Sean Musial, Editor

The American Dream. A term first coined nearly 100 years ago by historian and writer, James Truslow Adams, in his 1931 bestselling book, The Epic of America. Though the phrase was initially conceived in the book, the concept has been around since the birth of our country. The idea is deeply rooted in the Declaration of Independence, with things that were written like “all men are created equal” and “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

The original and more detailed meaning is the following: the belief that anyone can achieve success and prosperity through their hard work and determination, rather than social class or circumstances of birth. Back then, sure. It could be something attainable by any American citizen if they put the work in. In modern society, those notions of “social class” and “circumstances” are becoming blurred through different economic, social, internal and external means. The American Dream is pissed off and looking for a rewrite. 

Plenty of writers throughout history have written on the subject. With these myopic views and personal interpretations, the “Dream” has been seen in different lights. F. Scott Fitzgerald offered up a cynical look with The Great Gatsby by exploring themes of wealth, class and the pursuit of a materialistic version of it during the Jazz Age. The writer of Death of A Salesman, Arthur Miller, gave his audiences a ruinous critique of the concept, presenting an ordinary man’s spectacular failure. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck depicts it as a luxury that can be rarely affordable for those living in poverty.

These novels and plays are very early glimpses of what had come of The American Dream during the 1920s and 1930s. Even though it has been over 100 years since the mentioned books came out to the American public, the overall ideas portrayed have been present throughout the past century. The argument can be made that it is prevalent in modern society more than ever. 

The American Dream was supposed to be a promise… now it feels more like a punchline. When it was originally created, it was a less saturated and convoluted time. We live in a consumption culture now that has started to delude people into the certainty of what they can’t have. The illusion of mobility dangles in front of us like a carrot on a stick. We chase it endlessly, but the closer we get, the further it seems to move out of reach.

The crisis of identity comes into play through the uncertainty of someone not knowing if they’re doing too little or overdoing it. Anxiety towards that unknown path an individual takes often causes burnout. The disconnect between effort and reward breeds existential rage, making one question their hustle in a system that is already rigged against them. 

How can one truly “be themselves” in a culture that commodifies authenticity? Being yourself is pursuing your dream. It’s a part of your foundation no matter how little or grand that idea that you long for is. Many who have still opted to chase it have started to find themselves with a different kind of struggle. Different struggles like social media backlash are oftentimes being overlooked because of the recurring factor of oversaturated content.

For Gen Zers and Millennials, they seem to be dreaming differently. They are branching off from that “white-picket fence” but rather towards freedom from depth, asking the grand question of what it all means, and granting mental peace. Some reject that systematic repression completely. Many are the people who choose the van life, embrace anti-work or become digital nomads as they still long for their own sense of peace. 

This built-up anger isn’t a result of laziness or too much enlightenment, but it’s rather the result of a promise that has already been broken. We sometimes want something so badly that we can feel we can reach out and grab it. When we go to touch and nothing’s there, that’s when we start to get pissed off. It’s not unattainable. It just hasn’t reached that point yet. What happens when society loses its central myth? What replaces the Dream when belief collapses?

An argument can be made that it could turn us into a “copy and paste” society, meaning that each person will be identical then the person that came before or after them. An emotionless and predetermined life that is created for the higher-ups to rule over us at will for their own beneficial success. The anger we possess towards this idea that we won’t get to our overarching goal is sacred. It is a signal of life, resistance and the internal hunger for something real.

The success should be redefined and reimagined for it to stay alive out of what has come out of the modern world. It’s not accumulation but rather alignment. Yes, we accumulate knowledge, relationships and other things for the success of our dream to eventually become true. Letting everything align together like a jigsaw puzzle or a star constellation before you rush through it is what should feel more natural during the pursuit. It shouldn’t be consumption but rather connection. The connection with the ones closest to you and the connection with the audience you are trying to accumulate for the vision to inevitably come into fruition.

Community should come first over what is deemed your “competition.” As much as someone is the central driving force for the dream to come true, no one in history has done it without the help of others by their side. Mutual aid, collective care and decentering form the idea of the self-made man. Ego kills the dream even if you think it drives it. The dream could have never been a destination at all, but rather a mirror into one’s unconscious thoughts, feelings and hidden conflicts. That internal reflection evaluates your potential so it can bleed out into the real world. 

The American dream is pissed off… and maybe it should be. Maybe that anger is something more honest, more human. Maybe it’s a path towards a more enlightened tomorrow rather than the limited past that it came from. Choose the present over the nostalgia of the past because it keeps you from longing for what was rather than what is. We may not want the old dream back, but we can make that choice to dream differently.

Our dreams in life are what make us human beings. That yearning for an idea or plan that feels so far away, even through hard work and major perseverance. Pursue the dream. Live, breathe and sleep it. Getting pissed off when you’re not there yet is a natural response to something you want and can imagine so clearly; it’s like you can reach out to touch it. Dream big or go home.