"Breathing dreams like air..."

My definition of the American Dream is this: having the equal opportunity to work hard in order to create one’s own success.  It is called the “American” Dream because it embodies the belief that many had (and continue to have) that life in the United States promises this equal opportunity to achieve success.  The key to the American Dream is “opportunity.”  Opportunity does not mean that only the privileged (wealthy, white, male, heterosexual, physically and mentally standard, etc.) are able to create their own success.  Opportunity means that anyone, regardless of nationality, class, race, gender, etc., is able to try to succeed in their endeavors.  The American Dream is still alive and well today, especially when considering immigrants that travel to the United States with the hope that the dream offers.  But it is not exclusive to people moving to U.S.; the American Dream also is within the mindset of many Americans, especially those who are not in privileged situations.  Like Gatsby, who came from a relatively poor family and held blue-collar jobs until he met Dan Cody, the American Dream is important for many Americans because it represents a way to make one’s life better than the status quo.

    My definition of wealth is an excess of money or goods that allows one to have very large sums of money after supporting one’s family.  This definition is imperfect because it is quite vague and the word “large” is subjective.  However, this definition would most definitely include Gatsby, Nick, and the Buchanans in The Great Gatsby, because they all clearly have much more money than they need to sustain themselves and their dependents.  Their wealth is shown through the colors associated with their houses, lawns, and dress.  Furthermore, the imagery that Fitzgerald uses when describing their possessions demonstrates their extravagance and wealth.  This is the reason that it comes as such a surprise that Gatsby does not actually have a lot of money to his name.  

Currently, Americans’ attitude toward wealth and poverty is greatly dependent on one’s political affiliation and/or socio-economic status.  Within the current election season, many of the opinions towards the wealthy and impoverished have been displayed.  For example, Bernie Sanders and his supporters hold the very wealthy in contempt.  Others believe that the wealth of a person has to do with how hard they work to achieve that monetary status, and thus applaud the wealthy and look down upon the poor.  My personal opinion lies somewhere in the middle.  I believe that, unfortunately, wealth is not reflective of work ethic.  The American Dream would be a reality for all if that was the case, because people who work hard would attain more than what they need to sustain themselves and their families (which is many people’s definition of success).  However, due to many factors including institutional racism, unequal pay for males and females, and much more, I do not believe that all wealthy people should be lauded and all poor should be scorned.  Instead, I see wealthy people as privileged and poor people as less fortunate.