This article is a careful study of ‘spirit’, tireless effort for success, as the cardinal linchpin to lay foundation of the American Dream of a man irrespective of his social class, race, age or religion to lead a life in freedom and to change the life to a particular extent by virtue of which an individual can gain a befitting social recognition and feel ensconced thereby. It also focuses on the struggle through which an individual has to fulfill the American Dream. It shows how the protagonist of The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago, an old American makes indefatigable effort to become successful in securing a place in a competitive society where it is difficult to survive fighting enormous adversity. This paper uses qualitative research strategy counting upon text based analysis to find out the unexplored aspect of the American Dream. Moreover, to facilitate its argument, this paper takes help from published research articles as secondary source. In fact, it challenges the traditional perception that success is the crux of the American Dream, and presents the fact that spirit for amelioration is the core of the American Dream.
Keywords: American dream, Core, Freedom, adversity, amelioration, competitive society, functioning catalyst, spirit
