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Definig a phrase such as the American Dream is very hard, because it is a phrase describing an entire way of life.
The American Dream contains three main arguments: it is a combination of the ideal of dignity, equality and the chance of personal fulfilment. Nowadays the equalty is sure to every citizen living in the United States of America, but this has not always been this way.
In the time when many slaves were brought to the USA, they did not have the same rights as real Americans had. So it was their dream to be a member of the society without being supressed. The same thing happened to women and blacks, who also had to fight for their position in the society for a very long time in order to get the same equality as the other American citizens got.
The chance of personal fulfilment was not given to everybody because the slaves, blacks and the women always had a lower status in the society.
That is were the American Dream arose from: to free the society of all kind of prejudices and so give everybody living in the United States the same chances and possibilities.
Another very common phrase in combination with the American Dream is the vision of from "a dishwasher to a millionaire".
This vision tells everybody living in the United States of America that every single citizen can become whealthy if he has just the power and the will to achieve his aims.
The word "dishwasher" can be seen as a synonym for the lowest kind of social position, which means, for example, someone like an unskilled worker. "Millionaire" has not to be seen as a real millionaire, it is just another synonym for a person living in a much higher class of society. In order to reach this higher social place you will have to own a lot of money and approval which is exactly what "millionaire" stands for in the phrase "from a dishwasher to a millionaire".
In combination with the American Dream you always will have to take a look at a nation´s way of life in order to understand their dreams.
For example, if you ask an American citizen what comes to his mind if you are talking about Bavaria, he will surely reply: Octoberfest, beer and sauerkraut. This is what the Americans regard as the Bavarian way of life.
And what are the things falling into our mind when talking about the Americans? Of Course, you will hear something like the Fast - Food - Country, Thanksgiving, Mc Donald´s, Levis and their cultures and customs.
You will also think about something like the melting pot, which has to be seen as a fundation of the American Dream.
It is a fundation because if you melt several cultures together there will always be a conflict because every culture has different values. Out of this different values the conflict which one is the best arises and this is where the American Dream comes into play: equalty, dignity and personal fulfilment.
With this point of view for everybody living in a melting pot or in the USA, there will will be no conflict any more as everybody has the same rights and opportunities. This is where the American Dream is rooted in and what made it famous because the Americans succeeded in combining several cultures and nations in one coutry without any struggles between the different members of the classes in society.
All in all you can say that whatever you want to achieve in your life is possible, as long as you keep on going for it and as long as you are willing to fight for, even if you don´t see a real chance any more. The American Dream is for those people who are really convinced of what they expect of life.
Of course these expectations are spread very wide. For some people living the American Dream means going to work every day, going on vacation once a year and be able to own their house. For others this Dream means making enough money to last their life time.
That is why the American Dream has always to be seen under a person´s own point of view as everybody is expecting something different from life.
And this is also the reason why it was interesting to compare what different points of view Arthur Miller uses in his books "The last Yankee" and "Death of a salesman" because his characters are quite different and they all do expect other things in their lifes.
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