This is a scholarly article where the subject is the American Dream. In the process of the article, Fyodor Dostoyevsky'S book Notes from Underground was used to demonstrate a part of the author's own American Dream.
The American dream is something that many Americans strive for in their everyday lives. When I think of the American dream I picture vast caravans of people immigrating to the West during the Gold Rush. I picture the sweat of hard workers earning a living building the railroads that connected the East to the West. A vision of prosperity overwhelms my definition of the American dream.
Times are different now. Most of the world has been discovered. Nothing really new and awe-sounding is happening that boosts any sort of drive to do well. People seem to get lost in the monotony of getting up, going to work, and sleeping at home in their beds to wake up and repeating it all over again.
Many believe the American dream to be about money and how much they own and perhaps they’re right, because that’s what it seemed like during the Gold Rush. People then were searching for a better life, for money to make it easier. What is the American dream to you? I want you all to think about it and let me know what you think. You can email me at hezekiand76@gmail.com . I asked a few random strangers the two questions: Is the American dream the same now as it was back then? Do you think it has changed? I was interested as to what they were saying as they responded:
“I think it’s when a family is doing well. I don’t think it’s necessarily based off of wealth and possessions. I’ve never thought of it like that. The Gold Rush and all. Well it most certainly has changed since then. Maybe the conditions they were living under back then gave the American dream a different definition. It was harder to live back then. Now we have chairs that massage, phones that have GPS, and it is all very easy. ”- Roderick L.
“To me it’s changed but what I think it means it completely different from what another thinks it means. One might think strictly on the materialistic things while another might think otherwise.”- Jean S.
“I don’t know. I guess it might’ve changed a little. Everyone is still searching for wealth and everything.”- Krystyna E.
The American dream to me is making sure that you’re happy. I would dream of keeping a perseverance that Dostoyevsky talks about in his novel Notes From Underground. According to Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russian novelist) there are three levels of consciousness which he uses a house to illustrate in the reader’s mind. He says that there is the basement, the first floor, and then an attic. The basement is where the weak minded are. They don’t really do anything with their life. They don’t try to do much about it either. The main floor is where most people are. They are perfectly content with where they are and don’t try to reach for new goals. The people who are in the attic are the strongest of minds. They are never content with just being happy. They constantly reach for the infinite.
We all live our lives wishing for something better than what we have. For Americans it’s the American dream. A dream that they hold close as it is unique to the individual.
