The+American+Dream-+Need+to+be+Somebody

The American Need to be Somebody

In America, we place such an emphasis on changing the world, becoming famous, and being somebody, making a name for ourselves.

media type="file" key="Miike Snow - Song For No One.mp3" width="240" height="20" (Song For No One by Miike Snow) "It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants, but it was already Jay Gatsby who borrowed a row boat..." -__Great Gatsby__

We strive to "find ourselves" and "become somebody", and we have websites and books all dedicated to this:

Because the truth is no wants to be

"Mr. Nobody from Nowhere" -__Great Gatsby__

We try to find and create ourselves by buying into ideas and brand identity, but we often end up losing ourselves even more.

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 * "Each of us has to define himself for himself and we look for clues out there, in the world around us. We clock ourselves in all sorts of fashionable notions, status symbols, brand names and other facades of eggshell fragility. Then we wonder why the stranger reflected back at us is unrecognizable. We’ve tried to invent ourselves from the outside in. We’ve based our hope on a bit of flash that can be bought and sold. We’ve wanted so desperately to be someone that we’ve ended up being nobody where it counts." - Wyatt Cooper **
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Our definition of being somebody needs to come from the inside.

We need to stop thinking about defining ourselves like this:



And more like this:



My Reflection on "The Need to Become Somebody"

Next Wall: America and Religion