What is the American Dream?

After watching the movie "Citizen Kane" and reading the book "The Great Gatsby" in class recently I have had to some rethinking of the "American Dream". Both stories feature fabulously rich men, Jay Gatsby and Charles Foster Kane, who despite their vast sums of wealth were ultimately very lonely and unhappy. The common goal for every American is to get rich, but is success determined by how much money you have? Or is it how happy you are? To begin to answer these questions I think I should first re-define the American Dream in my own words.

Before being immersed to these two works of art, to me the the American Dream was going to college, getting a degree, getting a good job, make a lot of money, and then settle down with a girl and buy a house and have a couple kids. This seems pretty cliché and perhaps universal but I feel like no ones lives come this easy. This list may very well be the perception of the American Dream, but what if the job in which I make a lot of money makes me miserable? Will the money I make be worth it, as money makes people happy? To what extent should one sacrifice happiness for superficial objects?

If Charles Foster Kane can't buy happiness
nor can you!

The American Dream should not be defined by a list of wants based on financial goals. Rather, I believe the American Dream is being happy in your own skin no matter how rich or poor you or. I think people can fall into the trap that with money comes happiness, but you can't buy happiness. Love and happiness cannot be bought, and for that reason the American Dream should be rethought so that there are other factors in people's aspirations besides money.

Having said that, you can buy things that could lead to potential happiness; you can buy security, luxury, possessions, and even sex- but there are all short-lived avenues of happiness. Love and happiness are eternal, and for that reason Kane and Gatsby were very unhappy individuals. They thought that material objects and possessions could buy them love, but in the end they died lonely and their lives unfulfilled. Americans have a bad habit of putting money as their first priority, and although it is a necessity in becoming successful, our character and happiness with ourselves is a far more important priority.