Concepts of the American Dream

801 Words4 Pages
20 February 2013 Concepts of the American Dream For many people the American dream is the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American. Although for others it is a life of personal happiness and material comfort. While Barry criticizes the American dream through sarcasm in his article “Red, White, and Beer.”, Mukherjee analyzes the American dream from personal experiences in “American Dreamer.” and show’s why she supports the American Dream. In David Barry’s article he exposes how the United States portrays the American dream through advertising. In most parts of the article he mocks how advertisers portray the American dream by saying things like “What were talking about, according to the commercials, is that Miller is by God and American beer, “born and brewed in the U.S.A.,” and the men who drink it are American men, the kind of men who aren’t afraid to perspire freely and shake a man’s hand.” (534) He also shows how American men are illustrated in beer commercials; as burly, sweaty men who build houses and shake each others hand. He points out that this is in fact not how American men actually are and that giving this idea to the public is just creating up a stereotypical American man. Barry is basically insisting how advertisers are trying to throw in patriotism in commercials, but it is not the right kind of patriotism; it’s retail patriotism. Bharati Mukherjee’s observed the American dream first hand from personal experiences in her article “American Dreamer.” When she came to America she found that she had the freedom to become whatever she wanted to be, including marrying whoever she wanted to marry. It was a complete different change from where she was from in India where an individual would have his or her identity chosen for him or her, including arranged marriages. Like she said “One’s identity was
Open Document