I believe that the American dream is something that can be achieved by anyone by hard work and strong efforts. I think that in Ragged Dick, Horatio Alger percieves the American dream incorrectly and decieves his readers. In the story the boy Dick was born into poverty and then by mere chance, by saving a drowning boy, went from rags to riches. This will mislead people by letting them think that they can also become rich by pure luck, which is certainly not the case. Achieving the American dream can not be done overnight, but is a product of ones never ending hard work. I agree with the article on “The American Dream and Todays Reality” in that the most important thing in achieving the American Dream is education. Education is a sure ticket to prosperity and the more education that you have had the more money you will be making. This article shows us that indeed the middle class did shrink, but not for the reasons everyone thinks because Americans are actually getting richer. The increasing percentages of poverty are a causation of good jobs being harder to find because they require more educational skill, and also because the divorce rate is going up which leaves children in poverty. If you get rid of these elements then indeed more people will be achieving the American dream.
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I agree as well that education is your ticket to prosperity. Sure it is difficult to achieve the American Dream, but I think that they showed Dick’s character, an easy way to achieve the American dream. If the little boy did not drown then Dick would have still lived in poverty. Also I do agree with the critic that there are some factors that to contribute to make it difficult to achieve the American dream. We all are not born equal, and there are racial, gender inequalities, that make it difficult to achieve the dream.
A question that Dalton raises is whether the idea of the American dream interferes with our ability to address some of the problems in America like inequality, racism, etc? Does our belief that each person can succeed based on his/her own hard work allows us to deny any responsibility we might otherwise have for helping other people succeed, or creating social programs that alleviate poverty and inequality?
Yes it does. People are so fixed on their hard work and success, that they do not take time to look at other people’s problems or chances of succeeding. People were born in poverty, and they were born in chaos. However, I feel as if people living in poverty do have the opportunity to gain an education. Public schools might not be the best, but they are available, and people could make the best of it.