Work hard and stay committed and eventually all your dreams will come true. This promise is known as part of the American Dream. It is said that with a little hard work and dedication you can reach the top of the social classes. After all, this is the land of endless opportunities. However, reality is hitting most Americans on their way to the top. People are now starting to realize that this land of infinite opportunities has many limitations and obstacles. Most of these setbacks stem from the unequal distribution of wealth in America. Americans spend their entire lives searching for this “American dream” promised to them; however, the harsh reality is that all this dream really does is give hope to the hopeless. The distribution of wealth in America is so uneven that most Americans have no idea how much money each class acquires. Nearly half of the United States is sharing an extremely small amount of money. Unfortunately, in today's society, the poorest 40% of the population, approximately 120 million Americans, own 0.03% of the wealth (Domhoff). And yet, for some reason, we're still clinging to the idea of ​​this American dream that anyone can achieve. People, stuck in the bottom 40%, who want to make it all the way to the top, will pay so much attention to the fairytales of rags to riches dream stories. The reasoning for believing in these stories is the idea that since someone else made it, there must be a way for them to make it too. In fact, all these stories really do is give hope to the desperate when they have nothing left to fight for in life. The hopeless can gain hope through those rare instances where hard work and dedication have paid off. This hard work pays off for the top 20% of people, and if one somehow manages to work their… middle of paper… they continue to get richer. As a result, the reality of working hard and staying committed doesn't always mean you get to the top. This “dream” of making it to the top is far from reasonable for most Americans. The main reason for this unattainable result stems from the unequal distribution of wealth in America. Americans spend their entire lives searching for this “American dream” promised to them; however, the harsh reality is that all this dream really does is give hope to the desperate when trying to make their way up the social classes. Works Cited Lorenzi, Peter. “The American Dream and Middle Age.” Society 51.1 (2014): 2-7. Premier of academic research. Network. March 22, 2014. Domhoff, William G. “Who Rules America: Wealth, Income, and Power.” Who Rules America: Wealth, Income, and Power. Np, September 2005. Web. 23 March. 2014.