Was the American Dream Ever Alive?
Unmasking the Illusion And Deconstructing the American Dream.
In 2006 George Carlin stated, “You must be asleep to believe in the American Dream.”
Since then, numerous articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, and even TikTok reels have argued that the American Dream is dead. However, lately, I began to question whether the idea of the American Dream was ever truly valid. It was first mentioned in the American Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776:
Ever since the Declaration of Independence has functioned as the banner of the American Dream, one repeatedly waved by figures that included women’s rights activists, populists, homosexuals, and anyone who has ever believed that happiness can not only be pursued but attained. The U.S. Constitution, which marked the other bookend of the nation’s creation, lacks the mythic resonances of the Declaration, though it takes little reflection to see that it is the backdrop, if not the foundation, for all American Dreams.
But George Carlin wasn’t the first, throughout history, numerous writers have tackled the concept of the American Dream, as seen in works such as Walden by Thoreau and The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald:
“[Gatsby’s] dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did…
