The American Dream - Essay Example

? The American Dream is a concept familiar to us all, but somehow unique to each and every one of us. It is a nebulous idea at best. Some define it as a good job and a nice house. Others define it as their children doing better than the previous generation did. For each of us, the idea of the “American Dream” is slightly different and distinctive. For those of us whose parents have done well—or have inherited a comfortable socioeconomic status—the American Dream sometimes puts you into a precarious position. There is often an expectation that you will ‘follow in the footsteps’ of the family’s most successful members. Along with this pressure, there is also the pressure to accept help from your family and their associates. One can be left with the dilemma of deciding between following your own path and stepping into the destiny everyone around you assumes belongs to you. In my family, the American Dream is having your children do well. It is having your children continue in your footsteps, either in the family industry or attaining a higher level of success than your parents in another industry. The preferable path is that your children pick up the family business and carry it forward. There is a great desire to continue the legacy of the family. There is great pride for someone to pass on a legacy to their offspring. However, for the offspring, this situation is not always as desirable as it may look to other people. With so much decided for you and the ease of possible success at your fingertips, it can be difficult to discern what you truly want for yourself. Additionally, you can begin to take future success for granted. With all of the advantages at your disposal, how could your future work out to be anything but bright? But there can also be guilt. Do you deserve the place that is being set for you? Are you the person that people think that you are? What if you don’t have the same qualities and characteristics that people assume you have? What if the genetic lottery did not imbue you with the traits that are expected of you? The idea that certain traits are indelible to certain people, specifically people with a higher socioeconomic status or a family history of a certain level is a long held notion. The concept that certain people are more deserving than others is not something new. In fact, “English social hierarchy privileges aristocrats by birth over those who distinguish themselves through intellectual labor” (Vaught 65). There is certainly a segment of our society who still clings to that idea—albeit most of them belong to the social class in question and harbor this belief in order to cling to their status. The belief and the associated practices are so prevalent, there is a name for them: nepotism. Nepotism is “favoritism to kinfolk” (Schumer 46). In some instances, the practice of nepotism is a practical practice. For instance, when universities hire married couples in recognition of the fact that academics tend to marry other academics, this is a practice that helps the institution maintain retention of quality professors—which is the topic and focus of Schumer’s piece, “The New Nepotism.” However, the nepotism that is a controversial issue for most people is not the case of married couples gaining employment in the same place. The nepotism that most people have such strong feelings about is the practice of the sons and daughters or someone already enjoying advantages gains employment or favor because of who their parents are. Many people are opposed to this type of nepotism and opposition to this way of life is not new either. In fact, Thomas Jefferson explained his opposition to this concept in his letter to Adams. He referred to this idea as the ‘artificial aristocracy: “I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents…there is also an artificial aristocracy, founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents” (Jefferson qtd. in Cullin 51). Although Adams and Jefferson disagreed on some of the nuances and semantics of natural aristocracy, Adams agreed with Jefferson on the bigger issue. “I dislike and detest hereditary honors, offices, emoluments established by law…I am for excluding legal hereditary distinctions from the U.S. for as long as possible” (qtd. in Burleigh 381). For many people, nepotism is something that serves to propel those already advantaged even further above people who cannot get a break. “Those who express the strongest objections against nepotism see it as a means by which the upper class preserves its wealth and privileges” (Bellow 468). It is certainly easy for someone to decide that the entire practice is nothing but evil. However, we cannot overlook how the practice has benefitted many companies. “Family businesses thrive on nepotism and can be very successful as a result…The people involved in the business aren’t just co-workers performing tasks: they’re deeply concerned with each other’s success on and off the job, and have a strong sense of commonwealth” (Greenhalgh 41). When considered in that light, it becomes a more complicated issue. You can begin to see why a father would want his son to continue the family business. You can see why families would encourage their offspring to press on in the same industry and achieve even more. The desire to continue the legacy you have spent your life working toward is an understandable drive. As the son of someone who has never made a secret of the desire for his son to achieve success either in the family business or in the same industry, I have long struggled with both sides of this issue. And for me, if I were to concede to my father’s wishes, I give up ever knowing if I could indeed make it on my own steam. If I make my father happy, how will I ever know what my true worth is? How will I know if I could have made it on my steam? There are tons of stories and examples of sons who have followed their fathers into the family business, only to have that association eat away at whatever relationship they had. The son doesn’t run the business in the same manner the father would. Or when faced with decisions—especially in changing times—that the father wouldn’t make, there can be tremendous friction and disappointment. We have all seen examples of fathers who grow more and more disappointed and sons who have spent their lives trying to please their fathers through working in the family business, only to wake up middle aged, feeling that their lives have been a waste. They have neither pleased their father, nor have they done anything that gives them a true sense of fulfillment. When we are handed an existing successful enterprise, where is there to go? You are trapped in a life of maintaining an existing entity. How does a man enjoy any feeling of being your own person if your life’s work is being the keeper of a legacy? The film, The Godfather, is a trilogy based upon the novel by Mario Puzo. Over the course of the three films, the youngest son of the main character (the Godfather, played by Marlon Brando), Michael, played by Al Pacino, reluctantly takes over the family business. In contrast with my personal situation, Michael was never supposed to be involved with the family business. Additionally, there is the obvious contrast of the illegal nature of the Godfather’s enterprises. However, the strong sense of family and the assumption that boys will follow in their father’s footsteps is similar. Michael grudgingly takes over the business out of a sense of duty and honor. And once he does, he puts his whole will, energy, and talents toward that endeavor. Although he does experience some success in the role, there are many personal sacrifices. For example, there is an attempt on his life, there is a loss of innocence and familiar affection between his brother, Frodo, and himself, ultimately his marriage, and his own happiness. Michael tries to shift the family business to legal enterprises and extricate the business from the illegal enterprises upon which the family has made their money and legacy. He is ultimately unsuccessful in his attempts to legitimize the business. Beyond that, he endures the pain many sons who’ve inherited business endure. In one meeting in Las Vegas with Moe Greene, he is told that the family business is failing. Moe tells Michael: “The Corleone Family don't even have that kind of muscle anymore. The Godfather's sick, right?” The subtext here is that Michael is no “Godfather.” Moe is essentially telling Michael, ‘You are not your father. You are not the man he was.’ This is the struggle for every son taking over the family business. The remaining associates and clients who have always done business with your father may never see you as a viable and equal partner or opponent. You will likely never get the respect you would like from these people. And one could argue: why would you? You have not technically earned your spot. You were handed the reins. Some people may never respect you, no matter how adept you prove yourself to be. Michael is not happy with the life he has had to lead. In fact, one of the infamous lines from the movie is him expressing his desire to get out of the business. “Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in.” He also expresses his regrets at not having been able to pursue the life he had planned for himself: “Kay, I had a very different destiny planned for us.” The subtext is that he had other dreams and visions for himself, which were never realized. He traded his own desires and plans for service to his family. And it cost him everything. In the end, he has lost his wife and his relationship with his family is not what he would want either. On top of all of that, his own judgment is getting skewed. He tells his son to put aside his passion for singing and to take a safer path, one that ends with getting into the family business. When he son says he won’t fail, Michael replies, “Men always believe that. With a law degree you're taking on insurance. After that you can do anything you want. You can work for me.” Perhaps he has deluded himself into believing that he has finally gotten his business completely legitimate. It seems he is trying to delude himself into believing the legacy and past of the business are unimportant. Yet he does not want this life or the business for his daughter. When his daughter’s paramour wants to get into the business, he tells him he will allow it under one condition: “Give up my daughter. That is the price you pay for the life you choose.” Thus, on some level he recognizes that this life is not what he wants for his children. Granted the situation and circumstances of The Godfather are more extreme and dramatic than my own. But the central truth is still there. The myth of the American Dream being passed down to one’s offspring can be fulfilling to the first generation, who creates and builds the legacy. But it can be more burden than gift for the inheriting generation. Often the dutiful sons and daughters who try to carry on the legacy and serve as the keeper of the family birthright end up feeling as though they have done nothing more than trade their lives for something that does not serve anyone but ghosts—and often that is a best case scenario. Often, what remains is a shell of what the family business once was. Changing times and changing players dictate the future of a company. Often the inheriting children wind up feeling like a failure and worry that the business in its present state would be nothing more than a disappointment to the generation past. Often the nepotism practices inherent for many in the American Dream do not serve the very people they are supposed to benefit in the long run. Works Cited Bellow, Adam. In Praise of Nepotism: A History of Family Enterprise from King David to George W. Bush. New York: First Anchor Books, 2004. Burleigh, Anne Husted. John Adams. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 2009. Cullen, Jim. The American Dream: A Short History of an idea that Shaped a Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Greenhalgh, Leonard. Managing Strategic Relationships: The Key to Business Success. New York: The Free Press, 2001. Schumer, Fran. “The New Nepotism: Married Couples are Working Together all Over.” New York Magazine 19 Nov 1990: 46-51. The Godfather. Dir. Francis Ford Coppolla. Perf. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro. Paramount Pictures, 2001. DVD. The Godfather II. Dir. Francis Ford Coppolla. Perf. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro. Paramount Pictures, 2001. DVD. The Godfather III. Dir. Francis Ford Coppolla. Perf. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro. Paramount Pictures, 2001. DVD. Vaughn, Jennifer. C. Masculinity and Emotion in Early Modern English Literature. Hampshire, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2008. Read More