Robbing people of the ability to see enormous opportunities directly Essay

Robbing people of the ability to see enormous opportunities directly in front of them - Essay Example In this way, three of the readings which have been engaged during the course of the semester will be utilized to prove that the current system of opportunity and potential that exists for the individual within the United States is ultimately divorced from the reality, which t is oftentimes associated with such terms as the American dream. In such a manner, it will be the goal of this author to prove to the reader why the United States, in its present form, promises a hopeless situation for many participants within its society. Although it is not hard to disagree with such talking heads as Rush Limbaugh, the point that he made with regards to disagreeing with the overall level of potential and opportunity that exists within the United States was yet another example of some of the ridiculous things that he has said during the course of his career. What Limbaugh said was the following: â€Å"Such an understanding robs people of the ability to see the enormous opportunities directly in front of them†. ... ay engage with are necessarily far different than the level of potential and opportunity that a lower class or desperately poor individual would have to leverage/draw upon. Taking the case of â€Å"The Lesson†, the reader can instantly note that the narrator of the piece effectively differentiates society into two distinct groups: those that escape desperate poverty and those that continue to struggle with the painful realities of life defined by want and hardship. Such a difference is shown with regards to some of the conversations that take place near the shop windows that exhibit goods that the girls have never seen before, nor have any idea how they should be utilized. Junebug says in her conversation with Big Butt and Miss Moore, â€Å"’What’s a paperweight?’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢To weigh paper with dumbbell’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Not exactly, it is used to weigh paper down so it won’t scatter and make your desk untidy’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢I don†™t even have a desk’† (Bambara 267). This difference with regards to the way in which different cultures exist and experience life in different dimensions helps to show the fact that the opportunity that exists for one given socioeconomic class and the opportunity and reality that exists for another are entirely different. As a means of further highlighting such a truth, Barbara Ehrenreich’s piece entitled â€Å"Serving in Florida† underscores the economic realities that exist for those individuals that have not had the fortune of receiving a college degree or making a career in any other way. Seeking to perform research with regards to how individuals at the very bottom layers of the socioeconomic chain seek to make a way for themselves, Ehrenreich sets out to engage in two minimum wage jobs at 60 + hours a week just as a means to provide for herself. The