Sophomores #2--The American Dream
COMPLETE AND POST COMMENT BEFORE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11.
You've studied the early colonists and then the early Americans. Both groups of people had visions of the greatness of America. The Puritans envisioned a religious "city upon a hill" nurtured and protected by their God. America's founding fathers constituted a democratic republic that would encourage other governments throughout the world to also engage in a social contract with its citizens, ensuring a protection of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. America was created to be a model of government for the rest of the world.
A Frenchman, Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, emigrated to the colonies in 1755. He married an American-born woman, raised a family, and farmed in Orange County, NY. Life was going well until the Revolutionary War broke out. Unwilling to choose between the revolutionary and the Tory cause, deCrevecoeur fled to England, leaving his wife and children. When the war ended, he published a book in 1782, Letters From an American Farmer, adapting the pseudonym of an American farmer, James, and writing back in epistles to his brethren in England. The book told of the promise of the good life in America; it is one of the first written statements of the American Dream.
The notion of the American Dream (even today) represents a romanticized ideal of the hope and promise of America. For deCrevecoeur, the American Dream promised these new and exciting gifts to all who dared to call themselves, Americans:
1. America is an asylum, a refuge for Europe's poor and downtrodden
2. The American society is a melting pot of people from all over Europe
3. The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.
4. The American is free to worship as he pleases, and religion demands little of him.
5. Americans are the western pilgrims, bringing the best of Europe to this new land, and making it better. Americans are looked upon as leaders of the world.
Throughout America's history, there is no doubt that the American Dream has been realized by millions of successful people. There is also little doubt that reality of America did not always live up to the Dream. Undoubtedly, millions of people experienced failures, too--nightmares, not dreams.
Look over the five aspects of deCrevecouer's Dream listed above.
Write about how any one of those ideas either rewarded OR failed an individual. Ideally, I'd like you to relate a personal story about a relative or someone you closely know. However, if you absolutely cannot think of someone, you are free to write about someone OR some "group" of people. In that case, provide your information source at the end of your writing.
REMEMBER, WRITE A MINIMUM OF 25 BLOG LINES OR 200 WORDS.
posted by JTF @ 1:01 PM
46 comments
46 Comments:
The American dream has personally rewarded my family and me. The aspect of the American dream that states America is like a melting pot in which people from all over the world flock together and become united in America. This particular aspect of the American dream relates to my family because every one of my grandparents were born in foreign countries, including Ireland, Germany, and Poland, and immigrated to America for a better life. This dream rewarded my family because my grandparents came in hopes of living better lives and that’s what they did. Another important point in the American dream is an economy that rewards those citizens that work hard by giving them the chance to become wealthy. Through hard work my grandparents, along with many others, managed to get by in the new world. Also, the American dream indirectly rewarded the rest of my family members and me. If it weren’t for my grandparent’s inspiration to come to America they would have never met. As a result, the rest of my family would have never been born.
One of Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur’s ideas about the American Dream included the idea that the American society is a melting pot of people from all over Europe. This idea has encouraged many people from all over the world to come to America and experience all that is has to offer. Just like America is a melting pot, my family is also a melting pot of people from Europe. My thirteen year old cousin, Andrea, was adopted by my aunt and uncle in Russia when she was just a few months old. They claimed that the adoption home wasn’t suitable for newborns which is why she has resided in America ever since and lived a very blessed life. Another one of my cousin’s, Landen, was adopted about three years ago by my aunt and uncle who already had many kids but wanted another one. Landen was also born in Russia and he was diagnosed with autism just last year. However, he attends a special school that provides for his needs which is another opportunity America has provided him. Finally, my new aunt Sandra, who is originally from Czechoslovakia, would come to America every summer since she was a teenager to work and make money. She ended up working for my uncle and they eventually got married. She now lives with him and their seven month baby in New Jersey. This experience has truly changed her life. Although they may not originally be from America, these family members are still a major part in our family and show that this is the home of many.
My great-grandfather, John Charles Harrington II, is a perfect example of achieving the American dream. Like most Irishmen, us Harringtons arrived in America in the 1840s or 1850s, due to the Great Famine. My family arrived in north-west Pennsylvania and worked on the railroads for quite some time in the small town of Warren. A few generations later, my great-grandfather was born. The details are fuzzy, but when he became a teenager/young adult, John began to search for a job. He applied for a janitor position at The Warren Company, a steel mill, and a few days later he started his first day of work. He worked extremely hard, and it soon paid off. He was promoted to a higher position. Years and years passed as he climbed up The Warren Company's totem pole. Soon, he was the president of the company. At that time, The Warren Company was a very large and economically successful company, and The Warren Company is still alive and well today. Although he had passed away many years ago and I will never see him, my grandfather is a great example of achieving the American dream, as he worked hard for what he wanted, and his time and efforts paid off.
The idea of the American dream is something that my family can closely relate to. My mother is a first generation American, and while my siblings and I are second generation, we are constantly reminded of the opportunity that lies only here. For my grandmother, coming from a wealthy Portuguese plantation family in the British West Indies, America represents a land of new beginnings. Here those who work hard get ahead; her father spent years learning the restaurant business in Manhattan and went on to successfully manage one of the most popular restaurants in the burrow. Here, it doesn't matter where you come from but where it is you're going. My maternal grandfather's family immigrated from Sicily and Naples around the same time. There his mother had been one of the best mid-wives in the area and thus had become one of the first women ever accepted to the University of Naples. They came to America for a better life and opportunities they would never see if they stayed in Italy. Not only for my family but for every family living in America there is a story, a reason why they came and a desire for some part of the American dream. This desire which inspires work ethic is the foundation of our nation where our mixed heritage makes us stronger. Every day there are new stories and more immigrants willing to work for a better life here showing that the American dream will never die!
“The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.”
A few years ago, my dad decided he wanted to start his own business. If this wasn’t enough, he wanted to start two companies. As he began making these dreams a reality, he decided to quit his current job. By this time my dad had money coming in from his businesses, but it wasn’t as much as he had been previously making. Financially, we were set back. My dad was constantly on his phone talking to clients or setting up business meetings. This irked my sister beyond belief. One of the things that made my sister furious about all of this was that my dad had taken the majority of money in our savings accounts. My sister and I had practically nothing. When my sister first found out, she was mortified. I was upset as well, but I was able to understand the reasons behind the decision he made.
My dad and my mom were forced to make some hard decisions about what we would do. My mom’s salary alone was not enough to pay all of the bills. My dad’s company money was barely enough to pay the rest of the bills. We were barely getting by, and at times, it was scary. This was a frustrating time for all of us. My dad felt guilty for putting the family in this difficult situation. Men are supposed to provide for their families, but my dad felt like he had let us down. My mom wanted my dad to pursue his dreams, but easily became overwhelmed with the financial stress. My sister was mad at my dad for taking all of our family’s money and using it for the businesses. Everyone had mixed emotions about what was going, even myself. The idea of starting these businesses was initially very intriguing because we all thought my dad would make a lot more money. We were all excited about the idea of becoming rich. The plan didn’t exactly play out like expected.
My dad was working his hardest, but unfortunately, not all of that hard work paid off. He was making more money than when he started the companies, but it still wasn’t quite enough for us to live comfortably. He arduously worked day and night. Finally my mom and dad decided that he needed to get a part time job. He applied for a part time job at Home Depot. He currently works there part time to make some extra cash. When he isn’t working there, he is doing work for his businesses. My dad’s work day is probably 12 to 13 hours. In between working at Home Depot or working for his businesses, he is doing something for my sister or me. He drops off at school in the morning, picks up after school, takes us to practice, picks us up from practice, and so many other things. My dad is constantly working or taking care of us, which is still work. With all of his hard work you would think that it would have paid off, right? Some things just don’t work out like you planned.
This American dream gift doesn’t happen for everyone: The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.
A personal story that I can relate to de Crevecoeur’s letters based on the “American Dream” is about my father and how he managed to climb the ladder of success through nothing but hard work and dedication. My dad grew up in a family of six where he was the second youngest. He and his siblings all went to Catholic School, funded by his two parents. His father died when my dad was only sixteen years old. With only one working mother to provide for the family, my dad and his brothers and sister knew that they had to work to help out. My father worked various jobs, some pleasant and some not so pleasant, but he did what he needed to in order to help out his mom. After graduating high school, my dad worked his way through college at the University of Delaware. From that point he got a job at Hercules, working there for five years before he worked on getting his Masters degree in Business. He worked at Hercules for quite a long time, and while working there he married my mom, and then began to build a family together. By the time my dad was finished working at Hercules, he had a family of six that I know he is very proud of to this day. After Hercules, my dad received a job at Gore and Associates, which is where he currently works today. I know that he is a great at what he does, and that he always puts his best foot forward at work because of what he learned when he was younger. He knows that nothing in life is easy, and that eventually the only way to succeed on the ladder of success is through hard work.
Is the American Dream still alive? That question is one that is frequently headlining in the news due to the economic downfall of our country. Many critics say that the Dream died long ago when the wealthiest two percent of Americans started to control the majority of the country’s economy. Though, I personally disagree. I disagree because my grandfather is a man that is a living example of the American Dream. Theodore Leonard Skibicki Jr., my grandfather, was born to Polish and Irish parents on April 4, 1944 in Wilmington, DE. His father worked as an uneducated painter and his mother spent her time raising the four children; the youngest and oldest being fourteen years apart. My grandfather went to elementary and middle school at St. Hedwig’s, and continued his education by learning to be an electrician at Brown Technical School, which no longer exists. While he was in high school, my grandfather was made to pay rent in order to live in my great-grandparents home. This taught him the value of money that he still exhibits through his penny-pinching habits today. Fresh out of high school, Theodore went to work at the General Motors plant on Boxwood Road in New Castle. He soon excelled to the position of assembly line foreman. At this time he met my grandmother and soon they had two children, one being my beloved mother. Somehow while doing all of this, and while working the night shift, he found time to play golf and become a master fisherman. I have failed to mention that his and my grandmother’s dream was to always have their own house at the beach, in addition to the one the owned in Newark. They always saved up their money, and started out with renting a small trailer. They transitioned to a larger trailer when the time was right, and finally bought their own house at Bethany Beach in 1984. In 2000, my grandfather retired as the chief foreman in the electric department of the assembly line, after 38 years of at General Motors. He and my grandmother moved to their beach house permanently, and in 2004 they had a bigger and nicer home built in the Cripple Creek Country Club. Here, there is a golf course and the Indian River Bay is 300 yards away from their house. Across the street, he owns a boat slip, and where his prized possession sits all summer. To this day, my grandfather is a hard-working, money-saving man whose life revolves around his family, fishing, and golf. This, to me, is the most evident example of the American Dream that I have encountered in my life. My grandfather grew up poor and “on the wrong side of town,” but as a result of overwhelming persistence, back-breaking labor, and relentless saving, he is now spending his days with his pockets full and doing the things that he loves.
Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur wrote about how part of the American dream was that it was a melting pot of people from all over the world. I can relate to this because someone very close to me comes from somewhere outside of the United States. Back in the Fall of 2005 when I was but a little fourth grader I received news that shattered my carefree world and sent me into an afternoon full of tears. My parents were adopting. As much as I protested my parents were not backing down and I grew to accept the concept of getting a sister though I had no idea what this would entail. Months later in the summer of ’06 I found myself on my first plane ride. We were going to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanchang, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. I enjoyed Beijing and Shanghai, but when we got to Nan Chang it was time to get the baby. We were going to get her in a hotel room a few floors above ours and when we got there, the first words out of my mouth were, “She has a really flat nose!” She was pretty cute, but she cried a lot and hated everyone but my mother. As we finished out trip and headed home, I came to an extremely important conclusion: she is really annoying. As the years have gone by and she has grown and learned to bother me in fresh, new ways I have come to love my sister and I think that her joining the melting pot of America is a success in my life. As far as if it is a success for her, I think that getting a family and coming to America is probably a reward for Lily, and will probably turn into a success story when she gets older.
The past few days we have discussed the American Dream. Many of us have a dream of our own that we hope one day will come true. deCrevecoeur wrote about the gifts granted to those who believed they were Americans. The one that stands out to me is “The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. This one relates to one person that I know has gained this reward.
A few years ago I learned about my Uncle John’s best friend. His name is Tom Herbert. Tom grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of not even two Tom was struck by a train and lost both of his hands. Most Americans would have given up, but Tom is different. He persevered. Tom grew up playing sports and just being a normal kid. One thing though is that Tom is a hard worker. Tom knew that with no hands he wasn’t going to be very successful but today that’s not true at all. At least three times a week Tom is out on the golf course. Golf is a game that uses a lot of upper body and even hand strength, one thing that Tom does not have. It’s amazing though the way he plays. Tom can set up his own tee, pick up the flag up, and most importantly he can nail a golf ball. Even my uncle claims that he is pure inspiration but Tom says he isn’t. He says that’s just simply the way he has grown up. Most people would classify Tom has handicap, but the way he plays on that golf course there is no way you could ever say he is handicap. Tom told my uncle that yes sometimes it takes twice as long to do something but in the end it’s still the same, he is no different than an average person. On that golf course Tom shines. The lesson here is simple. Tom worked so hard in his life to be an average person, to just be a guy. People may stare and call him names but this doesn’t bother him one bit. Tom realizes that this probably wasn’t supposed to happen, but it happened for a reason. He learned a lot about himself. Tom worked so hard and now he is ahead. He is ahead in society, and especially out on the golf course.
Lately you have shared inspiring videos with us. Here is his. Hope you enjoy it!
http://www.digtriad.com/video/680442833001/0/Feature-Story--Tom-Herberts-Zero-Handicap
One of the aspects listed on deCrevecouer's Dream list was “The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.” I find this statement very true and I believe it always will be. If you work hard, you will be rewarded. It’s as simple as that. This reason alone is why I give a lot of credit to my Dad. Obviously, he’s no Bill Gates, but he worked and continues to work extremely hard. After graduating from Rockville High School in Connecticut, my dad went on to study for four years at Purdue University in Indiana. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree. After graduating he moved to Delaware and worked as an engineer for DuPont. During this time he managed to attain a Master of Business Administration Degree from Temple University in Pennsylvania. He started doing real estate work while he was still working for DuPont and he decided that was his real calling. Shortly after working for other real estate developers he decided this was what he wanted to do. On September 11th, 2001 he filed his own company name “RDC” (ReDevelopment Company). My Dad eventually began incorporating architecture along with his real estate work into the company. Now, ten years later, his company is still going strong even in this tough housing market. None of this would have happened without his hard work. He can remember, as a little kid, not just doing the usual building-block structure, but he recalls actually laying out a whole floor plan. That was his calling, he worked hard to fulfill it, and he did just that. Here in America we can accomplish anything we want to if we put our minds to it. The key ingredient is hard work.
The American ideal of society being a “melting pot” in a sense may have been lost in the passage of time. People can sometimes get this cocky minded arrogance about their identity, that their “people” have a sense of superiority to others. But this is entirely false seeing that almost each and every one of our ancestries is a blend of various cultures, as seen in this reflection of the American Dream, rewarding each of us as individuals with different roots and legacies. I can relate this, providing evidence that the melting pot of society still burns strongly no matter how much it might attempt to become “stagnant.” My aunt, of mainly Italian and Irish descent, was involved with a man named Earl. I’m pretty sure he was of African-American and Hispanic descent. They had a child together, my cousin. Who was and forever will be a blend of cultures. Even extending further the “melting pot” of society dream, my aunt now currently dates a Hispanic man. My aunt, cousin, her beau, and his three children all currently live together in the same home; though, tensions may run high some times, they each make up their own ingredients in their very special melting pot. Sometimes they may take on the qualities of a not well-blended food item such as a Chunky Campell’s soup, but they still evince the fact that America is, and hopefully will always remain an interbred melting pot. Only time will tell.
Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, author of Letters From an American Farmer, depicts the “American Dream” and everything that America has to offer. One of the aspects he talks about is “the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead”. When I hear this, I think of the story of my grandfather. My grandfather came to America in the 1920s from Poland. His brother and he came with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They both got a job on a small farm in Massachusetts where they made a few bucks. Since this was during the time of the Great Depression, many businesses were going bankrupt. People were struggling to get by. My grandfather, however, had the Great Depression benefit him. His brother convinced him to invest in a small construction company that was about to go under. It was a big risk, but they decided to go for it. Eventually, the business made it. My grandfather made it through the Great Depression and was now in the middle class. He met the love of his life in the 1940s and they are still happily married. Even though the business is not still around today, he happily resides in Teaneck, New Jersey with his wife. He had all odds against him, but he proved de Crèvecoeur’s point correct. He proved that if you came to America with nothing, you can still make it if you have hard work and dedication.
For this blog post, I am relating my Pop-Pop’s life to #3 on deCrevecouer’s Dream list. The third aspect of this list states: The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. My grandfather always believed that hard work was the basis to success. Even from an early age, growing up in Great Falls, Montana, he was mature enough to know that what hard work could allow him to achieve. He began this life of hard work by helping his parents with chores and housework. He always had an interest in cars and taught himself to drive at a very early age. Thinking ahead, he saved up all of the money that he made from his several small jobs. He knew what he would do with it, so he set his mind do it and did it; he bought a car. Back then, it wasn’t exactly normal for a kid in high school to own his or her own car. He would charge kids quarters for rides to school on a rainy day, making money and paying for gas. He would take apart engines and put them back together for fun, developing a skill he still uses today. Then after high school, not knowing what to do with his life and not being able to afford college, he enlisted in the army with his friends. But then his older brother invited him to come visit him in Delaware. He remembers riding on a train for days straight, not knowing anyone, waiting to see what awaited him in Delaware. It was all very exciting as Montana didn’t have nearly as many people or industries as Delaware. He also says he remembers getting sick from the unusual humidity and heat because the weather back home was so different. While he was visiting, his brother asked him if he wanted to move here. He dropped out of the army and agreed, already having big dreams in his mind. Then his friend from home also came out and joined him. They realized that nothing new was happening back home, but across the country new businesses were being opened, new industries were evolving, and the economy was rapidly growing with more people than they had ever seen in their lives. He started with getting a simple job, saved up, and bought property. Then he opened his own car dealership, Nucar. Through all his hard work and wise decisions, his business flourished. He opened other dealerships and business was doing great. Also in his life he showed that hard work equals success when he started race car driving. He worked really hard and won the World Championships. This also proved that dedication and hard work really does equal success. Another business success in his life is his process of buying property, fixing it up, and selling it for profits. He has done this several times with houses he has lived in, in Delaware and Montana. He also has a big family with lots of children and grandchildren. My Pop-Pop clearly proves that #3 on deCrevecouer’s list is true and still possible, but its not easy.
The aspect of the American Dream that I can relate to is the fact that the American economy rewards the hard worker with the chance to get ahead. My dad came from a humble family living in Massachusetts. His family didn’t have much and they tried really hard to make ends meet. My dad started working when he was twelve years old. He worked part time as a janitor for a local office building near his town for one dollar a day (or so he tells me). My dad worked his way through high school because his father refused to pay his way through college. At the end of his high school years, my father got in to Georgetown University. He worked two jobs to keep up with his payments. My dad was the first person in his family to go to college, let alone finish with a degree. Mostly he credits the support of my mother for his motivation to complete his education, but I know he is far too stubborn and hard-working to not see it through to the end. His hard work did not end there, however. My dad kept working two jobs, one as a bank teller and the other as a cashier at 7/11. I think he might have even started working three by the time my oldest sister was born. He worked all day everyday to make ends meet for his own growing family. His boss at the bank noticed this, and so began my father’s slow climb up the corporate ladder. My dad went from working at his local bank, to MBNA, to Bank of America, and now finally ending up as a Senior Vice President at Sallie Mae. I am so, so proud of my father everyday for all that he does for our family. If it weren’t for his hard work, I would not be living half the cushy life I do. He truly embodies this aspect of the American Dream.
In his epistle, deCrevecouer talks about how, in America, hard work rewards a person economically. He states that the wages which a man earns through hard work allow him to obtain land or more money. This was especially true for Andrew Carnegie, who at the age of 13 immigrated to America. Although this is not part of my main idea, this fulfilled two other ideas of deCrevecouer that America is a melting pot of all Europeans and an asylum for Europe’s poor. His first job was a bobbin boy, a job that involved changing threads and a high likelihood of losing limbs. He earned about $1.20 a week for 12 hour workdays 6 days a week. To give some perspective the average workweek for an American is currently 46 hours with an hourly minimum payment of $7.50, Carnegie worked 72 hours a week with an hourly pay of about one and two-thirds pennies. He then became a messenger and his salary was a more decent, $2.50, but its main benefit was the opening of his superior’s personal library to him. Through his own hard work Carnegie became as he was later described, “a self-made man”. There he learned investment through hours upon hours of study which allowed him to begin investing his small amounts of money. Soon he had earned a modest living, enough to take on riskier adventures. Eventually he became extremely rich not quite through his hard work but through a lucrative investment in a farm where oil had just been discovered. While his fortune mainly came through what would be today taxed as “unearned income”, he certainly managed to work his way up through hard work as described in Letters From an American Farmer.
I chose the fourth option, "The American is free to worship he pleases, and religion demands little of him."In America today, certain religions may be considered inferior to others. Some religions too many Americans seem unfavorable or even wrong. For example, many people in America, especially in Utah, practice the Mormon religion. There is nothing wrong with being Mormon, but society bans polygamy, one of the main aspects and beliefs of being a Mormon. In fact, having more than one wife is unconstitutional. Polygamy is prohibited in the U.S. Constitution, therefore it is illegal. So Mormons in this country cannot exercise their religion without restrictions. Also, in our country, as of recently, the Muslim religion is looked down upon. Since the 9/11 tragedy, Americans have a whole new opinion and outlook on those of the Muslim race/religion. In their religion, wearing certain scarves or headdresses, or any other type of clothing, is essential. If someone who is freely exercising their Muslim religion, other people may or may not think bad of them, and consider them inferior. Freedom of religion cannot always be freely exercised or accepted in America anymore. On the other hand, there is a Constitutional separation between church and state. This means there is no certain religion forced upon Americans, and they do have the right to have their own individual religion separate from other peoples. So in some ways, exercise of religion isn’t completely allowed, but you do have the right to choose your own faith.
The saying that America is an asylum for the poor and downtrodden of Europe has a special meaning to my family and heritage. Before my great grandfather, my entire family had always lived in Holland. But my great grandfather had found a job as a cook on a boat that brought immigrants over from Europe to America. During his job, he had traveled to America many times and saw what it had to offer. So after a few more trips from Europe and back to America, he finally got off the boat and became an immigrant. He then settled down in Brooklyn and met my great grandmother. They both then raised my grandfather and his brothers and sister. My great grandfather had immigrated to America in the 1920s, so he was able to find a job to support his family and live the American dream.
I am very glad that my great grandfather decided to stay in American and be in the asylum for the poor of Europe. If American hadn’t been such a hospitable place, he probably would have just moved back to Holland with the rest of his family. Even to this day, most of my distant relatives still live in Holland. The protection that America offered to my great grandfather let him live the American dream and eventually led to the birth of my close family and myself.
America’s economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. This statement from deCrevecoeur is quite true for my grandmother. She is the director of a preschool program in Delaware. On some occasions, I get to visit her preschool to volunteer. While I’m there, I see how hard she works. She’s always on the move, whether she’s helping teachers, preparing lunch, or filing information. She gets up very early in the morning and usually makes breakfast for the large amount of students that go to her school. Then, later in the day, she makes their lunch. After seven or more hours, she finally gets to go home and get ready for the next day. She truly works hard and it’s great to see that she’s rewarded well for it. She may not be the richest person in the world, but reward for hard work isn’t always money. She has great relationships with her teachers and coworkers and gets to educate young minds on how to make a better future. I admire her work ethic and hope to work that hard when I get a job. Over all, I believe that she does get ahead thanks to her hard work, so the American dream that deCrevecoeur described isn’t really that far off.
The American Dream is not dead, and anyone who thinks otherwise might want to be more perceptive to the world around them. Many Americans have started from nothing and just take a look at where they are now. Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), and my uncle, Vinny Smith (Quest) all were entrepreneurs fulfilling their dreams. I admit that the American Dream might be an exaggerated idea, but the dream is still alive today in Americans all across the country. My uncle Vinny achieved his dream; he climbed his way up the ladder of success and is now one of the richest men in America. Of course Vinny didn't start there. My uncle Vinny was from a middle class family and attended the University of Delaware for college. Right out of college he started his own computer company, and after a couple of years he sold the company for six million dollars. My uncle Vinny then invested the millions he had made in a company called Quest, and became the largest investor for the company. Vinny became the CEO of Quest Software and when the company became wealthier he made billions. In Forbes magazine they listed the richest men in America under the age of 40 and my uncle was listed number six. Vinny is not arrogantly rich, or flashy at all about having money. In fact he's one of the most down to earth people I know. He wears regular clothes, has been sky diving, goes on exotic trips, and is the most generous person I know. Last year for Christmas a gold envelope arrived in the mail, and upon opening it was a Christmas card that came with a check for a couple thousand dollars. This was Vinny's way of saying 'Merry Christmas' by sending all of his relatives checks. Every year Vinny donates money to a variety of charities. My uncle Vinny even offered to pay for my brother's college, but my parents wouldn't accept. The most generous act Vinny has done for my family was that two years ago he sent all 100 of my relatives on my Dad's side of the family to Florida. He paid for airfare to and from Florida, and he rented out an ocean front hotel in Sanibel Island, Florida. Vinny even rented a cruise one night for us to party on. The most ironic part of Vinny being wealthy, is that The University of Delaware always asks him to donate money to his Alma Mater. However, Vinny won't give a cent to the University because they wouldn't let him graduate on time because he hadn't paid all of his parking tickets. My uncle Vinny is an excellent case for the definition of an American. During his early life he worked hard, and now that he has succeeded he is giving back to the people he loves. Those who say that The American Dream is dead are just too cynical and pessimistic. The United States of America is still as rewarding to those who work hard as it was 200 years ago. Sure, America is very different than it was in the 1700's, but the will to aspire is hidden inside every American just wanting to be ignited by the power of determination.
Here in America, a driven, hardworking person will have no limits and get very far in life, regardless of his or her past or background. Here, you can start from nothing and accomplish anything of which you aspire if you are willing to work for it in order to achieve it. It is ambition that is rewarded, and my uncle has demonstrated this throughout his lifetime. Growing up, his parents owned a pizza shop in which he spent much of his childhood. Although he had the opportunity, he did not obtain a college degree, and had decided to open his own business right out of high school. Not only had he invested a lot of his own money and had found investors, but he had also put countless hours of time and effort into making his restaurant grow. Unfortunately, in a short amount of time, the restaurant went out of business, and he had lost everything. However, he is very determined individual, and was quick to try again. My uncle then opened a new one with a new name in a different location, hoping to be successful. This restaurant went out of business just as the first had. Although it was disappointed and frustrating, he grew stronger from the experience and became inspired to work even harder. He understood that there were changes that needed to be made in his approach at reaching success. He took small jobs here and there to make money while he researched. He wanted to figure out where he went wrong and what he could do that would go right. He was determined to do well. His past only enhances the significance of where he has gotten today, and allows it to be so much more rewarding. Later on, he had decided to open a truck leasing business, which has provided for him and his family more than either pizza shop ever could. He would have never gotten there if he had not been so driven and motivated even through hard times. My uncle is a great example that hard work can take you from average to exceptional in an American economy.
Those who are naturally intelligent or inherit wealth are advantaged in life. However, a hard working individual will be able to get so much farther, and will live a much more satisfying one. We are lucky enough to live in a country where hard work is recognized and will lead to great things for those who appreciate it.
Although it is not a personal story, when I read the main points, the first thing that popped into my head was the character Tateh, a poor Jewish immigrant and a character from the famous musical Ragtime. Although nearly a century and a half passed between the times that deCrevecouer immigrates to America and the time that Tateh supposedly comes to America, their motivation is very much the same. Tateh comes to America with his young daughter in search of a better life for the both of them. The two come to America with little more than the clothes on their backs. However, Tateh is motivated and willing to work hard. As a result, he quickly moves up the social and economic ladder. America offered a refuge and asylum for Tateh and his daughter and provided them a better life than they ever could have dreamed of in Europe. In America, Tateh and his daughter are permitted to follow their own faith however they please with no required homage to a certain god or king. To add even more to the American experience, Tateh marries an American woman who had adopted an African American child creating a very mixed family. Despite the time difference, the American dream was still alive for deCrevecouer and for Tateh and, I believe, the dream could still become a reality today for anyone who comes to America with a dream and motivation.
“The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.” This was especially true for my great-grandparents, who immigrated from Italy to America. While in Italy, they had a modest living, but I believe they wanted more opportunities for their 2 sons and one daughter. They came to America on a small banana boat, with little belongings and no real plan. But when they got there, they never stopped working. I still hear stories of my great-grandmother serving polenta to her family every day and my great-grandfather did nothing but work. Although in their lifetime they were never very financially prosperous, their work ethic transferred to their kids. My grandpa worked really hard from the time he was eight to be at a good place now. He has done everything from working at a steel mill, to owning an ice cream shop. He also is not the richest man, but I think the American Dream was fulfilled through his life experiences. He had five girls and been about every place he has ever wanted to go. He has worked hard, and now he can relax and enjoy family time. The quote by deCrevecouer might have painted a different picture to hopeful immigrants; on of becoming incredibly rich by working hard in America. The connotation of the quote is evidently unrealistic, but its literal meaning holds true. We built America on a foundation of not giving up until things were done the way we believed was needed. I don’t think we would be an influential nation if we hadn’t worked hard to build it.
America is said to be a land of opportunity, where those who have nothing can rise to be successful and prosperous. My grandfather is a classic example of the opportunity in America for those who work hard. When he was very little, James Danberg lost his father. His mother ran a small general store to keep the family afloat. To top it all off, she was trying to keep this business alive during the Great Depression. This was not an easy task, but she did it. Because of his childhood, Poppy learned the importance of hard work. He worked extremely hard to help his mother, and he also worked extremely hard in school. Poppy was a firm believer in education. He made sure that his five children and eighteen grandchildren all got a great education. He was very smart and went on to become an engineer. Poppy was a professor at the University of Delaware, and he worked for NASA. He even helped to build a rocket that was on display in the space museum in Washington, D.C. Poppy loved working so much that even retirement could not keep him away. When Poppy became sick, NASA asked him to help them with a project that he could work on from home. Of course he accepted. He was always working on something; whether it be for NASA or mowing the lawn or fixing the hammock so it swings just right, he did it with joy and dedication. He worked extremely hard his whole life, and was very successful. I am proud to call him my grandfather because of his belief that hard work can take you anywhere.
The American society is a melting pot of people from all over Europe. America may not be a melting exclusively from Europe, but at the current moment, I have come to the realization that my family is quite an exceptional example of modern society’s melting pot. Currently, my uncle is seeing someone from Bolivia, my current boyfriend is from Asia, my grandmother has decedents from England, and my grandfather is from Germany. You look at this, and I’d hope you see what I am talking about when I say that my family is a melting pot, or a salad bowl, or a beef stew. I mean, one can tell that I have three other countries’ influencing me and basically pleading me to immerse myself in more than just the American culture. I have South America, Europe, and Asia all in my immediate reach if I choose to delve more into each respective person’s culture. All in all, I see my life as basically a metaphor, if not a conceit for America as a melting pot. Not a melting pot from Europe particularly, but just America as a melting pot for all countries to meld into one strong, united front.
When I read deCrevecoeur’s words, “The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead,” I realized that this is a statement which isn’t always as plain and simple as it sounds. Nowadays, becoming successful through endless hours of work is not always a probable outcome. But, with that being said, I can also immediately think of an example where this did, in a sense, turn out to be the case. My sister, Carolyn, and her new job as a teacher is a perfect example of what can happen when you go that extra mile to make it in this world. From the moment my sister began taking courses in both psychology and education at the University of Delaware, I knew that she was going to prosper in this world. As a Saint Mark’s graduate, Carolyn did very well during her four years of college and ended up on the Dean’s List every semester. As the end of her schooling neared and she began student teaching, Carolyn truly made a name for herself as an upcoming teacher. She took her training in the classroom very seriously and reached out to many of the students in her classes. Carolyn used techniques such as relating the material to television shows such as The Office which showed that she was determined to keep the kids interested. Once her time as a student teacher ended, Carolyn endlessly applied for jobs and sent seemingly hundreds of applications. Her lucky day finally came midsummer when she was invited to have an interview with a member of the Delmar High School faculty in lower Delaware. Within a few days, Carolyn was offered a teaching job at Delmar in the social studies department. Carolyn made the move down there and began her school year surrounded by new faces of students and coworkers. She has been working so hard during her first year of teaching and has done everything she can to make her classes connect with what they are learning. My family and I are so proud of Carolyn and the journey she has embarked on over the past years. At times, her job in “the South” has proved to be quite a transition from what she is used to, but she always remains positive. After all, she actually managed to get employed out of college and beyond that, she is growing as a person every day.
Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur published Letters from an American Farmer in 1782. He wrote the book in epistle form, and in his writing he assumed the role of an American farmer writing back to his brethren in England. Crevecoeur was a Frenchman who had emigrated to the English colonies in 1755. His work is one of the first written statement of the American Dream, which represents an ideal of hope in America. One of the five aspects of the American Dream mentioned by Crevecoeur is the ability of citizens to progress economically through hard work. While not all Americans have been rewarded for their hard work, the American Dream has been realized by millions of Americans, including my uncle Matthew Doyle.
My uncle started working when he was thirteen years old. His first job was delivering newspapers every morning before school. Ever since, he has never been unemployed. When he was in high school, he made money by cutting peoples lawns. He went to college and earned a degree in communications. After college, he worked for many years in several different media companies. Through hard work, he managed to gain a promotion to regional manager at Comcast. He finally managed to save up enough money to start his own business. His business was successful and he was able to retire from the corporate world.
Crevecoeur’s ideas about the American Dream still hold true today. America has changed over the years, but it is still a “melting pot” that offers refuge to the poor and allows social mobility. My uncle is just one of countless people who have gained success through hard work. Many people have overcome much greater obstacles in order to achieve the American Dream. While prejudice and discrimination still exist in America, it still offers great opportunity for success.
Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur published Letters from an American Farmer in 1782. He wrote the book in epistle form, and in his writing he assumed the role of an American farmer writing back to his brethren in England. Crevecoeur was a Frenchman who had emigrated to the English colonies in 1755. His work is one of the first written statement of the American Dream, which represents an ideal of hope in America. One of the five aspects of the American Dream mentioned by Crevecoeur is the ability of citizens to progress economically through hard work. While not all Americans have been rewarded for their hard work, the American Dream has been realized by millions of Americans, including my uncle Matthew Doyle.
My uncle started working when he was thirteen years old. His first job was delivering newspapers every morning before school. Ever since, he has never been unemployed. When he was in high school, he made money by cutting peoples lawns. He went to college and earned a degree in communications. After college, he worked for many years in several different media companies. Through hard work, he managed to gain a promotion to regional manager at Comcast. He finally managed to save up enough money to start his own business. His business was successful and he was able to retire from the corporate world.
Crevecoeur’s ideas about the American Dream still hold true today. America has changed over the years, but it is still a “melting pot” that offers refuge to the poor and allows social mobility. My uncle is just one of countless people who have gained success through hard work. Many people have overcome much greater obstacles in order to achieve the American Dream. While prejudice and discrimination still exist in America, it still offers great opportunity for success.
"The American Dream," an almost surreal fantasy of America for some, but also an incredible nightmare for others. In one of deCrevecoeur's 1782 "Letters From an American Farmer," he mentions the lost and found promises that America offers. He also states that America is "a melting pot of people from all over Europe." This is true in a sense, but not completely. America is simply a place every nationality around the world can be found. The first settlers of America were mainly Europeans, but in the next century or so, people from all around the world transcended the boundaries of their original homes and migrate here to start a new life. Some of my family, except for my dad and I, came here from the Philippines a little more than 20 years ago to start anew. My mom came here and met my father 16 years ago, and only me and my dad were born here in America. I disagree with calling America a "melting pot" necessarily because we are blended together,yet we are somewhat separated, such as many years ago, when segregation was practiced, America could not have been a melting pot at all. Today, things have definitely changed for the better, and at the same time, we are all different and unique individuals ourselves. There's no distinct way of distinguishing an American by our looks, just maybe our accent. Americans are more sophisticated than we seem, but that's what makes the "American Dream" more satisfying to reach.
All of de Crevecoeur’s points mean close to the same thing: America, like a new world, is truly a place where anyone can come and have a new life. So if you are rich, poor, white, Hispanic, Italian, Chinese, or any race, America is an asylum for everyone. All of these points can be related to the Irish. The Irish were poor, so this is an example of point number one: America is an asylum; a refuge for Europe’s poor and downtrodden. Also, most of the Irish immigrated to America after the great potato famine, so not only were they poor, they were downtrodden, discouraged, and looking for a new start. Point number two, which says that America is a melting pot, also applies to the Irish because they could melt in with all of the other people immigrating to America. The third point, America rewards the hardworking, is something that the Irish believed and was one of the biggest reasons they went to America, to be rewarded for their hard work and be able to provide for their family. Also, point three, America is a place for free worship for any religion, is another reason the Irish came to America. Finally, point five, America is made of western pilgrims who make it better and make it a leader of the world, sums all of this up. America is really the way it is today because of the Irish and other groups who immigrated to America, looking for a new start and to make this new world a leader of the world. And from those very humble beginnings, America has truly become a leader of the world today.
My grandfather is a great example of how the American economy rewards the hard worker. Before he opened Pennbantam Market, he didn’t have much. However, as he and his family worked hard to keep the place going, it grew. My dad often shares stories with me about how crazy my grandfather was when he ran the store. Everything was to be as close to perfect as it could get, from the sandwiches to the employees’ attitudes. This was also during a time where the neighborhood was a community and everyone talked to everyone. That meant that even if my grandfather wasn’t at the store at the time, he heard about what went on in his absence. My dad also told me about the numerous times that, even after the store was closed for the night, he was still up there making subs for the customers who ordered in advance. In the end all the hard work that my grandfather did paid off. He was able to retire at age fifty, though he worked other part time jobs because he wanted to do something. There was another benefit to the store as well. My dad learned the values of hard work, which he in turn passed down to me and my brother. He also made lifetime friends that he wouldn’t be the same without. My grandfather’s hard work did, and still does, a lot for his family. It proves that America has great opportunities for those willing to work hard.
A man closely related to me, whom I, unfortunately, have never had the chance to meet, is truly the epitome of the hard working American. My grandfather (I call him Pépé) started his own precision grinding business in his garage. As soon as he got married to my grandmother (I call her Mémé), they had children. Mémé had to stay home with the children, so Pépé was the only one working in the family. Mind you, he was working in a tiny garage for a tiny business he started himself. The family lived paycheck to paycheck for some time. But then Pépé moved the business out of his garage and into a building in Chicopee, Massachusetts, the town where they lived. His shop had machines which would grind parts of airplane engines to a precise size and shape. The shop started to grow just like his family (Pépé has twelve children!) and started to grind parts for the airplanes at the Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, large manufacturing companies, and the United States government. The job was a hard one. It required long hours of laborious activity. But I’m sure Pépé was proud of his work and his ability to raise twelve children. I believe he had “social mobility;” he rose from the lower levels of society to the higher ones. Although he passed away from cancer in his early sixties, his shop was still thriving. One of his sons, Ronald, took over the business in Massachusetts and another son, Richard, opened a shop in California. It is now a multimillion dollar company. I am so proud to be the granddaughter of such a true, down-to-earth American, and I truly believe that America still rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.
I know a friend of my family who has truly achieved the American dream. He left his homeland of Cuba as a teenager and established a life for himself in America. He proved that America is an asylum, not just for mistreated Europeans, but for anyone. Through studying and working, this man proved that one can rise above adverse circumstances and triumph, in both a personal sense and an outwardly sense.
Because of their religion and education, his family and many others were targeted by the Cuban government. His school was shut down. However, he was also a candidate for an American government program to help Cuban youth. About a year after Fidel Castro’s takeover of Cuba, an airlift came and took him to safety in America. He and all of the other kids on the plane left their families behind them.
Once in the States, he came to Delaware and was sponsored by a local high school. He stayed in a kind of dormitory and attended school nearby. He quickly learned English from his schoolmates and teachers.
Today this man is the epitome of success. He has a family here with his wife and children. He has a job that makes money but is also rewarding and beneficial to the community.
The one idea of de Crevecouer that I can relate and understand closest to is the idea that the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. In a way, this idea rewarded him, but it is also beginning to fail him.
The way that I can tie this idea into my personal life is with my dad. To me, my dad is one of the hardest working people in the world but he can never seem to get ahead. He is always working for us. He provides for his family and because of his hard work my sister and I get to go to good catholic schools. The reason that I think that this idea is beginning to fail him is because America’s economic situations really sucks right now. It is starting to affect my dad and his work in my eyes. He may not be thinking in the same way that I am but to me this idea of our economy giving the hard working a chance to get ahead has been completely flipped around. Nowadays, No matter how hard you work, it gets harder to get ahead. There are always people looking to take advantage of your hard work to make a buck.
Many immigrants come to America with the hope of becoming a legend, of breaking stereo types, and most of all, being remembered. But what determines if a person succeeds or fails? Should they be hardworking and persevere in the hopes of becoming a revered, or shoot to become a movie star based on witty commentary and a pretty face? It all depends on the person. When he was just in his mother’s stomach, Basil Muzzi became an American. His parents had emigrated from Italy without a dime to their names. Eighteen years later, a young Irish woman named Una Henry also traveled to America with the idea of taking the country by storm. Soon Una and Basil met and married. Unfortunately for them, America was not the country they thought it would be. Opportunities were not around every corner, and people did not simply succeed by moving to the nation. But the Muzzis worked to have a beautiful life, had two little girls, and eventually came to move into the neighborhood my mother lived in growing up. Mr. Muzzi started his own business as a television repair man out of his own basement. Despite being agoraphobic, he made enough money to provide for his family and send his girls to Ursuline Academy. Although this doesn’t seem like the most glamorous lifestyle, to me it is the true definition of the American dream. The Muzzis were happy and a tight-knit family who, thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Muzzi’s perseverance and faith, could live comfortably. They earned that with hard work and not much else making them the ideal American family who achieved the real American dream.
One person who knows a lot about hard work and dedication in my family is my father. My grandmother gave birth to and raised eleven children, which means my dad had to share a very small house with ten brothers and sisters. Also, my grandfather was deployed in the marines. He had to start working at a really young age along with his siblings to support each other. After he graduated from high school, he did not attend college. Instead, he continued to partake in laborious jobs that involved large amounts of difficult tasks and manual labor. Soon after he married my mother and my sister was born, he started working at Turnquest apartment complex. He would repair all the rooms and appliances within the rooms, as well as do yard work and other things around the buildings. He worked for long hours and not exactly great pay. But after years of doing so, he worked his way up the “ladder of success” and became a manager at Turnquest. Now he supplies the rooms for new-coming residents and hires others to perform tasks such as he did when he started working there. My dad still uses the knowledge and techniques he learned from this labor to fix things for my family, and for all our relatives. He tells me all the time about how hard work and success are related so I guess his father must have strongly believed in the American dream as well. When Mr. Fiorelli talked about how previously in America hard work led to success, I immediately thought about my dad.
Everyone has a dream. Not too long ago, there was a dream called the American dream. It involved freedom, liberty, rewards, and the pursuit of happiness. Now the American Dream is slowly dissolving and becoming more like the “American nightmare.” Analyzing the five aspects Crevecoeur talked about in his speech, I compared those with the current America. Is America currently an asylum for the poor and downtrodden of Europe? Yes we are, which is part of the reason why we are in debt. We help and give money to people that we don’t have. It’s certainly a great thing to be helping people but when we are in need of help ourselves and are giving money that we keep on needing loans for, giving money is then not a good idea. Melting Pot. Two words that we too often pair with America. Yes, America is a melting pot but we debate whether or not to be a melting pot. Some American citizens are sick of illegal immigration and want an end to immigration to the “great America” all together. Is this what we want? To block off foreigners to share in the freedom we take for granted? Do we want to send off any immigrant, legal or illegal, who is doing the low-paying jobs that we don’t want to do? To shun any immigrant wanting to be a part of the “American Dream”? Maybe we do these things without realizing the impact it is making on our reputation as a world leader. Our economy is another issue that is trying to be resolved but can’t because of the uncongenial politicians in Washington, D.C. Another aspect of the American Dream is to reward hard workers with a chance to get ahead. The economy currently is so in debt (trillions to China) that it doesn’t have the money to promote hard workers. The next aspect of Crevecoeur’s speech is religious freedom. For the 200 plus years America has been independent, we have had religious freedom but it has changed for certain religions recently. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2011, we have judged Muslims harshly even though they were not responsible for the terrible actions of the dozen men who share their same faith. What people who judge them may not realize is that there were Muslim wives, husbands, and children who lost close relative (parent) are still going through the same struggles of other religious ethnicities who lost their loved one on that day. I wasn’t surprised to know that the Muslims weren’t allowed to build a mosque close Ground Zero. I understand especially because all what people who lost a loved one on 9/11 is cry and blame and mad at whoever caused it so they wouldn’t want to be reminded of who. On the other side, the Muslims who wanted to build hopefully/probably weren’t planning to do to upset anyone. Their “mosque” is a house of prayer; not a house of terrorism. No matter what, the Muslims who emigrated from their home country didn’t support the terrorists and were most likely devastated just as we were when they heard the Muslim terrorists. If America learns to accept others and not stereotype people and races, maybe we will once again be a world leader. Right now, there is no hope in America being a world leader because of the major financial crisis. A good leader, especially one of the major leaders, wouldn’t owe trillions of dollars to foreign countries. Part of being a leader is to have loyalty and to agree and harmonize. If this country could agree on politics, we wouldn’t be in such a crisis we are in now. To be a world leader, you must excel in studies. The US is slowly going down the line on the world’s most educated (smart) nations. We used to on top, like number four, now we are in the twenties because we aren’t spending enough time and money to schools. If the US will fix these problems steadily, Americans will gain confidence in “the land of the free” again and America will be a great and influential world leader.
When I was a little girl, my dad would often take me to my Nana’s house to visit my great-grandmother. I didn’t know very much about her, other than she had come to the United States from Ireland long before I was born. After talking to my Nana, I realized that my great-grandmother, Bridget Sullivan, did not just wake up and decide to come to America; she had immigrated to the United States in search of refuge to escape the poverty of her family back home in Ireland. My great-grandmother was the oldest of twelve children in her family. During this time in Ireland, a family that had so many children – so many that they could no longer adequately provide for their needs - was forced to send the eldest child to live with another relative. My great-grandmother, being the eldest child, was sent to live with her two aunts only a few blocks away. This caused my great-grandmother to feel resentment towards her father, who she blamed for sending her off, and jealousy towards her other siblings, who remained in the comfort of their home. Her Aunt Gracie, who had recently moved to and prospered in America, invited her to come for a visit. After visiting her Aunt Gracie, my great-grandmother fell in love with the United States and the thought of escaping the family she felt had abandoned her. However, she had next to no money and could not remain in America without her family knowing, so she returned back home, disappointed. Her Aunt Gracie, eager to have my great-grandmother come live with her, offered to pay for Bridget’s move to America. In 1924, at seventeen years old, my great-grandmother immigrated to the United States. She stayed with her Aunt Grace and her husband and was able to find a job as a cook for a wealthy family on Delaware Avenue. .It was in Delaware that she met her future husband and would remain with my nana and our family until she passed away at the age of ninety-seven. My great-grandmom raised the type of family she felt so desperately isolated from. She left a legacy of two beautiful daughters, six grand-children, and nine great-grandchildren. America became a refuge for Bridget Sullivan.
I believe that Crevecoeur’s ideas about American are very bright and optimistic, but not necessarily realistic. I believe that Crevecoeur’s idea about America being a refuge, or asylum, for Europe’s downtrodden is mostly true, but not always today. He talks about the melting pot that is America, and I do agree that it is a great melting pot. I don’t agree though that it is a refuge for everyone necessarily.
Several years ago, my aunt and uncle hired an au pair from Russia to take care of their child because they were constantly working and were hardly home. Tania came and lived with them and was the biggest help to the family. She was a caring young adult, with big plans for her future, which she believed would be in America. After three years of service with them, her visa expired and was facing having to go back to her rather poor town in Russian. She had been sending money back to her mother the entire time she was here, but once when went back she would not be allowed to return to the states for an unknown period of time. It was heartbreaking to see her go, but there was nothing that could be done because her visa had already been renewed once. I believe that people like Tania deserve to stay in America because they are hardworking and helpful to everything. It is a melting pot in America, but also can be so exclusive of people just trying to have a steady job here, and coming legally from places of less opportunity.
The American dream was very elusive to some immigrants who traveled to the new nation. Some prospered and some failed in America. One immigrant, in particular, was my great grandfather, Pop Costos. Born in 1895 in Lemnos, Greece, Christ Constantakis traveled to America at the age of nineteen to begin a new and better life. From the start, he was determined to learn the English language and live as an American. He became an official U.S. citizen on December 17, 1928, and Americanized his name to Chris Costos. As a waiter and bartender at the Kent Hotel on Market Street in Wilmington, Delaware, Pop worked hard and eventually became the Assistant Manager of the hotel. He married my great grandmother, Catherine Marusczak, in 1934, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Christina. Love for his family was evident at the weekly dinners he hosted every Sunday at his home. All his immediate family members were invited along with other family and friends who would stop in for a bite to eat, glass of wine, or to join in on the card game that followed dinner. Pop loved the fact that he was an American. He loved it so much that when he held dinners and parties at his home, he insisted that his family and guests only speak English and not in their foreign language. Pop continued to work hard and support his family. He retired at the age of seventy-five after fifty-six years of working at the Kent Hotel. He later died at the age of eighty on November 3, 1975. My grandmother (his daughter Christina) and my mother continue to share many stories about Pop Costos. I’m told that he was the most kind and generous man you could ever meet. His family was most important to him. He was able to see his daughters marry and have families of their own. His grandchildren were his pride and joy; they meant everything to him. My grandmother confirmed that Pop loved his life, loved being an American, and never regretted his decision to leave his native land, Greece. When describing the American Dream, one could say that Pop Costos is most certainly an immigrant who prospered in the new nation and is a model of the American dream.
I do believe that America is a big, melting pot for every country. It has so many different races and religions and backgrounds. I know this pretty well because my family is extremely diverse, and is from all over the world, and all came to America. My dad's mom came from Cuba. My dad's dad came from Italy. My mom's mom came from Switzerland and my mom's dad came from Germany. With all this different ethnicity i see in not just my family but in other families, it is easy to see how people can call America the melting pot. My great-grandfather was born in Mexico, traveled to Cuba, fell in love with my Great grandmother and came to America with his family, my grandmother and her brother. My Grandpa was an only child born from an Italian man who bravely came over to America and settled in New York in hopes of bringing his son (my grandpa) up with opportunities and dreams. I am very much a mixed breed, with many many different ethnicity. I also can claim that i am Spanish, Welsh, Argentinian, Guatemalan, Native American, and Indian. I have so many different parts to me and my family, but we all came together, from all corners of the world, to this great land i live in now, America. The brought them opportunity to raise a family and have the freedoms they would not have had back in Cuba or Mexico. I am very proud to be so diverse, and very thankful for the melting pot known as the USA.
An idea of the American Dream that, in a way, failed my great-grandfather is that the American economy rewards the hard worker with the chance to get ahead. My great-grandfather was a teacher in Italy. He came to America with his family with the hope of being a teacher in America and having a good life for his family. The job that he received when he came to America was to be a railroad worker. Not only was his name shortened from Signorelli to Senall for the convenience of his bosses, but he was also never able to become a teacher. He worked on the railroad his entire life. Even though my great-grandfather worked very hard and tried to become a teacher, he never did. This contradicts the ideal American Dream that de Crevecoer wrote about and belived in. Even though he did not fulfill his dream to be a teacher, he was proud of his work ethic and how he succeeded in bringing his family to America and taking care of them. Because of his hard work, his children were able to have their own dreams and realize them. His children were American citizens who were able to be proud of themselves and raise their own families. Even though the hard work aspect of the American Dream failed my great-grandfather, the dream of coming to America and having a good life for your family rewarded him.
America is most definitely still a melting pot. I can tell this because my family is a gigantic mix of many nationalities. And if America had never become a melting pot I would not be made up of all four, or more, nationalities. My mother’s side of the family is mainly Italian and Irish. There are also a couple of other nationalities that are very minor in percentages. And if America had never become a melting pot I wouldn’t have these two very conflicting nationalities as a part of me. My dad’s side of the family gave me the nationalities of Irish, English, and German. There are also more nationalities that I am not sure of. This shows that just by using me as an example, America is an enormous melting pot. I, myself, am a melting pot with at least four different ingredients. Could you imagine me as someone that was only English? Where would my power to fight back come from? It wouldn’t come from my Irish nationality. My devotion to family wouldn’t even close to what it is now because I wouldn’t be Italian. I might not have had so many teeth problems if I didn’t have the English nationality. Would I be such a hard worker if I wasn’t German? I doubt it. America is most definitely a melting pot. But that’s just the way I like it, because without the melting pot I wouldn’t know the people I’ve come to know, dislike, argue with, make up with, and love.
I am sitting in Mr. Hannigan’s class one day and he is talking about a rather concerning point. We are talking about the current economic situation in the United States (which in and of itself is enough to make me lose sleep). However, he has it in his mind that the sorry state of things can only mean one thing. This is the beginning of the downfall of western civilization. We, as the great “socially and economically advanced” nations of the West will no longer be dominate political superpowers. This is a very scary thought for some. The United States has been the world leader for the last one hundred years or so and now that dominance is threatened. So I challenge the American people to do two things. Stop this disgraceful corruption of the American Dream. No single amount of money can ever replace the satisfaction of continuing to support the United States, the true pillar of freedom. Second, I challenge you to continue the dream. Help ensure that we continue to be the leader for your generation, for my generation and all the other generations to follow. And should this be the end of the West civilization’s dominance, so be it. But never, ever let the ideals set forth by our founding fathers ever lose that glimmer of hope.
Looking back at the origins of the family business, I can tell that the American economy really does reward the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. At the age of 14, my dad’s grandfather (that would make him my great-grandfather) escaped from Smyrna, Turkey, to France. He was a Greek and, around the time he escaped, Turks were either executing the Greeks or forcing them into the Turkish army. From France, my great-grandfather made his way to Canada. He made some money in Canada before eventually coming down to Washington, D.C. Again, my great-granddad worked and made some more cash, and after a few months or years- I’m not sure which-, he moved back to Greece and met the love of his life. He took his love back to the U.S. through Ellis Island, settled down in the city of Wilmington, and started a family and a sub (sandwich) shop. After many years of hard work, my great-grandfather decided to change his sub shop into the Constantinou’s House of Beef. Eventually, my great-granddad had to exchange ownership to his son who is also my grandfather. The legacy kept going up to today with my dad who owns the rated #1 steakhouse in Delaware, Walter’s Steakhouse. My great-grandfather had to work really hard in order to live the successful life he had in America, and that hard work he put in has really paid off in the present.
Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur wrote how "the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead." However, for a particular man, the "American Dream" was a nightmare - and when he awoke, the reality was much, much worse.
My grandfather built his house himself, basing the largely-wooden structure off of an existing stone wall from a previous building. It required a lot of work to maintain. When he got older, he hired an independent construction worker named Chuck to fix it up.
Chuck was always a hard worker - he did good, quality work. Sadly, the economy took a big turn for the worse, and because of the actions of people he would never meet, that controlled big industries, there was little employment to be found for an independent construction worker, and he was out of a job. Under stressful conditions, we all have our vices; Chuck quickly became an alcoholic, and couldn't pay his bills.
For Chuck, who had always worked hard and always tried his best, the "ideal working man," the American dream failed, showing that this country is far from perfect.
Today the American Dream can be viewed as nothing but a fable of old. The old American dream was to be able to have a family of any size and support them. You used to be able to get job and become rich and prosperous with nothing but, hard work and a plan. Now though with the high taxes most cannot get out of the hole and start to move forward in society. To most the new American dream is for the United States government to care of them for the rest of their sad lives. With all the benefits and programs the government has in place. Some people haven’t had to work a single day in their life because they have learned to abuse the programs for their own gain. The real problem with this is that it can destroy the dreams of others. This is because the taxes that are enforced to pay for these programs bring previously well off families closer to poverty. And then those families start to have to go to these programs thus bringing taxes even higher. And the viscous cycle continues to the point where no one can achieve their original hopes and dreams.
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