The American Dream: Long Gone

What is the American Dream? The American Dream describes the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity held to be available to every American. It can also be described as a life of personal happiness and material comfort (Dictionary.com).  Not everyone in America defines it that exact way. Everyone has their own version and also their own output on the American Dream. The American was much more achievable many years ago, which statistics prove. In the book, The Working Poor by David K. Shipler, he describes many different stories showing how the American dream is dead, no matter how hard a person works. In the texts “Is the American Dream Over?” by Carl Thomas and “Up against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson also demonstrates how the American Dream is unachievable. From analyzing the texts The Working Poor, “Is the American Dream Over?” and “Up Against Wal-Mart” it is clear that the American Dream is no longer attainable.

The Struggles of Caroline Payne

In the novel The Working Poor, the author shows how the American Dream is dead by illustrating stories of unfortunate people trying to make their way up in economic status but failing to do so. In the introduction, Shipler comes to say, “An exit from poverty is not like showing your passport and crossing a frontier. There is a broad strip of contested territory between destitution and comfort, and the passage is not the same distance for everyone” (Shipler 7). Shipler interprets his theme by using a character in the novel named Caroline Payne. Caroline is a very hard working individual but always seems to fall short of climbing up the latter of success. For example, “She had earned a college diploma, albeit just a two year associate’s degree. And she had gone from a homeless shelter into her own house, although it was mostly owned by a bank” (Shipler 50). This shows that a college degree does not make a person safe from poverty. Shipler uses Caroline as a point that sometimes it is nearly impossible to escape the reigns of poverty. Shipler states, “Caroline’s was the face of the working poor, marked by a poverty-generated handicap more obvious than most deficiencies but no different, really, from the less visible deficits that reflect and reinforce destitution” (Shipler 53). Telling Caroline’s story was Shipler’s way of saying how the American Dream is impossible to achieve even for a hardworking individual.

The Struggles of Jennifer McLaughlin

Similarly, in the article “Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson, she also explains how hard it is to get out of poverty and even harder to achieve the American Dream. Olsson quotes a Wal-Mart worker and she says, “They way they pay you, you cannot make it by yourself without having a second job or someone to help, unless you’ve been there for 20 years or you’re a manager” (Olsson 607). The worker, Jennifer McLaughlin, was referring to Wal-Mart and explaining that there is no way to make a stable living without the struggles of being in poverty. Olsson uses McLaughlin to show that having a job or occupation does not make a person free from poverty but it makes them even farther away from the American Dream.

America: A Lazy Society?

Furthermore, the text “Is the American Dream Over?” reveals that the American Dream is in decline because of the laziness of society and also for unnecessary spending in the United States. Even though Shipler believes that a hard-working individual cannot attain the American Dream, Cal Thomas believes that it’s not the hard working people that cause the problem, it is the lethargic people in society. Thomas explains Bob Hebert, a columnist, by quoting him saying, “Herbert claims, ‘We have become a hapless, can’t-do society.’ He says it’s ‘embarrassing’”(Thomas 569). Thomas thoroughly explains in his piece that Americans are the ones to blame for the unachievable American Dream. 

Blowing Money and Blowing Away The Dream

For example, Shipler analyzes a poor couple named Willie and Sarah and what Willie says about Sarah is, “’She can’t— you know, with her problems and stuff, it seems like, being depressed all the time, if she’s not spending money she’s not happy’” (Shipler 35). This shows how some people’s shortage of money is ultimately their fault. For many people, the American dream is over because of unmotivated workers and unnecessary spending of money.

An Evil Corporation

 However, the American dream being unobtainable could be blamed on corporations or employers being unfair or cruel to their workers, which is demonstrated in the text “Up Against Wal-Mart.” The author Karen Olsson wrote “Up Against Wal-Mart” to show the low pay this multi-million dollar company gives to their employees. For example, “McLaughlin earns only $16,800 a year. ‘And I’m considered high-paid,’ she says” (Olsson 607). This is interpreted that even hard working Jennifer McLaughlin, who worked at Wal-Mart for three years, makes a salary that puts her into the depth of poverty. Olsson emphasizes that Wal-Mart is one of the biggest power players of corporations but does very little in return for their workers that cause them to be in a low-wage group in society. Shipler also mentions the problems with Wal-Mart in his book by noting, “In more depressed parts of the country and during recessions, however, some Wal-Mart managers were accused of forcing employees to work before punching in or after punching out to avoid paying overtimes as required by law” (Shipler 67). This can be interpreted that the unfairness of Wal-Mart is an obvious example of why the American Dream does not work anymore. Wal-Mart is a prime example of the components that help defeat the American Dream.

To Wrap it Up

 In all the texts discussed, it is shown that there are many variables that contribute to the death of the American Dream. Lazy or hardworking people, and it is still extremely difficult to climb up the latter of success when already at the bottom. Corporations, such as Wal-Mart, are also a main component of why the American Dream does not work. Although the author’s had different ideas of the American Dream, all expressed why the American Dream is no longer obtainable.

Works Cited

Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York: Knopf, 2004. Print.

Thomas, Cal. "Is the American Dream Over?" ""They Say/ I Say": The Moves That Matter in                           Academic Writing with Readings” Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst.                     2nd ed. New-York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 568-70. Print. 

Olsson, Karen. "Is the American Dream Over?" "They Say/ I Say": The Moves That Matter in

             Academic Writing with Readings" Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst.

             2nd ed. New-York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 606-19. Print. 

Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015