Moreover this lends him inimitability, it lends him importance, and it gives him honor. Like each one among us ranging from the first note to the last note in the entire octave of music on the keyboard of God is important since every man is created in the image of God. (A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.)
The Declaration of Independence' might be the indenture of the American Dream, however within the complex text and the present reality remains numerous alterations on the quest of happiness: eunum, pluribus. Nevertheless, it is also a fact that within all chances, as dappled as any American citizen who has ever led his life, remain the fundamental categories of dreams that leans on notions whose significance both exceeds a specific perspective and gets a meaning by that perspective. The Puritans dream is that of freedom; the African-American also believed in the same manner. The two conceive freedom to signify escaping from compulsive controls; however the character of the compulsion was extremely at variation. In case of the Puritans, they were mainly devout whereas in case of the African-American they were completely very often factual. In the same vein, whereas the Puritans and a lot of their successors wanted to lead happy lives, the character of "good" underwent a change in the course of time. During the nineteenth century specifically, the expression started to assume an increasingly more understandably secular inclination. Performing hard work was not viewed as an expectantly positive diversion from ordains of destiny, but instead a tool of the destiny, an instrument for discovery of the self. (Cullen, 59)
Many people hold the view that the American Dream had come to be known as the pursuit for material opulence implying putting greater work hours to secure big cars, designer homes, and results of their affluence for their families-however facing a time constraint in order to enjoy their affluence. The American Dream takes root on the conviction that hardworking citizens have the potential to lead better lives, pay their monthly expenses without much concern, offer their children to initiate to an even better living and yet have sufficient savings to stay in comfort following retirement. (Is the American Dream Still Possible?)
To a lot of others the American Dream is outside the reach of the poor workers who should work for an extra job to ensure good financial health of the family. Still there are many who yearn for a novel American Dream having less attention on the monetary benefit and accord more importance on leading an undemanding, gratifying life. In the words of Thomas Wolfe "...to every man irrespective of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity... The right to live, to work, to be himself, and to be whatsoever which his persona and the power of his dream can combine to make him." (What is the American Dream?) It can also be stated that when an individual belonging to a poor, working class setting is able to uplift oneself by dint of hard work and the resolve to a wealthy upper-class status within the society, this individual is considered to have achieved the American Dream. The saying has been that people must be able to "pull themselves up by their own bootstraps" so as to accomplish this dream. Paradoxically, if somebody were to uplift himself somewhere by one's bootstraps, that person would culminate putting his or her face in the mud. (Juliana, A4)
From the standpoint of an individual, the philosophy is convincing as well as clear to understand.. "I am an American, so I have the freedom and opportunity to make whatever I want of my life. I can succeed by working hard and using my talents; if I fail, it will be my own fault. Success is honorable, and failure is not. In order to make sure that my children and grandchildren have the same freedom and opportunities that I do, I have a responsibility to be a good citizen -- to respect those whose vision of success is different from my own, to help make sure that everyone has an equal chance to succeed, to participate in the democratic process, and to teach my children to be proud of this country." (Hochschild; Scovronick, 1) It is not that every countrymen of the United States trust all these matters, really, and many do not believe anything at all. However, this American dream is amazingly similar to what majority of the Americans have supposed through most part of the American history. (Hochschild; Scovronick, 1)
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