by Krisztina Koncz

 

 

„There are those, I know, who will reply that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing, but a dream. They are right, It is. It is the American dream.’’

 

                                                                                     (Archibald MacLeish, 1960)

 

The above quotation can be one definition of the American dream. We use this expression in our everyday lives and we think of a dazzling career with high salary, nice houses and expensive cars. That is what we all want: stability and safety in our lives. Many of us believe that in our homeland it is not possible and we would like to make it happen in a better place, which is in many cases the United States of America: the so-called land of  opportunity. But what does the American dream really mean?

 

The first people who pursued the American dream were the English in the 17th and 18th century. They called America the land of plenty, opportunity and destiny. Later, they created the colonies, the states and the image of today’s America. The next large wave of immigrants arrived in the 19th and 20th century. That was the time of revolutions and world wars which resulted in poverty, starvation and oppression. Many refugees from European countries have found their new homes in the States.

 

The American dream has a different meaning for everyone. For example, there is the so-called African-American dream: the black people of the cruel and poor ghettos who would like to escape from this hopeless situation and build a better life in a nice suburb. Furthermore, there are the Hispanics whose dream is to ensure a better and safer life for their children. Today’s native-born Americans also pursue the American dream: many young people move from the countryside to the famous big cities like New York and Los Angeles where they have better job and career opportunities.

 

 

A nice house in an American  suburb

 

 

 

And what about us, Hungarians? What was/is our American dream?

 

Our immigration to America started in the second half of the nineteenth century. The reasons were overpopulation and unemployment, and what most people needed was money. Most families only wanted to stay until they could collect enough money to buy a nice farmland at home. Later of course only a few of them returned, the majority stayed in the States probably because of their children who had better facilities there and because of the better political situation. Later many more Hungarians left the homeland because of economic and political problems (world wars, 1956, cold war, etc.). Most of them settled down in Eastern industrial states like Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and New Yersey.

 

I have a personal example of the American dream in my family. My mother’s cousin and his fianceé emmigrated to the United States in 1969. At that time it was a hard and dangerous journey. Laci bácsi and Iri néni (as I call them)  did not get a passport because they were both young graduates. They passed the Hungarian border in the trunk of a car which took them to Rome. They stayed in a refugee camp there for half a year. Then they got in touch with an American church which helped them to receive the necessary papers. Finally, they left for America where they settled down in Miami, Florida, and now they have two adult sons, and they are expecting their first grandchild. They were able to make their fortune and Laci bácsi is now the head of a large real estate company. They achieved what they had wanted and I think that this is a perfect example of the American dream which means for most Hungarians becoming successful and rich.

 

Of course not everybody becomes successful. We should not forget that out of the millions of immigrants and dream pursuers only a fraction achieves the desired wealth and luxury. Reaching the American dream is not easy, without hard work, talent and lots of luck it is almost impossible. Education is also very important so with a good educational background people have a much better chance for a good life.

 

At the same time the American dream has negative sides as well. For the immigrants the lack of necessary papers is a very serious problem. There are about 15 million illegal workers in the States and their life is not so perfect: they form the lowest layer of the American society. These people usually work in the service sector (in restaurants, bars, hotels, building sites, etc.). They do not have insurance and green card which means that if they get ill or have an accident they won’t be treated at the hospitals. They are also afraid of the immigration office which can deport them back to their homeland. In many cases these illegal workers are defenceless, and their chances of moving up on the social ladder is very little.

 

 We also need to talk about the cultural differences. The immigrants have different language, customs, celebrations, food. Many minorities live seperately in their own communities within big cities such as New York and Los Angeles, where they build little Italies, Chinatowns and barrios (ghettos of Mexican Americans). The standard of living is different in these areas but the poorest ones are undoubtedly the barrios. Every year thousands of illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border and arrive in these Latino ghettos. They are usually uneducated so they earn very little but they take the risk of passing the border illegally because they pursue the American dream of a better life out of the poverty they knew in Mexico.

 

 

Chinatown in New York

 

 

 

Why do we need the American dream at all? Maybe because it it easier to believe in an ideal world somewhere in the distance than to accept the (grim) reality. Today finding a job is difficult and that is why many graduates choose working in the USA. As legal workers they have many more facilities, and they also earn a lot more many than they can in their homeland. But there is the question of nationalism: is it worth leaving our homeland for money? To live among strangers in another culture? Most of them say: „definitely yes’’. Every year thousands of graduates leave our country too in search of the American dream. They make use of their talent in the States and the result is the so-called brain drain.

 

Even if someone has reached his/her American dream we should not forget about human relations, because they can be easily destroyed. Let’s take the example of the popular series, Desperate Housewives. These families have all the amenities of the American dream, they live in a nice suburb, but their lives are still not perfect. The husbands work and their wives, who need attention (desperately), stay at home. They seem to be happy and lucky, but in the background the family members gradually drift away. Then quarrels, infidelity and divorce follow each other and family life is over. So what I want to say is that money cannot buy happiness and in some cases it can even lead to unhappiness as we see it often on programmes like Desperate Housewives.

 

 

The desperate housewives

 

 

 

In conclusion I can say that the American dream represents for most of us the chance of moving up and becoming successful, which is very nice if you can achieve it, but it has dark sides as well. Choosing the American dream means, in most cases, leaving our family and friends behind. I personally believe that studying and working in the States for a while is useful, but we should come back with the experience and knowledge we got there and maybe once we can pursue the Hungarian dream too.

 

Bibliography

 

        American Dream     www.en.wikipedia.org

 

        Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Changing Conceptions of the American Dream                www.americansc.org.uk

 

        American dreams … through the decades       www. lcweb2.loc.gov

 

        Immigration to the United States        www.en.wikipedia.org

        Kivándorlók és hazatelepülők        www.sulinet.hu