What does it mean to be American in the 21st Century

At the beginning of this class, I thought that I had a good idea of what the "quintessential" American is and what the American dream consists of. Now, looking back after reading the four novels for the course, I realized that everyone has their own unique view of what it means to be American. We got to see firsthand what it was like to be a drug addict, witnessed the discrimination against minorities in this country, and found out how hard it is for immigrants to come from their traditional lives and try to adjust to America. I think that my definition for what it means to be American in the 21st Century now is that we are all unique, however we don't respect our differences. While in this modern age some think that discrimination and racism has been defeated, it is still prevalent in our society as evidenced by books such as Indian Killer which shows how Native Americans are being mistreated. As to who I believe has access to the American dream, I think that anyone in this country has the potential to make something of themselves if they work hard enough and make sacrifices towards their goal. That said, I think that it is much easier to get ahead in this country if you are part of the majority and that the minority faces a much harder challenge in order to make it to the top.