The American Dream

The American Dream Abstract Since those times when America was discovered, many people overflowed to this continent in search of a better life. Those emigrants who hoped to find in America better political, economic, or private life, wanted to realize American Dream. The word â€Å"movement† has a figurative meaning connected with those emigrants from Africa, England, Ireland, Mexico, etc., who arrived in the USA, chasing American Dream.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The American Dream specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More What is American Dream? It is a phenomenon that symbolizes the ideal life of the USA population. American freedom includes success and prosperous life for everyone, regardless from the person’s origin or a social class. This idea is based on the United States Declaration of Independence which states that all people are equal, and have equal rights. The practical realization of this dream is one’s ow n house, built on a private land. American Dream is tightly connected with the concept of â€Å"self-made person† that means a person who, with the help of individual hard work, achieves success in his/her life (Schnell 2). Most of the emigrants, who arrived to the USA chasing their American dream, faced hard life, full of challenges and difficulties. Their American Dream was not realized, and they either died or resigned themselves to the dreadful way of life. Thesis: The evasive American Dream rouses people to the unfulfilling reality. Introduction The American Dream is United States’ national ideal. It offers freedom and a promise of prosperity in which life should get better and richer for everyone. It promises a fair chance for everyone with ability, without regard of social class or birth. Jennifer Hochschild succinctly defines the American dream as a set of â€Å"tenets about achieving success†. According to President Bill Clinton, the American dream requ ires an individual to work hard to get a chance at advancement. Simply put, it is a persons’ attempt to achieve wealth and success through hard work and thrift. However, the American dream has remained difficult for many to achieve for a wide variety of reasons (Cullen 124).Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Living the American dream is the ultimate dream for most of the American citizens and those aspiring to acquire American citizenship. However, the American dream has turned out to be a nightmare for them. For many nowadays, the American dream has been rendered dead. Many who opted to get decent jobs better housing better health facility formal education etc. have languished to deteriorated living standards. Wages for many of the citizens have stagnated or fallen. Many authors have expressed failure of the American dream in their works. This theme is also v ery common in many contemporary works. Education, Employment, Healthcare, Housing and the American dream Many of those who sought better education resorted to working instead of studying. Financing education for many of the American citizens has become a heavy burden for them. US has the best education facilities and the best education system together with high technology, hence accessing this is quite an uphill task to those wishing to access this. Unemployment has been the nature of the day many American citizens facing layoffs due to economic recessions. In addition, they are left to seek casual jobs to meet their end needs. With the minimal income of up to $40000 per year, they are unable to keep up with the high taxation bills and mortgage. This is due to the difficulty in economic mobility in the US. Many employed citizens have stagnated and unable to climb the economic ladder. Nevertheless the rise in economic inequality has contributed too many citizens missing out on the ec onomic reward that comes with success. Health services are also a serious concern. Even though America has the best health facility in the world, health care is a chronic problem to many American citizens. For those who are uninsured it has been a nightmare accessing these health facilities. Very few citizens are provided with this basic necessity by their employment companies. This has resulted to the sprouting of two health care systems for the haves and the have-nots (Bloom 93). Housing is another factor that makes the American dream hard to achieve. Hunger and homeless is increasing every day street families are on the rise daily. As a result, they sleep and depend on the garbage sites. The state has constructed home for the poor to cater for these street families. This has done little to reduce their ever growing numbers Poor housing state has hit almost one quarter of the US citizens. It is extremely difficult for the US citizens to own homes; this has prompted them to rely on mortgages. Many of them are unable to keep up with the mortgage hence face being evicted from their homes. Others spend the rest of their lives paying up the mortgage. The housing policy in the US has failed to provide a level ground for all citizens and those aspiring to acquire citizenship there to acquire this basic need.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The American Dream specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More American dream and the works of Denis Johnson and Raymond Carver Jesuss Son Denis Johnson Jesus Son is an anthology of eleven interlinked short stories, which are all narrated by the same character; a broken alcohol and heroin addict. The narrator (and protagonist) interacting with disturbed, drug addicts. Ultimately sympathetic characters of these linked stories. We follow the narrator through eleven short stories that revolve around wild incidents under the influence of drugs. Car Crash While Hitchhiking This is the opening story in the book. The narrator is involved in a traffic accident while hitchhiking. This bleak story takes a positive turn when the narrator rescues a baby trapped in a wrecked vehicle. He ends up in hospital. Work The narrator describes a fight with his girlfriend at the start of this story. He then meets an interesting character named Wayne in a bar. He goes on a job with Wayne to tear down the walls of his old house to take out the copper wires and sell them. While so engaged, they see a naked red headed woman hang gliding. She is Wayne’s wife. Beverly Home This is the last story in the collection. This story follows the narrator’s life after he has undergone drug rehabilitation. The narrator works as a newsletter writer in a nursing home. With all the patients suffering in some way, the narrator seems to have found a place to fits in. He is obsessed with a Mennonite woman he overhears singing. As a result of his occupation at the home and his relat ionship with the Mennonite lady, the narrator finds acceptance. The narrator seemed destined for an incongruous ending. The story has an interesting and poignant ending. Through all of these stories, we see a hidden spirituality in the characters and so the ending of the book, while surprising, is inevitable. The stories take place in different settings and give the reader a detailed description of the narrator’s outcast friends. We see him in myriad predicaments and at all stations of his life. The characters in these stories are all addicts in some way. These drugs and alcohol are the only certain factors of the narrator’s life. The settings of the stories are as varied as the narrator’s friends. The settings cover from Iowa, to Seattle to Phoenix. The narrator does not reveal anything about his past to the reader. The narrator only divulges aspects of his self through his words and his many incarnations. He surrounds himself with a coterie of lowlifes who dwe ll in a bleak and violent American reality. The surreal quality, the intense fragility, of the narration is striking in Jesus’s Son. This voice does not seem to alter even when narrating the violent episodes that litter the stories.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Cathedral -Raymond Carver This narration short story opens with the narrator anticipating his wife’s blind visitor. He has many reservations about the visit. His narration reveals his prejudiced nature. He does not make any effort to engage the blind man, Robert, in conversation, and choses to remain aloof. Not unlike the characters in Carvers stories, the main character in Cathedral is subconsciously alienated and lonely. The narrator is unsatisfied with his occupation, and has petty resentments towards his wife. He does not get attached to people. The narrator is essentially blind, unaware of his actions and their effect on others. He lives in unique oblivion, isolated from others by his prejudice and beliefs. The narrator disdains his visitor for no other reason but his sightlessness. He carelessly throws rude stereotypes into the conversation. This bias, to the extent that he refers to the visitor simply as ‘the blind man’, reveals his misplaced feelings of s uperiority. The narrator betrays his opinion that Robert’s life must be far inferior since he has no sight. The narrator finally comes to realize that he, and not Robert, is actually blind. Despite his handicap, Robert has made the most of life. He has travelled and educated himself by listening to educational television programs and reading books. Robert continues to better himself, unlike the narrator who has stagnated in his smug self-satisfaction. The narrator appears unmotivated, is a habitual drug user and does not seek to improve himself. The narrator sees Robert as a temporary imposition on his life, a trifling inconvenience. Robert, however, enables him to become self-aware. The narrator attempts to describe a cathedral he has just seen on TV to Robert. Robert asks him to draw it with him instead. It is here, with narrator closing his eyes and Robert holding his hand, that the narrator experiences an epiphany. By drawing the cathedral with Robert, the narrator has be come open to a completely new world. Before the drawing, the narrator had a strong bias towards Robert. Yet this time the narrator feels a difference between the two. The narrator feels liberated saying, â€Å"I didnt feel like I was inside anything (Carver 13). The narrators experience with Robert allows him to view his life from an entirely new vantage point. When the drawing is complete, the narrator keeps his eyes closed and continues to use the experience as an awakening. The narrator now realizes that life is really something (Carver 13) and he would benefit from changing his lifestyle. Ironically, it is through his experience with a visual impaired man, that Robert is introduced to an entirely new perspective on life. Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Preservation† and the American dream. Preservation by Raymond Carver is a story about working class white Americans who are bemused and fed up with the American dream that they see on the television. These working class Amer icans have always hoped to achieve this dream, although so far in their toil they have never even set their eyes on it. The characters in this story have never protested against these disappointments and disillusionment in the American dream. Instead, they channel their views and anxieties of the dream to drugs and alcohol. They have focused their attention to the day-to-day details of their lives as opposed to struggling to achieve the American dream. In Caver’s story, Preservation, lacking a job in America implies lacking a name. The unnamed husband in the story, who is also unemployed, has recently been retrenched form his job that involves putting up roof tops on new houses. He was having difficulty finding a new job â€Å"His face began to sweat as he tried to describe to Sandy the milling crowd of men and women down there in the unemployment office (Carver 36). The husband in this story becomes numb, and Sandy, his wife, just stands there helpless. She observes her hus band as a compilation of body parts that are becoming less powerful by the minute: Her husband’s bare feet stuck out from one end of the sofa. At the other end, on a pillow which lay across the arm of the sofa, she could see the crown of his head. She saw his head down on the pillow that lay across the arm of the sofa. He adjusted the pillow under his head and put his hands behind his neck. Then he lay still. Soon she saw his arms move down to his sides†¦. His eyes were shut. His chest seemed to rise and then fall (Carver 44). Each time Sally looks at her husband, repetition of the words hands, sofa, head, feet, and TV occur. These words together with the husband’s body parts are depicted like having equal weight. His arms or eyes’ depiction is not any different with the sofa or the newspaper. This lack of distinction between her husband, who she sees as body parts, and the nonliving objects around him is the leading conflict in this story. â€Å"Her husba nd- who is almost reclining, living now in the living room- is becoming a vegetable, an object, separated into parts, in the field of their home† (Carver 46). Sandy’s memories, of men who contribute nothing in the lives around them, are used metaphorically to relate to her husband who is slowly getting into that category. She recalls of her friend’s story about an uncle who went to bed at 40 and was still alive 63 years later. The uncle used to cry each day winning about his fear of getting old. She also recalls he father, who after divorcing her mother, bought a car in an auction and later died in it after inhaling carbon monoxide from the car (â€Å"He stayed in the car until someone found him a few days later.†) These memories follow one another and put emphasis on the failure of the American dream, making men useless in front of their families. The husband in this story is preserved by lying on the sofa, although he has no job. His wife realized just h ow useless he has become, how apart they are drifting from each other, and how his job, Freon and energy has been lost. In as much as families have gained a massive amount of disillusionment in the American dream, they still hope that something will happen and make that dream a reality. Sally hopes that someone might turn up and offer her husband a job, or that she might buy a new refrigerator before everything in the house spoils. Conclusion The American dream is a public vision that involves America’s identity. The American dream has turned into a myth that is inconsequential as far as the socioeconomic identity of America is presently concerned. The American dream refers to the act of pursuing happiness by every person as shown in the Declaration of Independence. The American dream is more of an ideology that is rooted in the mind of people. With thus the American dream is just a mere mirage to the many people aiming for it around the world (Palecek 58). Bloom Harold. The American dream. Kansas: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Print. Carver, Raymond. Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories. New York: Random, 1972. Cullen, Jim. The American dream: A short history of the idea that shaped a nation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print. Palecek, Mike. The American Dream. New York: CWG Press, 2006. Print Schnell, Hildegard. The American Dream. GRIN Verlag, 2010. 1-3.

Interpreting Trends in ACT Science Relationships Between Data Points

Interpreting Trends in ACT Science Relationships Between Data Points SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Interpreting trend questions can sometimes feel like looking into a crystal ball and predicting the future.Thankfully, no psychic powers are necessary to answer these questions.These questions do require you to interpret the data you are given, going beyond the basic factual questions. Interpreting Trends questions only appear in Data Representation and Research Summaries Passages.For more information about these types of passages and the other types of questions, check out the 3 types of ACT Science passages. Interpreting Trends questions ask you to evaluate graphs, tables, and/or scatterplots to decide if there is a relationship.Is it increasing or decreasing?Is there an inverse relationship or direct relationship?I'll go into more detail on this throughout this article.In this article, I'll transform you in a data interpreting whiz! This is what I have in store for you: Types of Interpreting Trends Questions: 3 Kinds of Correlations tested on the ACT Science Ranking Lists ACT Science Practice Questions and Solutions Types of Interpreting Trends Questions 3 Kinds of Correlation Direct Correlation As one increases, so does the other, as one decreases so does the other. One direct relationship that most people have experienced is time sitting in the car on a road trip and the needto pee. The longer you drive, the larger your need to use the bathroom grows. Here is a sample graph of a direct relationship: While direct relationships are not always a line, it can be helpful to think of direct relationships as lines with a positive slope.As one increase, so does the other. Inverse Correlation As one increases, the other decreases. Shopping is a simple example, as you purchase more items, the amount of money you have decreases. Here is a sample graph of this inverse relationship: No Direct or Inverse Relationship Here is a graph of data with no direct or inverse relationship: For this graph, try to describe this relationship in one word.You can’t.As you follow the trend, as temperature increases, density increases, but then it starts to decrease rapidly.So temperature and density are not inversely nor directly related. We will practice several ACT Science questions addressing these 3 types of relationships in the sample question section below, but first, let’s talk about the one other types of interpreting trends question. Ranking Lists Sometimes the ACT will ask you to put data in increasing or decreasing order based on some criteria like height or mass.See a real ACT Science question below: I'll share my step by step thinking as I solve this question. To answer this question, you need to start by analyzing the question. What is the question asking you to find? These questions require extra analysis because you do not accidentally want tolist the answers in decreasing order when they asked for increasing.In this question, they ask you to list the foods in INCREASING order for the amount of heat released per gram of food. Now, we need to figure out which figures to use; the question says Tables 1 and 2. But which do we start with?This question actually requires you to look at the answer choices to figure out exactly what foods you are ranking. Note: on rankingquestions, you do want to look at the answer choices before trying to solve the problem.The answer choices have useful clues.For this question, by looking at the answer choices, we know that we need to rank the four foods listed in Table 1 and sucrose (which is shown in Table 2).I would start with ranking the four foods in Table 1. Make sure you are looking at the correct column!The question asked about heat released per gram of food.We can see the mass is 1.0 g for all foods in Table 1.So we just need to look for heat released, which is the final column of the table.Ignore the column on change in water temperature; if you use it, you will possibly get the problem wrong. Now, double-check the ranking system, whether increasing or decreasing.The question said increasing order, so start with the smallest. According to Table 1, the increasing order should be potato, egg, bread, cheese.Knowing this, we can eliminate answer choices B and C because it ranks cheese before the other 3, which we know is wrong.To decide between A and D, we need to look at Table 2. This is where mention of the heat released PER GRAM in the question becomes very important.This entire table analyzes heat released by glucose, but the amount of grams changes.Locate 1 g in the amount of sucrose column (it is the 3rd value from the top).The heat released by 1 g of sucrose is 16 kJ.Now, you need to place this in the appropriate location in the current rankings: potato, egg, bread, cheese. Looking back at Table 1, see where 16 kJ fits in the heat released rankings.1g of bread released 10 kJ and 1 g of cheese released 17 kJ.So, sucrose fits right in between.The final rankings should be potato, egg, bread, sucrose, cheese. The answer is A. This is one of the more detailed ranking questions that I’ve ever come across in my teachings.It required you to synthesize two different visuals that were set up in very different ways. When approaching these questions, Start by analyzing the question. What is it asking you to find? What order? Increasing or decreasing? Look at the answer choices for clues about what values you need to rank. Based on this information, decidewhich Figure you need to use. Make sure you are looking at the correct Figure. Use process of elimination. Make sure you have ranked the answer choices in the correct order, whether increasing or decreasing. If you mastered thisranking question, you will be able to master any ranking problem!Let’s tackle some more interpreting trends AT Science practicequestions: ACT Science PracticeQuestions and Solutions Relationship ACT Science Practice Question #1 To answer this question, start by figuring out what is asked of you, as we did in the ranking question. As the distance from the urban site increases, the question wants to know how the annual wet deposition changed for Cu and Zn.Now, let’s figure out which figure we need.The question said Study 3, so we need to use Figure 4 that accompanied Study 3: The key mentions 3 sites, but nowhere in Figure 4 does it list the distances. We have to skim for this information.In the last sentence of the paragraph above Figure 4, it says that Rural Site 1 is 50 km from the urban site and that Rural Site 2 is 100 km from the urban site. Since the question wanted you to evaluate the annual wet deposition as distance from the urban site increased, start by ranking the sites in terms of increasing distance from the urban site: Urban site (0 km since it is the site), Site 1 (50 km), Site 2 (100 km). Now, let’s start with one ion, Cu.As we progress from the urban site to site 1 to site 2, the bars get smaller, so the annual wet deposition decreases.So, for Cu as distance increases, annual wet deposition decreases.Knowing this, we can eliminate answer choices A, B, D. This only leaves us with C, which I think is the answer, but will double check by looking at Zn.As we progress from the urban site to site 1 to site 2 for Zn, the bars get smaller again, so the annual wet deposition of Zn does decrease also.The answer is definitely C. So the relationships in question are both inverse. As distance increases, annual wet deposition decreases for both Cu and Zn. RelationshipACT Science Practice Question#2 Some relationship questions will work backwards. Take for instance this question: This question asks you to evaluate the relationship that is given in a table and make it into a graph. Start, as always, by figuring out exactly what you are being asked, and in this case, it is to illustrate the relationship between heat released and change in water temperature. Answer choice B shows a direct relationship, answer choice C shows an inverse relationship, and answer choices A and D show relationships that are neither inverse nor direct. When you are asked to evaluate relationship, based on a table, I recommend first reordering the table in chronological order, see below: This allows you to better see the relationship.I also encourage you to draw arrows to indicate increasing or decreasing such as I’ve done below: I now know that it is a direct relationship,as change in water temperature increase, so does the heat released. I know the answer has to be B. RelationshipACT Science Practice Question#3 Let’s check out a question with a very tricky graph: As always, start by analyzing the question. Does S â€Å"depend† on frequency at a â€Å"given† wavelength?†Depend† is a fancy word that simply meansare the variables related? Do they have a definable relationship, either direct or indirect?†Given† is a fancy word to say across all values. So, the question is asking you to evaluate if S has a relationship with frequency across all intensity values? The next step is to make sure we are looking at the right figure, in this case, there was only one, so phew that was easy. Here it is: Now, we need to locate S, and compare it to frequency.In such a complex graph, circling is your friend. See my artwork below: You'll notice all of the S values are vertical lines.What this means is as frequency changes, the intensity of S at any value (S 10^-8%, S 10^-2%, S 10^-1%, S 100% - it is fine to not understand what these values mean) remains the same.So we can eliminate, F and H because we know S does not increase, it stays the same.Now to decide between G and J, does S depend on frequency, well since it doesn’t change when frequency does, the answer is No.So, J is the answer. Major takeaways, make sure you know what you are being asked, make sure you look at the right part of the graph, circle for clarity, and graphs of vertical or horizontal lines mean there is most likely no direct or inverse relationship. Recap There are 2 Types of Interpreting Trends Questions Relationship based questions Ranking questions For both question types, Always make sure you understand what relationship the question is asking about. Look at the answer choices for clues about what values you are looking for. Based on this information, decidewhich Figure you need to use. Make sure you are using the right Figure(s) Make notes or drawings at each step if that helps you Use process of elimination Double-check your work if you have time What’s Next? I hope you feel ready to interpret any trend (except personal trends because then you’d be psychic)! For future ACT Science study, I recommend checking out our other articles onthe 3 Types of ACT Science passages to learn more about the other types of questions asked on the ACT Science section,factual questionstolearn more about this question type and to practice your visual reading skills, andthe best way to study and practice for ACT Science to make the most out of your limited study time. Like this article? Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Sciencelesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. 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This I Believe essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

This I Believe - Essay Example He should also learn how to respect other people instead of fight them, and to temper his desires and focus on his education instead of having a girlfriend at a young age. I was always the butt of jokes every time my friends would know that I did not have a girlfriend yet or that I have not tried any beer yet. I wonder why they would not mind how many books I have read at this point in my life. I really wonder why they would consider having dated a girl more important than anything else instead. What is also more annoying is that no matter how many times I explained to these people how important studying is more than having a girlfriend or drinking beer, they simply did not agree nor did they listen. What is even worse is that they would sometimes either label me as a nerd or a sissy or gay. I have nothing against nerds, sissies and gays but it is not good to call someone this if it is not true anyway. I believe that older people in the community should also try to help foster the value of good education and should at least help minimize the ridicule that young people like me get from those who constantly criticize every effort of mine to be an excellent student at school. It even seems to me that the society I was in would praise me more and make me more welcome if I were a dropout and if I got myself tattoos of snakes and women all over my arms and the rest of my body. The problem with this society is that the older people tolerate such beliefs because they are the same and they believe in the same thing about being a man. I remember arguing with my father on the subject of having to conform to society, and my father insisted on following what people say in order to avoid being ridiculed. Although I got my father’s point and although I knew that he was just protecting my interests and that he just did not want me to get into trouble, I believe there is always a point at which an individual has to stop conforming to what