14 January 2005
A True American?
America: a single word that is associated with a hundred others. Piece by piece, the class as a whole has gathered a part of America�s identity. Each group focuses on essential questions in hopes of defining America in less than those first hundred words. Thus far, each student can only evaluate the general traits associated with Americans. What does it mean to be a true American when America covers such a vast spectrum of characteristics? With what other students have taught me and with what I have learned in my two units, followers of the American culture demonstrate the principles that wealth is power, passion becomes obsession, and that individuals must respond to the pressures of their communities.
Poverty is a major issue that most of urban America faces. In fact, Barbara Ehrenreich dedicated her nonfiction book, Nickel and Dimed, to the lower-income working class. For the minimum wage pay, the poorer members of the working class submit themselves to the feet of wealthier members of society for a job. In America, the social hierarchy seems to be based off of wealth. The citizens with qualities that we should value most such as intellect and human compassion are less known to the common public than the names of Bill Gates or Donald Trump, two of the most wealthy businessmen in America. This country lies to itself with the false advertisements of freedom and opportunity when initial wealth helps to determine one�s status in America.
My parents were lucky as first generation immigrants from China. Their chances of being as successful as they are now were slim to none. They arrived here with nothing but some money to help get them started out here. Risking the meager but stable life that they had back home in China, they were willing to travel to the other side of the world to get their slice of the pizza. Luckily, they ended up as one of the few who did. My philosophy on this subject area has applied to my family. We have respect and power in certain Asian communities and even in Danbury. In this manner, I qualify as an American. Many of my parents� friends came here around the same time they did, but they currently live off of a $20,000 or less income. Most immigrants meet the same fate. Sometimes, they may also have to provide for the family with that small sum. Rents are constantly increasing in the city, especially areas around New York City, and like Barbara�s experiences with trying to pay for rent, it is nearly impossible. The apartment landlords become wealthier and the lower-middle class becomes poorer. The scale is awfully tipped towards the wealthier man�s side, and at this point in time, the wealthy have the power and the resources to actually be in power. Even in The Great Gatsby, Gatsby and Fitzgerald himself say that the rich would never marry the poor. By having the wealthy marry other members of the upper class, it continues the madness by maintaining the wealth within their class. However, this erroneous path that America is on will lead to a major uprising later on history, perhaps a rebellion of millions of lower-working class members. Until then, the social hierarchy cannot tilt in favor of the working class, because it follows the scale of wealth like a shadow. Perhaps the main issue that America faces, or maybe that humans in general face, is that people are simply obsessed with money.
Speaking of obsession, an obsession is usually derived from a smaller degree of fascination that many may label as a passion. Americans have the tendency to allow these passions to run loose in society, and eventually, those infected develop a more serious form of the emotional tendency to mull over the person or object obsessively. It seems as if America has outdone itself with the millions of activities people can occupy themselves with here. A quality that I have observed in America that I probably would not see as much in suburban or urban areas of China would be the American way of always being occupied with one hobby or another. Americans just cannot manage to stay still and want adventure at every turn of the corner. This busybody personality may have rooted obsession. In The Orchid Thief, John Laroche went through phases of being possessed by random leisure pursuits such as turtles until the severity of his obsession increased with his passion for orchids. Readers can tell that Laroche is not a being with an ordinary mind, so his past may conflict with his needs now which begins his obsessive cycles. Americans have more and more to worry about that could possibly fail them, and a missing part of an American�s life could begin an obsession. I have even found myself trapped in small obsessive cycles. I see my peers and friends around me experiencing for the first time the great feeling that love provides, and I lose sight of my self, my being, to chase after the feeling I long for. I can get absorbed into temporary passions and fascinations very quickly, and Americans seem to do that. Gatsby could probably relate to me more with my previous love hunt. He spends his money on this lavish life that he does not choose to want for himself, but buys luxuries just to impress Daisy. I probably would not go to his extent to impress a guy, but when one lacks something and sees the opportunity to obtain it, then the closer they are to it, the more they will be willing to do to take that final step in receiving it. However, for an obsession to be an obsession, the obsessed eventually begins pursuing after the chase rather than after the person or object which makes most obsessions everlasting. In America, reports of a fan stalking a celebrity are published quite frequently. Fanatics become so entangled in the celebrity�s life that they probably feel as if they should become part of it, so it leads to the crazed obsession that takes admiration a bit too far.
To label someone obsessed comes from the views of a community. The final trait that America commonly demonstrates is the constant battle between an individual and American society. There are less instances of this struggle presently perhaps because there is no typical American mindset. There is such variety in opinion that a disagreement with a popular belief may just as well be accepted. However, conformation and rebellion still exist, and maybe had even best defined America earlier in its history when all the rebellions took place that led to war.
All of the novels that I have read so far fit under this category. Novels usually show a personal struggle both indirectly and directly related to communal opinions. In The Scarlet Letter, for example, Hester Prynne�s community condemned her for the one sin of committing adultery. As she conforms to society, society slowly begins to ignore her sin, because members of the community recognize her as a decent human being. However, in cases like John Proctor in Miller�s The Crucible, his strange doubt and behavior towards a common fear shared by his community forces him to decide whether he wants to keep or leave his pride aside for his life. He dies for he cannot sign his name to a paper filled with lies and false accusations, showing how one man trying to battle with an entire community usually fails.
Another instance of how society�s perceptions of an individual can create issues is John Laroche versus the state of Florida. His theft of orchids, in his view, will benefit these plants in the end he claims. By showing the state that it is possible for him to steal these endangered species from the Fakahatchee, the state will have to take some measure to increase security of protecting them. His individuality clashes with the community, yet ironically, he is being punished for an act he deems helpful to society.
Truthfully, I have been more of a conformist in society than a rebel, but more of a rebel in groups which could be considered a very small community. There are times when I know that my cause will not be worth the hassle of legal matters. Most of my struggles with the community come up in a smaller proportion of comparing an individual to a group rather than an entire community. For example, I complicate assignments more than they need to be by purposely rewording and reinterpreting questions or redoing a task in a much more intricate way which could very well annoy my other group members. By being the �rebel,� they punish me by either ignoring my actions and questions or by overruling my opinions just so that they may get rid of an unnecessary issue that I present. I must admit that I see them necessary, but I would not doubt if they were pointless. In congruence with struggling Americans in a community, I exhibit that battle in a small group setting. Often times, the circumstances are hard to judge whether the community or the individual is right. Though, no one could really officially determine what is righteous and what is wrong. This tug-of-war between individual versus community shows that American underdogs (the individuals) can muster up enough courage to take on society which is an uncommon trait found in citizens of most countries even with laws considered.
America is a nation one-of-a-kind. Known as the melting pot, it really is a nation of diversity even when it comes to traits. Defined by wealth, driven by obsession, and faced with power struggles, James T. Farrell summarizes all I want to say in his one statement that �America is so vast that almost everything said about it is likely to be true, and the opposite is probably equally true.�