Hi guys, I know that I haven't been that active lately and that's cuz of school. College is really wearing me out so i've decided to take the summer off and hopefuly I'll be more active. In the mean time I've written another essay like the other 2 that I've posted here and this is part of my sociology class that we are studying what's it mean to be an American and how the American Dream connects to this. I hope that you guys read this and I hope that you like it. See ya around

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The American Dream is an idea that is known to everyone around the world because it has become a way of life for some people. The American Dream is something that has so many meanings depending on where you're from and it can't never truly be defined like a word in a dictionary. Since there are so many meanings for this single idea, we have to look at it from different perspectives to grasp the concept more efficiently. Dave Eggers wrote a novel called What Is The What, which is a story based on the life of a refugee from Sudan named Valentino Achak Deng, which narrates his experiences. Luis A. Urrea wrote a book called The Devil's Highway, which is based on the story of men trying to cross the border from Mexico so that they can get to the United States. These two books give their own meaning to the American Dream.
Sudan has been in war for a really long time, and this is mainly because the Muslim law was imposed on the people of Sudan. There have been brief moments of peace, but they never last. Many people have been driven out of their homeland and in that same process many lives have been lost and families broken apart. We get to hear the story of Achak of how he had to survive so that he could survive. But there is one thing that separates Achak from the people of the other book, and it is that he is a refuge. He is in America because he had to, not because he wanted it to. Proof of this is when he says, "It is a strange thing, I realize, but what I think at this moment is that I want to be back in Kakuma." (Eggers, 4) He never wanted to leave his home to begging with, but he was forced to do so.
Achak doesn't want to be in the United States because he feels that he doesn't belong there; "I am alone again. I detest this city of Atlanta. I cannot remember a time when I felt otherwise. I need to leave this place." (Eggers, 138 ) But he can't really go back to his country because of the war, and even if he managed to get to Sudan he would be killed. He's like a man with out a country in the sense that he cant' go anywhere, he may look like he is free but in reality has more restraints here than if he were back home; "I have been humbled so many times since arriving that I am beginning to think someone is trying desperately to send me a message, and that message is 'Leave this place.'" (Eggers, 4)
But now that Achak is here, he just wants to get a college degree so that he can help his country. As a refuge, he doesn't want to stay here because he doesn't feel welcome and maybe at times like he can't don anything for himself, "This man makes me ashamed that I didn't do more against my attackers." (Eggers, 313) Is like he is subconsciously comparing and contrasting the life that he had in Africa and the life that he has here. I guess that Achak's American Dream is to go back to his own country and forget about everything else. We might think that going back to Sudan is not he best choice, but it doesn't really matter what we think as long as it's what he wants. After all, isn't the American Dream a desire to reach the one thing that we want the most? He wants to leave and never comeback, "I walk outside; it's an unremarkable day. I know that I will not miss the sky that guards over this city. The heavens here have been a hammer to me, and I will be moving, as soon as I am able, to a quieter place." (Eggers, 533)
Mexico is a wonderful place, and I think that any Mexican would agree with me. I am of Mexican heritage and I'm proud of it because even though I was born in the United States I can relate to the people in Urrea's book. Everyone loves their country of origin and just because they leave it, it doesn't mean that they don't. Many people leave Mexico because sometimes having love for something isn't enough to survive. People that leave is because they have to find a better source of income for their family, and the only way that they can achieve this is by working in the United States and sending money back home. An example of this is a guy named Lorenzo Ortiz Hernandez, he had a family but he had to get them money. Urrea says, "The kids were deeply into the age when they needed things, things he couldn't afford for them." (145)
Life in Mexico can be harsh because people over there don't have a lot of money. Most of the people that risk their life's in the desert are from rural villages where their chances of getting money are even less. I can relate to this because my parents are originally from Puebla, Mexico and they had to come to America so that they could provide a better life for their families. My parents meet in Los Angeles, California and that's where my brother and I were born. This only makes me more grateful for being born in the United States because that means that I will never have to suffer what my parents and what other people have had to. Urrea describes the desert in such a way that it makes this place look like Hell on Earth. In the first part of the book he describes this desert in the fallowing way, "In many ancient religious texts, fallen angels were bound in chains and buried beneath a desert known only as Desolation. This would be the place." (4)
Why would anyone want to cross that place by foot? They all have a goal in their minds and they are willing to put their lives on the line just to do it, but is it worth it? This would be their American Dream, to get some money and then go back to their country to be with their loved ones. Like Lorenzo, people only want money for their families an then one day go back to live with them. I think that to Lorenzo's American Dream is not really possessions, even if it was money that made him want to cross the desert. I think that his ultimate goal is just to see his family happy and having all the stuff that they need. Like I said before, there so many meanings to the American Dream depending on the person, but I can't be sure if I'm right since he never got a chance to live out his dream. And this was how his dream ended, "Lorenzo Ortiz Hernandez lay as if asleep beside an ancient saguaro." (Urrea, 174)
One thing that we have to put in perspective is that the American Dream isn't always as nice as it sounds. Immigrants, refuges, and many more people have to suffer a lot so that some of their dreams can become a reality. This makes we wonder if the American Dream is just a misconception of what people try to get while they are in the United States. The American Dream can also be seen as a nightmare; this is because not all dreams are necessarily good and some dreams can even have a negative impact on the person, hence a nightmare. By this I'm not saying that America is bad or anything like that, I just meant that they shouldn't try to sugar coat reality. While we may not reach that Dream that we have, we know what it means to survive in this world. We never give up and we keep trying to reach that goal which we will never have.

Eggers, Dave. What Is The What. New York: Vintage Books, 2007.
Urrea, Luis A. The Devil's Highway. New York: Back Bay Books, 2004

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And that's the end of it. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks for reading.