American Dream Analytical Essay Outline

Hunter Chasens

In a recent publication by Investopedia, it was said the

American dream had dramatically changed from one of prosperity
and wealth to one of simple stability. Despite the differences
in these dreams, they are not as far apart as they seem. It is
simply the external conditions that have changed not the
internal mindset or the American dream.

The American dream then was to provide comfort. The typical

American dream from the 40s through the late 70s was an often
described as suburbs, a white picket fence, 2.5 children, and a
dog ~ Sean Bryant. This was possible due to the post-war
economy of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. It was also popular due to
the GI bill that gave cheap financial aid to GIs coming out of
service. With both drafts, the GI bill provided a much-needed
boost to the economy. For the first time, houses were
mass-produced, to take in this influx of demand. Often the
American dream of prosperity was met.

Things change. We no longer have a booming postwar economy. We

no longer have a flood of GIs coming home from the other side
of the world. Theses things of greatness have been replaced by
debt, mortgages, and stress. The American dream now to simply
eliminate worries. As the price of education goes up it takes
student longer to pay off their student debts if they can even
land a job. With most citizens having access to higher education
many white collar jobs are already covered and many highly
qualified newly graduated citizens get stuck with blue collar
jobs that can not pay their student debt never mind start a
retirement fund. With this degraded economy, it might be said
that the American dream has changed.

These sound like two different dreams but they are the same
dream under different circumstances. If the dream is a filter
over your eye, it is the background that has gotten bleak, not
the filter. The American dream of prosperity, comfort, and
wealth has not changed. It is the expectations of the citizens
that have changed. They watch helplessly as many of their peers
fail and the future does indeed look bleak.

The dream has stayed intact, its setting has merely changed
to a more challenging time. It is but the passage of time,
everything changes but change ~ Israel Zangwill. The American
dream will change. In what direction no one knows, but what is
certain is that it will be polarised as the dreams of the past
and will carry much weight; but that is not now, for now, we
stay the same.

Highlights

Self-Assessment

Task:
1.

Attach a typed response to your essay in which you explain

your feelings upon completing the assignment.

This self-assessment should answer each question with a

brief (2-5 sentence) paragraph:

1. What did you hope to accomplish with this writing?

With this writing I hope to properly expresses the
analytical knowledge i have gained.
2. What do you think you did well in this writing?
I think my writing for this essay was better than my last;
however my writing mind has not yet warmed up.
3. What are areas of weakness in this essay?
There are few areas of weakness in this essay and most easily
arguable. I abandoned aristotle trinity and rhetoric rules for
this. I did not reference a style book.

After the peer review and self revision, what are changes that
you made?
After peer review I have made many changes, most are
clarifications, I also closed two I statements in my
conclusion I did not notice.

2.

Using the rubric, self grade your essay

Rubric:

4 = exemplary

3=proficient

2=developing

1=insufficient
Purpose: writing clearly communicates an insightful or

original point or purpose

Development: writing supports purpose with sound
thoughts, ideas, and arguments that reference and
explain specific details or facts

Organization: writing is well organized and features

logical progression, effective transitions, and

coherence within and among paragraphs
Style: writing creates reader's interest through

accurate, varied and creative use of words, sentence

types, and sentence patterns
Grammar: writing follows conventions of standard
written English about literature (includes: spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, syntax, MLA format, etc.