The American Dream Argumentative Essay

Moses Nyirakomini
Mr. Connors
Intro to Composition
15 October 2014
Don’t Worry, Be Happy “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” that is just one of many quotes of the idea of the American Dream. Many people have different perceptions of what they think the American Dream is; some people believe the American Dream doesn’t exist, some believe it’s about having a sustainable job and a family to take care of, and some people think it’s all about being rich and living life in the fast lane. There are many different opinions about this topic but the best one to ever come up is happiness. The key to the American Dream is happiness, there’s no point of going through life feeling sad and wanting people to feel bad for us, we as Americans can dictate those negative emotions and decide whether we want to be depressed for the rest of our lives or pursue the dream we’ve always wanted to achieve through hard work, personal values, and education. Happiness is the result of achievement, as individuals, we must figure out what we want to do once we’re out in the real world; whether it’s becoming rich and famous, or just owning a regular house in a middle class neighborhood, we all have goals that we are looking to achieve so that we can be happy but the only way that happiness can be obtained is through hard work. As Bill Rancic stated “The American Dream is still alive out there, and hard work will get you there. You don’t necessarily need an Ivy League education or to have millions of dollars startup money. It can be done with an idea, hard work, and determination.” (Rancic)This quote is explaining how anyone can achieve success in America, through hard work and perseverance. It doesn’t matter how much money an individual has, hard work and effort can get anyone anywhere in life and land anyone any kind of job they want. A lot of businesses look for people who are hard working, determined, dedicated, and enthusiastic. They’re looking for someone who’s innovative, someone who can brainstorm and come up with ideas that can benefit the business. They’re also looking for people they can count on. One of the perks of being a hardworking person is that people can count on you and when people know that they can trust you, it makes you want to work even harder. One the most notable things the quote states is, “it can be done with an idea, hard work, and determination.” It all starts with having creative ideas and acting upon them. Some examples are writing them down, talking to people about them, and even gathering inspiration from other famous people who were in the same position. It all comes down to how much effort a person can put in order to become successful and happy with their life. One topic Americans seem to forget when it comes to the American Dream is freedom, and that’s mainly due to the fact that we don’t have that much freedom in America. For example, in Idaho and in many other states, gay marriage is outlawed, which is unconstitutional discrimination, it’s taking people’s rights away in a country where we are “supposedly” free to make our own decisions in life. Making our own decisions that allow us to be happy is what makes us free and what makes us adults, if we cannot think for ourselves or even have our own personal values then there’s no point of living? “As we grow up, we take on board the personal values of others around us until we reach the teen years and start to accept or reject such values as being a part of who we are, or not a part of our own selves.” (Wiki How) This quote is basically saying that as we get older and start to take up responsibility, we tend to stop accepting values that are compressed into our brains by our teachers, friends, parents, and society. Our adolescent years are a perfect time to stop, look at ourselves in the mirror and decide what set of values we want to implement into our lives. Another quote states that “Values aren’t buses…They’re not supposed to not supposed to get you anywhere. They’re supposed to define who you are.” (Cruise) This quote is simply saying that our values are supposed to be a reflection of who we are. A lot of people have this messed up way of thinking that religion should be implemented into an individuals values and if it isn’t, that individual will be considered a bad person and will never be happy. This type of thinking is completely ludicrous, our values should be set on what kind of people we are and what kind people we want to be. Do we treat people with respect, do we love our family members, and are we all around good people? If a person doesn’t believe in what society says to believe in, that doesn’t ultimately define them as a bad individual. As Americans, from Kindergarten all the way to our final year in high school, we’ve spent most of our lives in school. After that, we can either go on to college or go straight into the workforce. Even though college is largely expensive and resorting to student loans might be the only way, most people think it’s worth it, seeing as they can get a better job once they’re out of college. A quote from Larry Wade states “I feel like I kind of represent what the American dream is all about. I was the first person in my family to graduate college.”(Wade) This quote is what represents most of Americans aspiring to go to college. Being able to say that you graduated before any of your family members can bring a smile to a person’s face because they know that the diploma they received was definitely earned because of all the long hard aggravating years of studying, taking tests, and typing essays. Another quote from Margaret Mead states “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” (Mead) This quote is saying education is so much more than just being able figure out tons of math problems; it’s about going out into the real world experiencing and learning new things. College doesn’t even have to be a main source of education, there are so many careers out there that anyone can further their education in, for example animation, many great animators in the past were either newspaper cartoonist or just taught themselves. Walt Disney never went to college, he actually only went to high school for only one year and dropped out at the age of 16. Obviously times have changed regarding the subject of high school drop outs but it just comes to show how one man was able to become such a success through his love of animation and his desire of wanting to learn more about this amazing art style so that one day he could inspire others to innovate. That’s what education should be, having a strong passion for something and wanting to learn more from it. People who disagree with the American Dream being about happiness often bring up that it is responsible for a great deal of crime and violence because people feel that the country owes them not only a living but a good living. Some also say that you don’t need to be happy to live the American Dream; all you need to be is filthy rich and powerful. First, the American Dream was never responsible for bringing out crime and violence, its human nature to act out and become hostile over things we don’t agree with. Second, being filthy rich and owning a ton of materialistic objects such as money can make anyone happy for a short period of time. The Great Gatsby shows a perfect example of that. “I thought of Gatsby‘s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy‘s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could barely fail to grasp it.”(Fitzgerald,182). In the novel, Jay Gatsby has all the money in the world, he can buy anything, he has the nicest car, he throws the most extravagant parties in the whole town, but as the story progresses, the reader comes to learn that Gatsby isn’t happy with his life, he’s in love with a woman named Daisy whom he dreams they will someday be together. His obsession with her drowns him into the mindset that he can just buy her love with materialistic objects. That’s what’s wrong with the American Dream, wealth does not complete the dream, it cannot make one’s life perfect, and its materialistic lifestyle cannot bring true happiness to a person.
Overall, the key to the American Dream is true happiness, going through life loving every single minute of it, having friends and family that are supportive, doing things not because we are gaining an income out of it but because we have a strong passion for it, and lastly, being able to dictate negative emotions and decide whether we want to be depressed for the rest of our lives or pursue the dream we’ve always wanted to achieve through working hard for every cent earned, unraveling our own personal beliefs, and educating our minds so we can become better people in society. Although people have criticized the American Dream for being simply an illusion of happiness, one doesn’t need to know anything about the American Dream, to truly know when to feel happy.

Work Cited
1. Rancic, Bill. "American Dream Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/american_dream.html>.

2. Mead, Margaret. "Popular Quotes." Popular Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag?utf8=%E2%9C%93&id=education>.

3. "How to Define Your Personal Values." wikiHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.wikihow.com/Define-Your-Personal-Values>.

4. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.

5. Crusie, Jennifer. "Quotes About Values." (300 quotes). N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/v>

Cited: 1. Rancic, Bill. "American Dream Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/american_dream.html>. 2. Mead, Margaret. "Popular Quotes." Popular Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag?utf8=%E2%9C%93&id=education>. 3. "How to Define Your Personal Values." wikiHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.wikihow.com/Define-Your-Personal-Values>. 4. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print. 5. Crusie, Jennifer. "Quotes About Values." (300 quotes). N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/v>