The American Dream

The American Dream[pic 1]

The term American Dream has had many shades of meaning throughout American history. Today, it generally refers to the idea that  prosperity depends upon one's own abilities and hard work, not on a rigid class structure.It is a phrase referring to the supposed freedom that allows all citizens and residents of the United States to pursue their goals in life through hard work and free choice. For some, it is the opportunity to achieve more prosperity than they could in their countries of origin; for others, it is the opportunity for their children to grow up with an education and career opportunities; for others, it is the opportunity to be an individual without the constraints imposed by class, caste, race, or ethnicity. In general, the American Dream can be defined as having the opportunity and freedom that allows all citizens to achieve their goals in life through hard work and determination alone. While the term "American Dream" today is often associated with immigrants, native-born Americans can also be described as "pursuing the American Dream" or "living the American Dream". [pic 2]

From the 1900 to the  "Roaring 20s", the American people had been spending more and by the end of the 20’s had got  into massive amounts of debt as they followed the American Dream. 

By the the Great Depression in the 1930s the American dream was becoming a very distant dream. What was once the land of opportunity was now the land of desperation. What was once the land of hope and optimism had become the land of despair.   The American people were questioning all the rules on which they had based their lives - democracy, capitalism, individualism. The American dream was a goal that many Americans where trying to accomplish in the 1930’s. The idea of it was that a person would save up enough money and with it, buy a house with some land and tend to the land and animals and live off the ‘Fatta the land!’ The American dream was important to people back then as in the hard times people needed a dream or a goal to try and archive; otherwise they would soon get dragged down in the great depression. Other American dreams would have been to earn enough money to settle down, be able to support a family, or to become famous and rich as money was extremely important in the 1930’s.
The best hope for a better life was California – it was here that the American dream was the strongest.[pic 3][pic 4]

...