Chasing the Dream: Researching the Meaning of the American Dream

In “Paradox and Dream,” a 1966 essay on the American Dream, John Steinbeck writes, “For Americans too the wide and general dream has a name. It is called ‘the American Way of Life.' No one can define it or point to any one person or group who lives it, but it is very real nevertheless.” Yet a recent cover of Time Magazine reads “The History of the American Dream – Is It Real?” Here, students explore the meaning of the American Dream by conducting interviews, sharing and assessing data, and writing papers based on their research to draw their own conclusions.

Featured Resources

• The American Dream Project: This assignment sheet, which is directed to students, explains the three-part nature of this project and paper.
• Steinbeck John. American and American and Selected Nonfiction. Susan Shillinglaw and Jackson J. Benson, eds. New York: Penguin Books, 2012: In this 1966 essay, Steinbeck presents a picture of Americans as paradoxical and asks if the American Dream is even possible. An edited version of this essay can be found at http://politicalsystems.homestead.com/ParadoxAndDream.html
• Sidel, Ruth. On Her Own: Growing Up in the Shadow of the American Dream. New York: Viking, 1990: Sidel explores the impact of the American Dream on young women in the 1980’s and 1990s.

From Theory to Practice

In her book Genre Theory: Teaching, Writing, and Being, Deborah Dean describes writing “mini-ethnographies,” saying, “Ethnography is a way to look at a culture; Wendy Bishop describes it as ‘a representation of the lived experience of a convened culture’ (3). Reiff, citing Beverly Moss, explains that ‘the main purpose of the ethnographic genre is ‘to gain a comprehensive view of the social interactions, behaviors, and beliefs of a community or a social group’’”(“Meditating” 42). This lesson allows students to explore this idea of shared beliefs within a culture and to then use genuine research (one-on-one interviews) to produce a paper that examines the shared belief in the American Dream. As Dean states, “…conducting research for ethnography requires students to use genres for authentic purposes, which provides them with clear connections between genres and contexts and helps them see genres as actions more than forms.”

Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 9. Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• “Paradox and Dream” in America and Americans by John Steinbeck
• “The New American Dreamers” (particularly pp. 15-25) in On Her Own –Growing Up in the Shadow of the American Dream by Ruth Sidel
• "Keeping the Dream Alive – The American Dream: A Biography” by Jon Meacham
• Note: Because of the concern with the American economy today, oftentimes articles discussing the American Dream appear in newspapers and magazines. Teachers should be alert for these articles, particularly those that are especially timely in terms of when the class is undertaking this project. Sample articles include:
  • “The American Dream: Is it slipping away?” (September 27, 2010): This article examines the results of an ABC News Poll on the validity of the idea of the American Dream today.
  • “Waking Up From American Dreams” (February 12, 2010): This short article explores contemporary cultural connections to the American Dream and the effect of class on the Dream.
  • “In a Sour Economy, What Happens to the American Dream?” (May 7, 2009): This article explores how the definition of the America Dream changes in the time of a recession.

  Printouts

  • “The American Dream Project” assignment sheet for students
  • Discussion starters - sample questions for “The New American Dreamers”
  • Sample Interview Questions
  • Sample Student Paper