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American Identity
American identity is defined by freedom, equality, and individualism. For freedom,
slavery existed in the history of America. In equality, it shows that immigrants have
succeeded through economic opportunity and the American Dream. In individualism, the
Americans respect themselves. The poem, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston
Hughes portrays the American Identity. The American identity is one that emphasizes many
details and impacts all aspects of one’s life. Although it seems easy to live the American
Dream, in fact, it is a survival of the fittest.
The American identity defines freedom. For example, America is relatively free from
other countries regarding guns, drugs, and gay marriage. America has different laws
depending on states. In some states, people are free to have guns, drugs and gay marriages.
“An increasingly heterogeneous society like liberalism, capitalism, nationalism and
individualism” (Iftikhar H 1). This quote shows America. In history, civil rights can make
American identity. Martin Luther King Jr. activates for African American although this
happened it still have discriminated other ethnicity. “Let freedom ring from the mighty
mountains of New York”, (King 1). It represents liberty. This speech includes social issues,
which are civil rights based on the human rights. This speech repeats “I have a dream, Let
freedom ring” (King 1), this represents African American peoples’ unequal life and slavery.
“My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside” This sentence represents positive aspect
for America, which is opposite to the tone Hughes used in “Let America Be America Again”
(King 1). “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”, (Kathy 1).
The Declaration of Independence represents American’s liberty, equality, and the
individualism. Democracy is also freedom. “The idea of American Identity is inevitability a
subject that arises from discussions on cultural pluralism, multiculturalism, or diversity”
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(Jose E 1) In America, there are many immigrants; therefore cultures vary. For example,
Palisades Park is a Korean town and Flushing is like a China town. Furthermore, the same
ethnicity is likely to live in the same town. “They told themselves and others was that
America was a nation founded on freedom, justice and equality (Jose E 1). This represents the
America’s foundation.
“Although he saw the problems in society, where people had more power because of
their race or because they were wealthy, he still believed America could be great
(Constantakis 123) Constantakis speaks about the Harlem Renaissance and the African
American. This historical fact is important to the American identity. Immigrants succeed
through economic opportunity, which is provide to them through the American dream and
equality. America is also known as the land of opportunity. For example, immigrants can be
successful if they do their best. Many immigrants succeed as lawyers, businessmen, or any
other job in the United States. Equality means human rights should be equal but the reality is
not equal. For instance, African Americans were discriminated from others. Martin Luther
King Jr. actively struggled to get equality. “I have a dream that my four little children will
one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the
content of their character” (King 1). This quote means equality, at that time people judged
their skin color, nowadays, discrimination still exists but Obama who is first black American
president appeared and it helped change discrimination.
Many immigrants have the American dream and come to the United States. Their
dream is hard to become reality. Immigrants also should have equality based on the human
rights but this is unequal for all people. ‘There is no reason why wealth, which is a social
product, should not be more equitably controlled and distributed in the interests of society,”
wrote Adams in The Epic of America. America’s capitalism and social gap is different.
Although there is an American dream and the opportunity of equality, it is hard to achieve the
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American dream. The poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer. It is hard to
overcome this gap between the rich and the poor. “In fact there is a reason: by its very nature
capitalism produces winners—and losers. Some dreams come true; some don’t. Equality of
outcome, though, is not the same thing as equality of opportunity, and equality of opportunity
is at the heart of the American vision. “And that dream has been realized more fully in actual
life here than anywhere else,” Adams wrote, “though very imperfectly even among ourselves
(John 5). The author shows that America is capitalistic and for example, immigrants from
poor countries who are not wealthy people, work in restaurants and they almost still stay in
their position. They work hard but it is still hard to become rich.
“The government’s verdict: It is more difficult now than in the past for many people
to achieve middle-class status because prices for certain key goods—health care, college and
housing—have gone up faster than income” (John 2). Economic opportunity and social
