The American Dream

SPACES AND EXCHANGES

An exchange is the act of  giving or receiving something in substitution for something else. Nowadays these exchanges can take several forms. They can be economic like an exchange of good or trading across borders. They can be cultural like an exchange of idea, information or education. Or they can also be movement of people like student exchanges or immigration …

The United States of America are the country that has the most big migratory flows in the world. If we look closer we can learn that a big part of these migratory flows are from people that came to live the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that anyone living in the USA, thanks to his job, his courage and his determination can be successful. The notion of this possibility that everyone can succeed from nothing, was even more reinforced by the territorial space, the natural resources and the political and economic liberalism that define the USA.

This American Dream has become a myth, but is it still alive? Myth are known to be fictional stories so is the American Dream a story or a reality ?

At the beginning the land was inhabited by the Indians, then the colonists, the slaves and the emigrants came. During the XIX century, with the Industrial Revolution, a lot of Americans succeeded to enrich themselves, thanks to a lot of courage and business spirit. At this time a lot of Europeans came into the USA because of the religious conflicts, poverty and hunger. The immensity of territory that the USA offered was a great opportunity for them to begin a new life. But the American Dream already existed in the colonial empire. The king of England used it as an add to stimulate immigration and the inhabitation of North America since it was just discovered. Since this time, the American Dream never stopped to grow in people’s mind. The actual term of “American Dream” was used for the first time by James Truslow Adams in his book “The Epic of America” in 1931. It meant the access to the fundamentals liberties and the social rise by merit. It’s the American Dream that  allowed to built the USA. Politically, spiritually and economically, it’s this dream that attracted thousands of immigrants.

The first document is an article wrote by Fareed Zakaria in 2010. He is talking about his own life and how the American Dream affected him. He is from India and he grew up there during the 1970s so after the big ascension of the American Dream in the early XX century. Growing up, he was fascinated by America. The living conditions in India were way much lower than in the USA, and with the whole amplification that the American Dream could bring you paradise, the USA were the perfect place to live for him, and for many other people. Fareed Zakaria explains how the American culture brought in India, such as the TV shows like Dallas, made him believe in a country of drama, and businessmen. For them, USA were perfect.

The American Dream gave them a hope on which they could hold on. People who were living in really bad living conditions could hold on on their dream that someday they could make it to the USA and change that dream into a reality. Fareed Zakaria was able to live it. When he got a college scholarship, he was able to go to the USA and he discovered what was the real American Dream. When he arrived in the country he was surprised by how much it was different from his country, and how much what he heard was true. There were big houses with big spaces around. His friends had beautiful houses and were in great colleges, even the ones whose parents had middle class jobs. The American Dream said that you could come from anywhere and be anything you want in this country. That is exactly what Fareed Zakaria lived and to him the American Dream is still alive today as it was years ago.

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