Define American Dream, it doesn’t seem difficult. We are all told at some point in our primary education about it. The idea about building a better life for you and your family. However, it can get more complicated than that.
S, a 22 year old woman from the American Northeast, defines her American Dream as being better off than her past relative, but also just being happy. In my interview with her I feel like it became apparent that the American Dream is malleable. That even though we define and learn about it in textbooks it holds different meanings for different people.
As a woman, she realizes that she does not have the same privileges as men and she understands that she is still privileged as a white woman.
“Of course as a woman I am subject to this, but I am fortunate because I will never be denied a job for who I am, or who I chose to love. There are people who are more privileged than I am, but far more aren’t and that should be fixed.”
While some people were getting experience in their desired fields without thinking about a paycheck, she was working hard trying to find jobs to both help her career and get paid while doing it.
However, she doesn’t feel like this accurately connects with why her American Dream is framed the way it is. In many ways, her American Dream is from the misconceptions of American prosperity that were given to all of us as children.
“A lot of it has to do with being from a working class family, and while I was at college not being able to take internships with no pay. It limited my options as well as my connections,”
She explains that being from a working class family she did not have the opportunities that some other people had. While some people were getting experience in their desired fields without thinking about a paycheck, she was working hard trying to find jobs to both help her career and get paid while doing it.
When it came to her career, she felt like she “couldn’t be the person to move to New York, and climb the ranks to become the editor of a major magazine.” But she is okay with this. Having a life of grandeur is not the same as having a good life and creating a life worth loving is personal and very important no matter who you are.
S is…
- 22 Years-Old
- Female, Cisgender
- White
- East and West European
- Working Class
- Straight
