Question

Which of the following statements best summarizes the essay?


Over time, the phrase “American dream” has come to be associated with upward mobility and enough economic success to lead a comfortable life. Historically, however, the phrase represented the idealism of the great American experiment.


Adams concluded that America had lost its way by prizing material success above all other values: Indeed, it had started to treat money as a value, instead of merely as a means to produce or measure value.


I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:


It is an image of peaceful, collective, enlightened self-
improvement. That is the American dream, according to the man who bequeathed us the phrase.

Answer 1

The first statement. It captures the essay’s main point: that the “American dream” is now seen as material upward mobility but originally meant idealistic, civic-minded principles.