Wednesday 13 October 2010

Definition of America.

From reading Gruesz's Article it is evident that America is not a nation that can easily be defined and attempting to define it seems almost impossible.
'America' is a word that provokes many different ideals and images and can even be seen as somewhat controversial.
Despite this it is an identify that American people choose to have,for such a new country it is odd how patriotic America as a nation is,even though it is more like 50 countries rather than states. Each as diverse and different as the next and yet all states unite to be identified as American.

This ties into Whitman's 'Melting pot' and how America is 'the race of races' all races and religions come together to become one America,although the liberty,freedom and the pursuit of happiness has not been found for many Americans and the American dream as failed many they still remain optimistic that the dream will one day happen for them.
An example of how strongly people feel about America as one identity is Zangwill's article in which he states "America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming!" [Israel Zangwill The Melting Pot]

America has however been described more as a 'salad bowl' in which different ethnicities are like the different ingredients mixed together, yet they contain their own single identities rather than 'melt' into one single American identity.

American identify is a lot more complex than a few simple metaphors and for varying people the view of their American identity and America changes dramatically, so to define America in one definition is impossible.




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