Free Essay Sample: The Notion of Success in the American Society

According to research, success is measured by the level of wealth people have amassed throughout their entire life. The wealth they acquire entails property in terms of houses, vehicles and a large amount of money. However, do these aspects portray success in the United States and do they show the development of all the people living in the United States. This paper will focus on analyzing various notions and perspectives propagated regarding success in the United States. It will also determine whether the achievement of success is real, or it is a myth believed by certain people.

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Introduction

The various types of communities in the United States have portrayed different aspects regarding success due to the living standards and the sources of income they pursue to achieve success. Every person strives to get a successful life regardless of their occupations or backgrounds. However, the achievement of this success occurs through limitations to an extent where most people end up miserable and working in between jobs to succeed. For instance, the context portrayed in Breaking Bad shows that the high school teacher decides to engage in the production of meth, an illegal substance, to succeed. This instance indicates that despite a reputable occupation as a teacher, the income acquired from the occupation seems not to sustain the teacher adequately, and thus illegal activities will provide additional income to achieve success. These instances indicate that people in the United States have developed a sense of inferiority through their occupations due to differences in social and economic classes.

Additionally, the instance of the middle-class professor who joins service works as a waiter, and a cleaner indicates that disparities in social and economic classes have largely contributed inferiority. The occupation as a professor does not seem to provide the necessary aspects of success as the professor leaves his occupation and undertakes three labor opportunities simply to succeed. These instances indicate that the notion of success differs among individuals as there are people who would feel comfortable working as professors and imagine that they have succeeded. However, there are other people in the United States who may not be contented with such occupations and thus pursue additional activities that will bring more income. Consequently, these articles indicate that success occurs as a notion created by people through the desire to have more property or more finances to facilitate their activities.

The variety of occupations held by people in the United States act as measurement levels for success as people working in white collar jobs will access standard facilities and services. On the other hand, people working in blue-collar jobs, popularly referred to as manual labor, tend to work more hours and more years before they attain some level of success. These aspects, act as decisive factors for success as people develop the notion that success entails material things. However, the notion may have some depth of truth as success requires wealth in all aspects. These aspects divide people into different economic classes with the rich, successful, living in modern areas while the poor, unsuccessful, live in shanty areas.

The dissociation among the people of the United States emanates from portraying of success through materialistic things. These things include money, property, cars, just to mention but a few. They thus drive people towards working hard in pursuit of the goal of success and seeking wealth. People find themselves working for almost 24 hours in a day to achieve some aspect of success. However, during the process of working these hours, they lose their sense of individuality by attempting to live like other people. Arguably, the pursuit of success or rather goals related to success create a perception of rich and poor people.

The texts provide information regarding the dream of success in the United States through creating an illusion that success means wealth. It thus eliminates the importance of work or occupations held by people through indications that they may not lead to the achievement of the desired goals. Therefore, these illusions drive people towards pursuing different channels of acquiring wealth. For instance, the middle school professor undertakes jobs different from his career with the aim of portraying whether success is achievable in the United States. These instances indicate that the American dream of success has brought about various limitations to people through lack of proper job opportunities, lack of sustainable livelihoods and differences in social and economic classes.

The texts provide a notion where work and occupations act as the only channels that may guarantee success in the United States. This notion limits people from realizing their self-happiness through sacrificing most of their time in pursuing the American goal. Additionally, the occupation available in the United States fail to pay the workers the necessary wages and thus people are required to undertake more than one occupation to meet the demands. These instances indicate that success in the United States entails a myth where people believe in its existence, but the realization part of it seems quite impossible. The reason behind people working in more than one occupation indicates that the level of life in the United States seems to be higher than the ability of most Americans. The life standards demand more income and labor that it is available to the people. They are thus required to work extra hours to get the extra income that will cater for the high demand in their lives. These issues deprive most Americans the opportunity to realize their dreams and thus engage in illegal activities while others choose to remain in the same situation.

The various ways in which these myths and notions may be altered entails the understanding that success occurs through appreciating the little that people have and utilizing it in pursuing personal happiness. The moment people understand that they can succeed at their current occupations through savings and investment, the American dream will become achievable. Additionally, the notion of poverty as a measure of failure and wealth as a measure of success should be eliminated by people living in harmony among each other. The rich in the community should offer opportunities at better pay without sideline people based on the background. These should be followed closely by government intervention in regulating the price of commodities. The rich community should be highly taxed on their wealth and exposed to higher prices while the poor people should enjoy lower taxes and prices. These factors would make life standard for all the people to enjoy equal opportunities. The last aspect should be the elimination of segregation based on race, economic or social aspects.