What Is American?

What separates one person from a crowd? Identities are specific characteristics that create the separation from one person from the next. Early American literature was centered on the concept of the American dream. In American literature, the essential idea of the American dream becomes obvious through the many forms of narratives which take the shape of stories centered all on this major theme. “American literature has inspired, documented, and reflected the evolution of the American dream” (Izaguirre 59). This can be seen in the works of J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur, Benjamin Franklin, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

What is American? From reading the text throughout the course, one would have a pretty good idea of what an American really is.

That is why it is called the “American Dream.” The idea of an American dream can be seen through J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer. Crevecoeur went above and beyond when describing what it means to be American and to live an American life. In Letters from an American Farmer, Crevecoeur describes America as a melting pot. The diversity with religion, ethnicity, race, and culture makes America extraordinary. He explains that there is no place like America, and that is something that makes it so special. According to The American Beginning, “No one has better stated what Americans have most wanted to believe about themselves and their society. Crevecoeur seems especially persuasive because he claimed to be a common American farmer—a pose rendered plausible by his richly detailed and affectionate descriptions of nature and rural work” (Taylor). Crevecoeur explains that stepping foot on American soil for the first time is magical: “I wish I could be acquainted with the feelings and thoughts which must agitate the heart and present themselves to the mind of an enlightened

Benjamin Franklin has left a huge mark on America, and many believe that he invented the American dream. A very important text that exemplified the true meaning of the American dream was Franklin’s Autobiography. He told a classic rags-to-riches story that made a huge impact that is still talked about today. Franklin was able to shape American expectations with his story. He was an underdog and overcame many obstacles which a lot of people could and can relate to. He rose from being an apprentice to one of the most well-known, respected figures in American history. “If much of American literature serves as a vehicle for constructing and sustaining the aesthetics of the American dream where individualism is celebrated, self-actualization is promoted, and self-reliance is encouraged, then Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography serves as the preliminary narrative that establishes the foundation for the American dream in the national literature of America”