In America we have something called the American dream. To us the American dream is for everyone to be able to be financially stable and be able to maintain a good stature. The dream is for everyone to be able to maintain a social rank that can make you respectable. If you want to be well respected in America you have to have a good job if you aren’t you’re portrayed as a failure. When you’re a failure you are not apart of the American dream and are placed in the category of the ones who disappoint. After Analyzing “From Ragged Dick” by Horatio Alger and “Horatio Alger” by Harlon Dalton as they argued against each other on social mobility and economic prosperity as they express different views . After analyzing both readings and considering …show more content…
Dalton feels that even though people say there isn’t discrimination anymore there is some to an extent “I honestly am surprised every time I see a White man who can play basketball above the rim, just as Puerto Ricans and Cubans tend to be surprised to discover “Americans” who salsa truly well” (Dalton 273). Dalton portrays the Idea that there is many stereotypes until today toward minorities in America because everyone believes that Americans do it the best. We can see that this is not an act of racism but people are just influenced to their own ideas of what they are told in their society. Moreover , Dalton relates that we are not all looked at the same “we do not all have an equal shot at reaching our goal because we are not all equal”. Dalton feels that even though in America they say that it is the land of opportunity that is all a lie because if you’re a minority you express less chances. Americans are always viewed to be the ones who have the upper hand in any …show more content…
I feel that minorities we make an excuse just because we are lazy to put in the effort. To many excuses are made in life and then we get mad when Americans are much more successful. Minorities love shortcuts and those always lead to being dishonest . For example, I am a Minority and I see these specific types of actions constantly such as I remember my cousin was a manager at the Nike store. Instead of trying to keep his position and move up he started to backdoor shoes to his friends. This made things worst as he got fired and the store monthly revenue continued to decrease. If us minorities respected our positions and had a great work ethic we would be treated equal .

To Conclude we were able to see that Alger and Dalton were complete opposites on what the American dream is. Alger felt that as long as you put the effort into something there is always an opportunity for success. On the other end Dalton made excuses for minorities and thought that they always are diminished and viewed inferior. The American dream can have many meanings but at the end of the day nothing is given you have to earn