Introduction
America is among the wealthiest countries in the world but contains considerable socioeconomic inequality and poverty in the United States. The current situation in America can get partly blamed on the American Dream. The dream gets characterized by a set of ideas developed for a long time. The constitution of the concept is a wide range of ideas based on attaining success, prosperity, and living a better life. Logically, achieving the goal requires the individuals to be contented and discourage individualism emphasized through possession of wealth. More so, the United States gets attributed as a land of liberty and opportunity, which, even though unequally distributed, is open for every individual to attain. The concept of the American dream was instrumental in establishing the United States, a nation independent of Britain. In "The Danger of a Single Story," Adichie focuses on different versions of a single story creating a wrong picture of the real story. The authenticity of something gets characterized by how its description coincides with its worldview. The essay seeks to deconstruct the old stereotype of the American dream providing a positive outlook.
American Equality and Freedom
The onset of the American dream focused on freedom and equality for every American used in championing slave's emancipation for the abolition of slavery. The idea attempted to unify waring Americans and reiterate that they fought for the concepts that it represented. People were inspired to fight for their rights and facilitate equality in America. Martin Luther King fought for the dream of balance with the belief that every individual in the United States should have equal opportunities and rights. The deep conviction in him enables mobilization of a large number of individuals and ultimately attaining the civil freedom for the population of African-Americans in the United States. Dr. King emphasizes on equality for all American people as being treated justly. His idea of justice addresses equitable, fair, and equal treatment for all individuals in America with peaceful coexistence. Focusing on another person's story, power tells both the overall and definite accounts of the individual (Adichie 3). Therefore, the American dream motivated people to fight for their rights in a free and wealthy country. The concepts in the American Dream describe happiness with economic affluence. The ideals associated with it suggest that the success of an individual, social mobility, and economic expansion lead to contentment and happiness. Also, the satisfaction of an American to some extent comes from attaining success and social flexibility. Every individual gets contented with their lives in different ways.
Government Safeguarding the American Dream
The dream addresses government requirements to safeguard the opportunity of every American in pursuing their idea of satisfaction and joy. Government protection covers private enterprise allowing a free market economy depends on free information flow to function. Also, it fosters foreign direct investment and free trade agreements leading to American development. The government protection on individual rights and of every American emphasizes on people to use their means to achieve economic prosperity. Adichie says, "…my American roommate must have, throughout her life, seen and heard different versions of a single story." (Adichie 3). Critique of the American dream erroneously addresses the current perception of community success, forgetting that individuals in the community contribute to its success. Additionally, the personal idea of happiness from the American dream allows people to follow their profession and career development. Therefore, the destiny of each citizen is not legally determined at birth by gender, religion, or caste. In a patriarchal society, women and men get provided with the ability to succeed and fit in any field. According to the historian Adams, the dream emphasizes social order where every man and woman can achieve their goals, which they are inherently capable. Also, individuals get recognized for their success no matter the circumstances of their birth. The American dream reduces racial discrimination as the law safeguards the rights of people to seek a better life.
People from different backgrounds are succeeding in areas such as Silicon Valley, which provides a home to a diverse number of brilliant individuals to develop their technological innovations. There is a sense of optimism in Silicon Valley with the belief that everything is possible no matter your origin, and you can create something amazing and change the world (Rodrigues). People in Silicon Valley want to fix global credits, find life in other planets, decentralize food production, develop sustainable cities, fix healthcare, and save forests. After all, technological legends, including Elon Musk, started in Silicon Valley while poor but had a dream and passion for solving problems (Rodrigues). Silicon Valley emphasized the concept of a startup, which allows the rise of many companies and popular networks currently originating from the iterations of ideas out of small units. Also, there are universities such as Draper University that aim to build individuals and mentor them to become better people in society. For instance, there are various individuals in class in Draper with different goals. First, an African Venezuelan national emigrated from his country due to chavism focusing on making it in Silicon Valley. Secondly, disabled East coast American who got told he would never make it. Lastly, a Brazilian individual focusing on making credit universally accessible and cheaper for people to access their dream.
American Dream Fostering Individual Success
Adichie explains that "…stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize." (Adichie 5). The concept of attaining the dream needs economic and pollical freedom, private property rights, and rules of law empowering the community. These elements help in making choices that allow achieving success. Also, the individuals gain confidence that cannot be removed using arbitrary force. Hence, it gets used as a means for promoting unity and progress due to its promise of equality and freedom. The American dream encourages growth because it helps the reality describing America as a land where wealth and power affect a lot. Individuals can freely make significant and crucial decisions influencing their lives, aspire to better and higher things, and a higher probability of attaining them. The diverse number of individuals create a competitive advantage that the companies in the United States utilize to become more innovative. More so, the different number of individuals allows the companies to have a natural, accessible testing market for new products. The idea that a child born and brought up in poverty has the opportunity to achieve great wealth gets justified in the United States as it offers the promise that the circumstances do not entirely determine the future. Individuals are free to gather wealth, live according to one's values, and lead a dignified life. However, to some extent, it is because of a person's socioeconomic foundation that determines the future prosperity of an individual. More so, the few wealthy people concentrate the wealth of the nation, creating an ever-widening division between the poor and the rich. The American dream generates a fantasy of equality, while reality dictates wealth and power affect the socioeconomic results of a person in America. Every individual possesses an equal chance in the United States to succeed despite their upbringing. Individuals from every walk of life need to focus on the distribution of the nation's wealth to benefit even the poor in society.
Economic Development and Growth
The idea encourages a capitalistic economic system attributed as the most advantageous system in economic development and growth. The plan focuses on capitalism, where people benefit depending on their efforts. The notion from the dream promotes ethos associated with an individual's achievement through hard work. The United States contains an abundance of natural resources focused on feeding American commerce, including a lot of rivers, rainfall, and oil. The United States is the personification of how natural resources develop the economy giving the country a platform towards its prominent global stature. Adichie explains single-story creation, "…show a people as one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become." (Adichie 3). Individuals get motivated to work hard, and their efforts lead to career advancement and better pay. Also, it asserts that every person has equal opportunity and can succeed if they put in the extra effort. People need to consider hard work associated with the dream as one of the vital components leading to success. Hence, the dream proponents propose that people can succeed by transforming themselves and utilizing their talents in the land of opportunity. The outlook associated with hard work addresses the opportunities faced by the whole society in general due to the vast area of America. The large area fosters a population bonded by values, political systems, and language. The implication of the situation is focusing on the individual, and not the developed system makes the community members and the government remedy the issue leading to a lack of development in the society associated with individual effort. Individuals caring for their wellbeing of their community creates a culture with respect for every member. Summing up, the dream contributes to the country's economic growth because citizens pursue and attain their goals improving the economic outcomes of the nation.
Better Opportunity for Individuals in the American Dream
The American dream in the current context focuses on the upward mobility of individuals. It addresses graduating and getting a well-paying job, taking care of expenses, and guaranteed secure retirement. The jobs secured a home in the suburbs for a family eliminating student debt, employment woes healthcare worries with benefits with the costs, and retirement worries offering a good retirement plan. In contemporary America, people graduate from college with minimal debt, get a job in a beneficial field, afford healthcare costs, and living a comfortable life. More so, it emphasizes social order where every woman and man contains the potential to achieve their innately capable fullest stature and get recognized by others for their personality. It is a dream of the founding fathers to develop a prosperous nation worldwide. Adichie says, "start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans, and not with the arrival of the British." (Adichie 3) In this context, the American dream story started when individuals saw the potential of America. Believing in the dream contributes to personal growth leading to strengthening the foundations that build America. Every person living in the United States has the right to better their lives and improve their contributions to the economic growth of the country. The dream is wholly optimistic focused on the fullest height which individuals can attain. The inception of the idea does not guarantee that all individuals will be able to succeed in achieving it. Individuals need to acknowledge that immigrants require assimilating into the culture and learn the language to manage in job hunting. The dream provides a picture of the expectations of the United States in economic expansion. America offers the opportunity for individual success but requires working extra hard to achieve the dream. The citizens in America need to consider their apprehensions associated with the idea of being able to follow it up.
