope to avoid poverty or loneliness.

Although the notion of American Dream has evolved, America stills a destination for immigrants.

The Al Jazeera news report “The American Dream, Us Life sometimes hard for immigrants”, divided into two parts, show us the two facets of the American Dream. The first portion is focused of a story of an Indian immigrant who now lives in the Silicon Valley. Arriving in the US with an engineering scholarship and fifty dollars in his pocket, this immigrant believes that with hard work and education, the American Dream is possible. We can say that his immigration is a successful one, and that he is living the American Dream.

However, the second part of the news report tells the story of an Afghan women immigrant whit a doctor’s degree. She had heard that there were many opportunities for foreign doctors and a lot of money to do. But her qualifications have not been recognized in America, so she must now do odd jobs to earn money.

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