The American Dream

By: Marley Kirven

When I hear the term “American dream” I think of the 1950s. A time when the American dream solely entailed. . .

A happily married working husband with a stay at

home wife and two kids,

happily living in the suburbs,

in a nice house surrounded by a white

picket fence that brought happiness.

Having all of those things led to an expected happiness, the focal point of the American dream. Those ideals were seen as the way everyone should live, whether one wanted that lifestyle or not. The American Dream wasn’t so much of a dream, it became a preferred way of living.

Despite the fact, ideals changed due to an increase of society’s tolerance and overall cultural acceptance, happiness remained the heart of the American Dream.

The changes in society led to the flexibility of the American Dream, it varied among people. One person’s American Dream could be getting rich, acquiring fame or simply getting married to the love of their life. Whatever it may be, the dream will bring individual happiness. The goal of individual happiness gave many the okay to step outside the boundaries of a society that was once strict and limiting. Such as. . . . . . . . . . .

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The American Dream of the 1950s involved a man married to a woman and nothing else. So a man married to another man, or a woman married to another woman was not practiced. But because gay marriage is now, to some extent accepted, six states out of fifty permit same-sex marriage. Those states being New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut as well as the District of Colombia.

All though this is a strong belief

among the gay

community,

others view

same-sex

marriage differentl

y.

Supporters of the left image are in favor of the way the American Dream is perceived today, where as the supports of the image to the right would be in favor of how the American Dream use to be.

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