ICE #4 - Grade: B PDF

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Corinne Pierson Professor Presuto ENGL 1 - 27175 - ENGL 111 - 34 ICE #3 Hiding from the American Dream Bob Herbert and Cal Thomas are both extremely good authors who both believe the American Dream is in the tips of our fingers. In “Hiding from Reality” Herbert believes that the American Dream has more than one definition and there is not only one that is correct. Meanwhile in “Is the American Dream Over?” Thomas argues that the government is fully to blame on why we as a society no longer can achieve having the lifestyle of the American Dream. Herbert presents a more convincing argument than Thomas due to his strong statistical information and anecdotal experience. Herbert argues that the American dream has turned into nothing but a nightmare. He begins by expressing to his readers his fear that in the future our country will begin to fail more and more. As the years go by, it is becoming more and more of a challenge for the economy to raise, the public school system to wise up, and for the amount of jobs in society to increase. People are fearing that these things will not get better and everyone will be left struggling. It is clear that over the past few years, our economy has been struggling. States and local governments are making changes like raising taxes, cutting work forces, and eliminating health benefits but it has not helped the recovery of our economy enough. Therefore, more work has to be put into our country in order to achieve the American Dream that was once what everyone strived for. Herbert believes that the term “The American Dream” no longer has one definition. As time goes on, things change and the American Dream is one of them. There are several

different lifestyles that are considered to be the American Dream and we should accept them. Herbert says “..the U.S. needs to develop a full-employment economy that provides jobs for all who want to work at pay that enables the workers and their families to enjoy a decent standard of living. In other words, a resurrection of the American Dream” (1). In order for us to success, we need change. Everyone should have their own version of the American Dream and people should all accept it and be willing to change to better themselves. If it is finding a good job, marrying a girl you love, having kids at a certain age, or traveling the world alone everyone should be their own person and people should accept them. However, some people do not accept others and their decisions. Thomas does not hesitate to put all of the blame about the failure of the American Dream on the government. He strongly believes that we all are extremely too dependent on the leaders in our government and we have let our guard down. We allow others to think for us which does not help give solutions to problems. Thomas explains to his readers how people put all of their faith into a failing government in hope that they will fix how our society is. He has hope that although the rules of the American Dream are no longer being told or taught, we can still achieve it because of those who have been taught it or have seen it in the past. He states “The rules for achieving the American Dream may no longer be taught in and supported by culture, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work” (1). He believes that those people who study hard, follow all of the rules, goes to college and gets a degree and a job, saves themselves for marriage and after marriage then having kids are going to be the people who end up being able to achieve the American Dream. Herbert also explains that the reason for our country being in such bad shape is because we blame others. Since the recession, it has become harder to live in our society and keep a good

paying job to pay for all essential expenses. The damage of the recession can easily be seen by anyone. America is in a tremendous amount of debt and people need someone to fix this. We cannot rely on the government to fix this for us, we must take matters into our own hands. If the American Dream were to stay the same as it was in the past no one would be able to achieve it. There are multiple different reasons as to why change is important. Herbert explains to his readers that America will never recover from this until they realize the situation they are in. The recession has landed many people who are smart and need money to feed their families jobless. Changing the definition to the American Dream can help people find their won calling. Thomas also discusses that the American dream is still achievable but only if people are willing to keep pursuing it and not give up on the dream. He says that it is not hard to achieve the dream you just need to follow the simple and easy rules that past generations know. Several people have stopped pursuing the dream because of the way they have seen the economy go down. Thomas wants his readers to believe that the government is at fault for how difficult it is the achieve this dream but also believes that anyone can do it if they really want to. Everybody's American dream is different considering your age and financial stage. Although Herbert gave a stronger and more consistent argument about the American dream, Thomas also gave his readers a lot to think about as well. Both authors believe that the American Dream is still reachable for anybody who wants to achieve it. Although it will take time for the country to get back to a state in which our government is not struggling and cutting several people off from jobs. People all must stop blaming each other and work together so that the American dream can once again become a realistic goal in the many generations to come rather than forgotten in the past....