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Literature Text
The American Dream can be defined in many ways by a variety of people. While most would say the dream is a two story house with a white picket fence in a lush green lawn and 2.5 kids and a pet golden retriever. A stay at home mom who cooks every meal and knows every womanly remedy, while the father goes off to work a 9 to 5 job. The son is the star quarter back, a straight A student, prom king. The daugher, a prim and proper young lady with a full ride to Harvard. They all come together at six o'clock in the evening and eat the most perfect dinner and continue on with their perfect little lives.
But when all the layers are pulled back you see them for who they really are: an unfaithful mother with a drug addiction; an alcoholic father working three jobs to try and prove to his family he's more of a man than his old man, and failing; the son succumbing to nothing more than a scum of the earth woman beater; and the daughter a self righteous princess with nothing more than her artificial blonde hair and Prada heels. On the surface they look like the perfect family, but underneath all those layers, the only time they say one or two words to each other is over a burnt frozen dinner, and even then its a complaint or something to start an arguement.
But all of this is too materialistic. It doesnt provide any sense of accomplishments, other than scoring the winning touchdown or making the perfect turkey dinner. No, this is a false sense of happiness. If you ask me, the american dream is simple- self acceptance, living everyday like your last, and never looking back; no regrets. Life can be lived so much happier without having to worry about the society surrounding you.
The perfect family is one that is happy in everyway, in their own way. Maybe the parents work some crazy job that no one would ever do, but they love their job and getting out of bed every morning isnt a drag. And the kids might be the quirky weird kid in the back of the room, not up to todays standard of 'normal', but they love themselves enough to embrace everything about them. And they all live under one roof; instead of a white picket fence, their lawn is coverd in lawn gnomes, and inside theyre eating spaghetti tacos with their pet iguana.
Kat Steele '09, edited '12
But when all the layers are pulled back you see them for who they really are: an unfaithful mother with a drug addiction; an alcoholic father working three jobs to try and prove to his family he's more of a man than his old man, and failing; the son succumbing to nothing more than a scum of the earth woman beater; and the daughter a self righteous princess with nothing more than her artificial blonde hair and Prada heels. On the surface they look like the perfect family, but underneath all those layers, the only time they say one or two words to each other is over a burnt frozen dinner, and even then its a complaint or something to start an arguement.
But all of this is too materialistic. It doesnt provide any sense of accomplishments, other than scoring the winning touchdown or making the perfect turkey dinner. No, this is a false sense of happiness. If you ask me, the american dream is simple- self acceptance, living everyday like your last, and never looking back; no regrets. Life can be lived so much happier without having to worry about the society surrounding you.
The perfect family is one that is happy in everyway, in their own way. Maybe the parents work some crazy job that no one would ever do, but they love their job and getting out of bed every morning isnt a drag. And the kids might be the quirky weird kid in the back of the room, not up to todays standard of 'normal', but they love themselves enough to embrace everything about them. And they all live under one roof; instead of a white picket fence, their lawn is coverd in lawn gnomes, and inside theyre eating spaghetti tacos with their pet iguana.
Kat Steele '09, edited '12
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Wrote this junior year of high school, edited this year.
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