For this interview profile, my interviewee is Rebeca Ruiz. Rebeca is a Californian resident who grew up in Commerce city in the early 1990s. She was raised together with her brothers in a small neighbourhood and remained in touch with her grandparents. Rebeca is also a small business owner in the industrial city of Commerce. Evidently, “the City is primarily made up of industrial uses (more than 60% of Commerce’s total land area is industrial), which presents challenges to both the identification of new sites for development and the maintenance of existing residential neighbourhoods.”[1] As of 2023, the interview points out that Ruiz is a mother with her own family that she is catering for. On the other hand, my interviewee constructs her interpretation of the American Dream from the childhood and adulthood experiences she has encountered throughout her life. This is because, when she was young, Rebecca was motivated by her father, a hardworking family man. Apart from hard work, Rebecca’s father also valued home ownership. Therefore, being raised in such a household, Rebeca was motivated to work extra hard in order to cater for her children and be able to own a home. As a result, my interviewee interprets her American Dream as working hard and saving money to own a home. To her, as long as one is working hard to build her future and manages her finances well enough to purchase a house, that person is living the American Dream. In terms of relation, my argument is that Rebecca’s interpretation of her American Dream is closely related to her family’s upbringing and personal experiences as a mother and caregiver.

According to the interview, Rebecca was brought up together with her brothers in a small neighbourhood in commerce city, California, in the early 1990s. Rebecca asserts that “it was very industrial, quiet neighbourhoods, and there were old couples living on my block; there were not many children, only about four families who had children in their home.”[2] Rebecca grew up with a hardworking father and grandparents who valued hard work and owning a home. As a result, these family values helped shape her interpretation of the American Dream. When asked about her upbringing, Rebecca replies, “seeing my father being a hardworking provider to his family encouraged me to work hard for my family as well.”[3] Also, there was a moment when Rebecca almost gave up on her Dream. She asserts, “there was a point when I stopped going to school and I was working odd jobs, and I thought to myself that I would not be able to afford a home.”[4] Despite this experience, Rebecca was still motivated to pursue her Dream. Additionally, Ruiz’s motherhood played a significant role in shaping her perspective on the American Dream. As per the interview, it is apparent that Ruiz is an entrepreneur and a mother figure. Notably, she is a typical example of her father as she has attained her desired life goals through hard work. Rebecca replies, “I have accomplished many of my goals that I was hoping to as an adult and a provider to my children.”[5] Basically, growing up as a child, Ruiz got the opportunity to witness the definition of hard work and being a caregiver in the family. Thus, she made use of her childhood educative moments from her father and the experiences she witnessed as an adult to interpret her perspective of the American Dream.

Rebecca Ruiz’s specific view of the American Dream is working hard, managing money and owning a home. When asked about her interpretation of the American Dream, Rebecca replies, “I think working hard and saving money to purchase a home is the American Dream.”[6] Evidently, to Rebeca, the American Dream is working hard enough to make a lot of money and managing that money to provide for your family and buy a home. Rebecca also believes that her view is the standard definition as it aligns with the widely held contemporary view. She argues, “I believe I share a similar definition to the idea circulated these days.”[7] By deconstructing this view, my interviewee argues that everybody can live the American Dream as long as they work for it. She says, “if you work hard and know how to manage your money.” Notably, Rebeca’s perspective is centred on the notion the American Dream is all about working hard, financial savings and affording a home. It is all about materialistic achievements. Even when asked if she had achieved her American Dream, she explained that she had accomplished her goals which included home ownership and she could provide for her children. Basically, hard work, managing money and becoming a home owner is Rebeca’s view of the American Dream.

Historically, Rebecca’s experience is related to the post-cold war period in the 1990s America when America’s main concern was stability and home ownership. During the late 20^th century, the majority of Americans view the Dream through the lens of individual achievements in terms of wealth. As a result, most Americans used home ownership as a determinant of prosperity and achievement. For instance, “in the 1990s and early 2000s, mortgage company Fannie Mae began promulgating the notion that buying a home was a cornerstone of the American Dream.”[8]  Also, “it was taken as a given that an increased homeownership rate was a desirable goal. In May 1995, President Bill Clinton released the National Homeownership Strategy, an 87-page, 100-point plan with the goal that it would boost homeownership in America.”[9] This is also evident in Rebecca’s experience. When growing up, Rebecca argues that her father worked hard to provide for his family and buy a home. she asserts that “they always spoke about owning a home America being able to raise their children there.”[10] Therefore, growing up knowing a family should own a house is related to the post-Cold war era, where home ownership was a measure of success. 

Also, Rebeca’s life experience significantly impacted her idea of the Dream. For starters, she did not grow up in a wealthy household. Contrarily, she was forced to put up with odd jobs to the extent that she left school. Thus, with such experiences, Rebecca knew that the American Dream was all about making enough money and buying a house. She also believed that anyone could live the American Dream as long as they worked hard and learned to manage money. Evidently, American Dream has also been described as overcoming the odds to become rich. Evidently, “it is the faith that anyone could move from rags to riches with enough guts and gumption, hard work and nose to the grindstone.”[11] Also, being a small businesswoman of Hispanic heritage, Rebecca was able to use her go-getter spirit as a threshold of the Dream. For decades, Latinos have been victims of racial oppression fueled by their skin colour. Evidently, “among Hispanics ages 18 to 29, 65% say they have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment because of their race or ethnicity.”[12] Thus, given her minority Hispanic ethnicity, Rebecca used her entrepreneurial skills that have been a threshold for the American Dream.

To sum up, I find Rebecca’s interpretation of the Dream surprising. In my opinion, I think the interpretation is narrow-minded as it focuses only on hard work, money and a home. It is important to note that the American Dream has a wide interpretation depending on the view of someone’s happiness. The interview affected me in terms of interpreting the American Dream. After doing the interview, I am left wondering about other people’s interpretations of the Dream and how they vary from Rebecca’s interpretation. What I learned from Rebeca’s perspective is that money is vital to living the American Dream. Also, I learned that the American Dream could be realized by anyone as long as they are committed to working for it. If I were to redo this work, I would add more interview questions to cover more content.