Post by natashape112 on Dec 4, 2012 20:47:11 GMT -5
American Dream the Puritan Way
As human beings, and true members of society in general, we are inclined to have a vision of perfect in our minds. Searching for “happiness” is a goal that every single American wants. As a society as a whole we are always chasing the beautiful American Dream. Whether it’s looking for a new house, buying a new car, or simply getting new clothes, we are always looking for the newest trends. The recent lottery is a perfect example of the American dream. The Powerball Jackpot was an immense $550 million dollars on Wednesday. In order for there to be a lottery in general, the public must buy tickets to fuel it. The average American household spends about $525 dollars a year on lottery tickets which comes out to $43.75 dollars a month. Americans waste this much money a month/year to attempt to fulfill their ultimate American Dream. In actuality, for this Powerball Jackpot, there was a 1 in 175,223,510 chance that you could have won. Unless you or your household defied the odds, you just wasted $525 dollars on absolutely nothing.
As Americans, many want the newest and greatest things that we can possibly get our hands on, and the $550 million dollars would have been a great asset towards the ultimate goal. The American Dream had to have started somewhere, clearly the first real American towns. The Puritans lead an extremely hard working life. They believed that in order to achieve ultimate dreams, one needs to work hard for their successes. For the Puritans this meant a strict religious life and pure religious behaviors, to achieve their ultimate goal of heaven with God for all eternity. In the Puritanical society it was frowned upon to do things that weren’t related to religion. In both the Puritanical society and our American Dream we face issues. In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller clearly displays the immense flaws in a Puritanical society. Throughout the play Arthur Miller portrays the Nurses as a the ultimate followers of God and all things religious. However, Rebecca Nurse is still accused of being a witch and she is eventually hanged because she does not reveal names of other witches. Although Rebecca Nurse was the ultimate religious character, she stills ends in death. Rebecca Nurse’s hard religious work did not exonerate her from the accusation of witchcraft or from death. Essentially, Rebecca Nurse spent all her life doing good to achieve a goal that was unattainable. In America this happens on a daily basis. As a society we constantly try hard, and save money in order to purchase something that we think will make us happier and better people. However once that item is obtained there is always something else that we want more. Most people were inclined to buy a lottery ticket, though clearly the odds were not in their favor. Since there was a tiny gleam of hope, millions of tickets were purchased. Clearly there eventually had to have been one winner, but according to the Harvard School of Public Health, it is more likely that one would die from a lightning strike or hit a deer with a vehicle in Hawaii, the state where State Farm says deer-vehicle collisions is the least likely, than winning the Powerball Jackpot.
The American society paid their $525 a month to attempt to reach an extremely unattainable goal. The American Dream, similar to Puritan life, defines the way a majority of our country lives, and to eventually end with another distant goal to achieve.
Word Count: 595
Works Consulted:
" Lottery Tickets, How much does the average American spend? | Michael Sopata's Empower Network Blog." Empower Network | Building a business while having a life.. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.
" You, win the $550M Powerball jackpot? It's not happening - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.
As human beings, and true members of society in general, we are inclined to have a vision of perfect in our minds. Searching for “happiness” is a goal that every single American wants. As a society as a whole we are always chasing the beautiful American Dream. Whether it’s looking for a new house, buying a new car, or simply getting new clothes, we are always looking for the newest trends. The recent lottery is a perfect example of the American dream. The Powerball Jackpot was an immense $550 million dollars on Wednesday. In order for there to be a lottery in general, the public must buy tickets to fuel it. The average American household spends about $525 dollars a year on lottery tickets which comes out to $43.75 dollars a month. Americans waste this much money a month/year to attempt to fulfill their ultimate American Dream. In actuality, for this Powerball Jackpot, there was a 1 in 175,223,510 chance that you could have won. Unless you or your household defied the odds, you just wasted $525 dollars on absolutely nothing.
As Americans, many want the newest and greatest things that we can possibly get our hands on, and the $550 million dollars would have been a great asset towards the ultimate goal. The American Dream had to have started somewhere, clearly the first real American towns. The Puritans lead an extremely hard working life. They believed that in order to achieve ultimate dreams, one needs to work hard for their successes. For the Puritans this meant a strict religious life and pure religious behaviors, to achieve their ultimate goal of heaven with God for all eternity. In the Puritanical society it was frowned upon to do things that weren’t related to religion. In both the Puritanical society and our American Dream we face issues. In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller clearly displays the immense flaws in a Puritanical society. Throughout the play Arthur Miller portrays the Nurses as a the ultimate followers of God and all things religious. However, Rebecca Nurse is still accused of being a witch and she is eventually hanged because she does not reveal names of other witches. Although Rebecca Nurse was the ultimate religious character, she stills ends in death. Rebecca Nurse’s hard religious work did not exonerate her from the accusation of witchcraft or from death. Essentially, Rebecca Nurse spent all her life doing good to achieve a goal that was unattainable. In America this happens on a daily basis. As a society we constantly try hard, and save money in order to purchase something that we think will make us happier and better people. However once that item is obtained there is always something else that we want more. Most people were inclined to buy a lottery ticket, though clearly the odds were not in their favor. Since there was a tiny gleam of hope, millions of tickets were purchased. Clearly there eventually had to have been one winner, but according to the Harvard School of Public Health, it is more likely that one would die from a lightning strike or hit a deer with a vehicle in Hawaii, the state where State Farm says deer-vehicle collisions is the least likely, than winning the Powerball Jackpot.
The American society paid their $525 a month to attempt to reach an extremely unattainable goal. The American Dream, similar to Puritan life, defines the way a majority of our country lives, and to eventually end with another distant goal to achieve.
Word Count: 595
Works Consulted:
" Lottery Tickets, How much does the average American spend? | Michael Sopata's Empower Network Blog." Empower Network | Building a business while having a life.. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.
" You, win the $550M Powerball jackpot? It's not happening - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.