What is the American dream? The American dream is the traditional social ideals of the US, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity. In the book "The Jungle  by Upton Sinclair, Sinclair portrays the American dream as freedom, respect, equality, because that is what one knows to be "The American Dream . When Sinclair immigrated to the United States, his main goal was to achieve that "American Dream  because from what he heard, America was everything he'd ever wanted but when reality hit, Sinclair realized that not every impression is not exactly as scrupulous as it seems to be. Sinclair becomes to realize that this great "American Dream  isn't much more than a just gag. When you think of the American dream you think of great wealth and riches. When Jurgis lived in his home country he met the love of his life, a girl named Ona at a horse farm. But unlikely, they didn't have enough money to even afford a marriage. Ona and Jurgis realized that they needed that money to be able to live a successful life and be able to get married so they decided to immigrate to America, Chicago to be precise. Jurgis was quickly able to get a job and because he was a strong man he easily got a job working with the cattle. In the beginning, America was everything they'd ever imagined until Jurgis realized he was being cheated out of what he thought was the dream long hours, no pay, children missing school, being cheated out of his money, and even his own wife Ona couldn't take time off for her own wedding. More reasons for the two to believe the American Dream is a fraud. Jurgis then was told by his wife Ona that a man named Conner had raped her which sent Jurgis to rage and beat Conner just to earn 30 days in jail which didn't help anything in their path to happiness. When Jugis got out of jail he comes back to his wife having moved to an even poorer neighborhood which caused Jurgis to just give up. Jurgis decided to become homeless, giv