The Dream Place

 Since the nineteenth centuries, California has become an extraordinary place where nothing is impossible to happen. In the past few decades, California boasted some of the greatest pride across the nation-silicon valley was home to the smartest technologies and inventions of the twenty-first century, and Hollywood had created more theatrical talents than any other place. California is a place where impossible is nothing. It is a big promise to many foreigners—a promise of possibilities, success and comfort for those who are willing to strive and labor for it. As a result, people try their very best to immigrate to the beautiful California for the pursuit of their own dreams.

“Possibility” is a big word that California proudly boasts. There may be numerous personal understandings and expectations to the term, but “The California Dream” has been generally perceived a hope of dream come true. In James J. Rawl’s article “California: A Place, a People, a Dream”, the writer stated: “The California Dream is a love affair with an idea, a marriage to a myth, a surrender to collective fantasy. Unbounded by time or space, the California Dream is transcendent, creating a unity, a whole, a merging of past, present, and future in the total California experience. It is quite impossibly everything- and quite impossibly nothing at all.” There are a myriad of descriptions of the California Dream, all of which are very encouraging and optimistic. There are no limitations as to what one can achieve on this piece of Promised Land that realizes the famous motto “Nothing Is Impossible”. Physical factors such as time and location are non-existent obstacles to hinder anyone’s dream, and this can be understood that California is a place where people are looking for something better here. Taking my uncle as an example, they originally live in Hong Kong, in a small flat, as Hong Kong ‘s flat price were extremely high and the social benefits were not as good as California. They came to California eight years ago. He started his own business here, in a short period of time, due to his hard work. He successfully made much money and bought a big house and a nice car. This showed that California is a place can makes you better. Definitely, California dream is a synonym to improvement.

The California Dream is commonly connected to the ideals of quality lifestyle. Its moderate subtropical climates as well as the liberal manners have provided the easiness of life without much physical discomfort or mental oppression. In the past few decades, many people enjoyed high quality of life and better living standard in the Golden State. In “California Dreaming: Myths of the Golden Land”, it states: ”the promise if California has been one of the easy life – easy climate, easy money, freedom under sunny skies, paradise.“ California is known to offer an unparalleled place for its inhabitants, allowing a decent lifestyle for everyone without restraints. The simply “easy” has many implications on the California, suggesting that it is a haven with political stability, civil liberties, social acceptance and adequate resources. A place like California is hard to come by, since there are few places that can offer all the same, if not better, living qualities. Eastern China is known for its abundant resources and favorable climates, making it undoubtedly a good place to live. However, despite its natural advantage and recent economic success, many people are being oppressed by archaic legislations, and are vulnerable against the corrupted legal systems. In addition, they enjoy few privileges and their mindsets are controlled by the government. Hence, part of the essence of “being Californian” is the easiness and privileges of leading free and comfortable lives.

Furthermore, the Californian dream usually equates to the availability of opportunities. The West Coast, especially in its early stages, is a place where there are plenty of chances for people to explore and excel in various aspects. This is an attractive factor encouraging people to immigrate to California. In “ A New Perspective on the Dream” by Denise S. Spooner, she mentions how the migrants “identified California with risk, danger, excitement, and the chance of acquiring a fortune. This was exactly what some of the migrants had in mind when they imagined southern California as a land of adventure and opportunity”. California is a place providing different chances hardly found in other countries, where the commoners’ opportunities are often being seized by the strict adherence to the social hierarchy. The absence of an apparent social barrier makes California an attractive option for those who are willing to push their luck. Many Chinese immigrants entered California in the 19^th century in hopes of better lives and more opportunities to succeed. They saw the profusion of chances to become successful in their own trade, and opportunity to climb up the social ladder, and the possibility of giving a better life for their descendants. In short, California provided a second chance for all those who were previously restrained by the their social standings.

Nevertheless, the California dream is not merely about success; there is also the implication of the existence of risk. While opportunities are offered, not all that seize the chance are bound to be successful. Many people have failed in their journey of striving their own goal. As mentioned in “Notes of a California Expedition”: “the whole country is full of gold, which can be had for the digging of it. But those who come here, as many do, and imagine that it is easily to be picked up, will be disappointed.” Successful is part of, but not the complete, picture of life in California. One cannot be certain about prosperity, and can only hope for luck. The California Dream can only go so far as to provide a chance for some foreigner to try to lead different lives, but it does not guarantee anything.

The California Dream is a hope to abundant possibilities and chances to create a new life. The people’s work ethics and skills are like the seeds of plants, while the two main ideas in the California Dream, opportunities and success, are like the water and soil. The diligence and efforts alone does not guarantee fruitful results, like plants alone cannot grow without the necessary conditions. There must be a place, like California, which offers the critical conditions necessary for growth. 

Reflection 

This is the first in class essay; I had learned a lesson by a careless mistake, as I did not proofread much on my essay, there were many grammatical mistakes in it. The readers were proofreading it but not reading it. This is a reminded me that proofread is a very important process in writing an article.
            I think this essay can be improved in different ways. First, the sentence structure are similar, do not have much variety, it is quite boring to the readers. Moreover, the choice of vocabularies, the limited vocabularies in my mind had also limited the message I can express. I hope I can learn more through reading others’ paper and practice more to improve my writing skills.