What It Means to Be an American?
What it means to be an American
It’s hard to define what being an American is. Being born in the United States makes you an American automatically but is there more to it? People come to America and begin living an ‘American’ lifestyle. Does the fact that they don’t originate from America make them less American? Numerous people comment and/or debate about this topic; Marilyn Monroe was the best to comment by saying, “I was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.”
I completely agree with Monroe because as a “standard” American, you think that growing up you’ll get what you think a “kid” deserves. Growing up one activity that is very common is watching television. With an influence like that you get a thought about how life should be. Even I as a child thought that I should have a life like the Tanners (Full House), the Huxtables (The Cosby Show), or the Prouds (Proud Family) even the mix families in the show “Yes Dear”. I, soon enough, learned that thinking life would be like that was gullible.
I wasn’t completely gullible though. That’s part of being an American; knowing things aren’t necessarily good having hope that it’ll be ok. Emily Dickinson stated “I dwell in Possibility.” That is how some Americans are raised to believe. You can be anything, do anything, accomplish anything. You strive to be the best, become the best, and survive with what you get from being the best. Follow your dreams, aim high, stay hopeful; have an outlook of an ‘American’. That is what Emily was trying to say; that Americans can do and be anything, numerous positive qualities.
Emily shows that Americans are hopeful. “I dwell in Possibility-- A fairer House than Prose-- More numerous of windows-- Superior-- for Doors”(Emily Dickinson) was a stanza filled with hope. That really is part of being an american. For example, in the poem Yuba City School, the mother was not born in America but, she was still american. She held the hope of an american. She tried to go in to the school to stand up for her child. She had hope that she could make a difference if she went into the school herself. She was being an American; being hopeful and taking a step in the right direction for the better of her son.
Americans are also go-getters. Emily spoke of finding paradise; her paradise. She wanted to follow her dreams. She believed that she would find where she belonged. She was determined to go out into the world and get what she rightfully deserved. She wasn’t the only go-getter. The mother from The First Day was a go getter. She too went out of her way to make sure her child got the best. She didn't necessarily succeed but being a go-getter is not about accomplishing everything. It’s about being brave and determined enough to go out in the world and find what she wanted and brace herself for success or failure.
The other part of being american was best described by John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck stated “We are to believe that our government is weak, stupid, overbearing, dishonest, and inefficient, and at the same time it is the best government in the world”. That is exactly how Americans live. We fight the government, which is the head of our country, turn around and battle to the death if “foreigners” speak against them. This makes Americans a handful of things.
This makes Americans contradicting. John Steinbeck said that, “The paradoxes are everywhere. We shout that we are a nation of laws,not men- and then proceed to break every law we can if we can get away with it.” That makes a lot of sense if you think about it. We stand for one thing then change our minds completely like any other teetotaler. In Recitatif the girls, Twyla and Roberta, were good friends; thick as thieves.