The Idea of the American Dream and the Peoples Conformity

In the years 1940s, the American Dream was very critical for people (both natives and immigrants) to achieve since success and prosperity are all people had known mainly due to the idea that America offered al the opportunities for becoming prosperous and successful (Bbrryynn). Thus, this paper examines how people’s ideas shaped around the American Dream led to both conformity and rebellion of the same notion of the American Dream. The American Dream is fundamentally what many people either the natives or immigrants make of any chance that emerge. Echoing this notion of achieving anything so long as you live and exist within the American borders was the social norms in and around 1940s as represented by Jing-Mei’s mother in the short story, Two Kind by Amy Tan.

In the period where the American Dream is topic discussed everywhere and is much yearned for, people like Jing-Mei’s mother would as well their children to be successful just like most of the successful personnel they have grown up watching especially from the television. The period between 1870 and 1970 marked a prosperous period in terms of standards of living and productivity among the Americans. However, the occurrence of economic crisis such as the one experienced during the Great Recession of 2008 greatly transformed the original tenets upon which the American Dream was founded. As Robert (33) affirms, the standard of living of most Americans have come to a standstill or even deteriorated, a phenomenon that was never anticipated for by the American Dream hence giving the dream another meaning especially to those who are struggling to make the ends meet.