Notes on the AMerican dream/ American nightmare

American dream :
It's an essential concept to being an American.
In America, you can go from being poor to being rich.
In America, how hard you work is more important than who you are.
Example: Jared Canto can be just as successful as the child of Bill Gates

Ambitious people who start out poor with no family support, but who are smart and work hard have the OPPORTUNITY to achieve anything, anything!  One particular aspect of the American dream is the immigrants dream. You can become a business success story . First generation immigrants work 18 hours a day and go from having very little to making more money than they ever imagined. 

The American nightmare:
The American nightmare is seen when the individual decides that cheating is an acceptable road to success. Scarface. The Great Gatsby. The Wolf of Wall street. Pain and Gain.  Breaking Bad.

The storyline goes like this: the protagonist is poor and angry. One or both of his/ her parents have been bad. He/she has a special talent. He/she begins to experience success. He/she realizes the very successful people are cheating in some way. Therefore, the hero decides to "Beat them at their own game." They achieve tremendous success. Final stage, they get caught. Scandal follows. They lose everything they fought so hard to gain. They realize that friends and family were the most important thing all along.