“The Making and Persistence of the American Dream”

According to John Kenneth White and Sandra L. Hanson, in the chapter “The Making and Persistence of the American Dream”, White and Hanson talk about “the great depression”(1), “the American dream”(3), and “optimism”(3). “The great depression” was a time in the United Sates history were all the market went down an economic crisis. “The American dream” is a personal goal people who are in the United States try to achieve one day by hard work, but the reality is that it’s not as easy as they make it seem, not everyone is able to achieve their American dream.

“Optimism” is to believe in yourself and have hope that hard times well get better. According to Jeffery M. R. Duncan Andrade, in the article “Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete”, Duncan talks about different types of hope, “false hope” (181), “critical hope” (181), and “material hope “(186). “Critical hope” is the way the educator teaches the student and tells them the truth of their actions rather than sugar coding them, if they wat to be a President they don’t just have to go to school they have to work hard and do the steps that all other President did. “False hope” talks about the way the educator tells the student that they can be whoever they want just by working hard when in reality it’s not as easy as they make it seem. “Material hope” is a type of “critical hope” that helps students that are going through difficult times

What is and how can I achieve the American Dream, a way I could achieve my American Dream is by working hard not just at work but in school to make the sacrifices of not going out and to miss important dates or parties. The American Dream for me is to have a home with farm land to have many trees animals, and a river alongside of my property, to have a home in the mountains where it’s snowing during winter and a home by the beach for summer. My main idea of my American Dream is to have a family to work in my dream job and to achieve the obstacles that ill face in order get there, also to be able to travel the world learn about the history of other places other than the United States. To have old school cars and trucks and to have my truck fixed up finally. Those are some of my American Dreams.

White and Hanson chapter relates to the American Dream and how freedom plays a big role in it, “America is a unique among all nations, because it is founded on the ideals of freedom, equality ad opportunity” (8). For instance, White and Hanson stated America was founded with the “idea of freedom, equality, and opportunity” that set us apart from all other nations. White and Hanson talks about the way it is set apart among other nations due to it being built with the “idea of freedom, equality, and opportunity”, but, many people face discrimination or inequality when trying to achieve their American dream. Now in this point in time you see many people achieving more things that they would back then due to the nation’s transformation among “freedom, equality and opportunity’. This ties back to my idea of the American dream by the reason of if I would try to achieve my American dream when the United Sates first became a nation I would face many obstacles due to me being Hispanic, but now in time I wouldn’t face as many obstacles just the ones I’d need to overcome as the requirements. Another example that White and Hanson argues, “if you work hard and play by the rules you will be able to achieve the American dream in your life time” (12). According to White and Hanson you are able to achieve your American dream in your life by working hard and doing the right thing. White and Hanson talk about you are able to achieve the American dream by working hard and playing by the rules, but at times people that do the right thing, but never achieve the American dream at times they’re not given the opportunity. If they do get the opportunity they have to work harder to due to the fact of it not being easy, even though none said it would be easy.

My understanding of the dream differs from White and Hanson, because people judge you for your race before they recognize your personal success. I understood that the American dream was always more of an illusion that everyone can accomplish it by hard work, but in reality, it’s not just successfully achieved by hard work you also face obstacles in order to get there in some cases people face race discrimination and gender inequality. According to White and Hanson they state that “the way that every one of every sort looks you right in the eye without a thought of inequality” (8). For instances the American dream plays a big part in our nation’s history, it was built on “freedom, equality, and opportunity” (8), but over time those founding foundation slowly started to disappear over the years. Now in days those foundations the nation was built on are coming back to life and giving the chance of more people being able to achieve their American dream

I consider my thought before I read the article a good thing, due to the reason that they are not very different from the beliefs from the article that White and Hanson have. I always thought the American dream could be succeeded by hard work and doing the right thing instead of getting the easy way out. According to the article, White and Hanson state “if you work hard and play by the rules you will be able to achieve the American dream in your life time” (12). For instance, White and Hanson talk about you can achieve your American dream ibn your life by working hard and doing the right thing and play by the rules and you well become successful in life. I consider that quote a very important part to my beliefs, because it shows me that I’m not the only one that beliefs that success doesn’t just happened I one day you have to work long and hard without giving up when time gets hard, and that’s how you achieve your American dream.

According to Jeffery M. R, Duncan Andrade, in the article “Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete”, Duncan states “Obamas election gives us hope on a tightrope because a single event cannot, by itself, provide the healing” (184). For instance, this quote talks about the Obama election and the hope it gave us, but a single event cannot provide the healing by itself. I believe that just by one event happening can’t show proof of hope it doesn’t show the true meaning behind of what is being said.

According to Jeffery M. R. Duncan Andrade, in the article “Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete”, Duncan states “in class we bonded, because we all grade each other a chance to humanize ourselves and let us know each other’s stories …. [and] after that we looked at each other different” (188). For instance, in Mr. Lapus class all the students were given the chance to talk about what they have been through once they finished talking about there experiences they looked at each other differently rather than judging them without knowing them. This quote talks about hope and how it impacts someone. Hope plays an important role in the American dream it helps people to work hard until they achieve them, many people have different ideas of the American dream.

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