Gangs Of New York Essay

The American Dream is known as this national pride of the United States. It symbolizes the rights of democracy, liberty, opportunity, and equality that can be attained by all hardworking members in society. The idea itself represents opportunity for happiness, success, and escape from otherworldly problems an individual may have faced in their lifetime. For as long as this ideal has been in place, there have been those who argue of its existence or its truthfulness.

The movie Gangs of New York follows a wide variety of factions existing in New York City in the mid 1800s. After watching this movie, it is clear that the “American Dream” gave immigrants a false sense of hope. The prosperity and success it spoke of could only be attained by natives-wealthy natives at that. Similar to the work entitles How the Other Half Lives, the movie showcases the lives of poor immigrants living in the slums of New York. The time period known as the Gilded Age spoke of dazzling streetcars and beautiful city lights, but it failed to mention the filthy living conditions of a large portion of the US population.

The mid 1800s was a time of mass immigration in the United
These “cliques” aren’t talking about their weekend plans or insignificant drama, they are talking about a war between themselves. The way they look at it, everybody owes and everybody pays. The American Dream was possibly just that, a dream. Looking at the world today, immigrants are still feared and isolated. Do they really get the same opportunities as American born citizens? The cases of happiness and success for “trespassers” weren’t achieved by hard work. The false promises are still heard today. Perhaps before making promises and declaring America as a country of “liberty and justice for all”, efforts should be made to improve society and the likelihood that immigrants will actually be better off by traveling to the