7 Powerful Traits Of the American Identity: A Bold Literary Personality Profile Of A Nation | StudyCreek.com

The Contradictory Portrait of American-ness in Literature

American identity in literature reads like a psychological profile written by committee – equal parts inspiring and confusing, with enough contradictions to keep therapists and literary critics busy for centuries. From the Puritans’ city on a hill to contemporary immigrant narratives, American literature has been obsessively documenting what it means to be “American,” often discovering that the answer is “it’s complicated.”

The Challenge: American identity traits aren’t just cultural curiosities – they’re the building blocks of American literary themes, character development, and national mythology. Understanding these traits is like having a decoder ring for American literature.

The Greatest Hits of American Character Traits

1. Rugged Individualism (AKA “I Did It My Way”)

Rugged individualism is perhaps one of the most celebrated traits in American culture, showing up everywhere from Thoreau’s “Walden” to modern self-help memoirs. It embodies the idea that personal success is achieved through self-reliance, hard work, and maybe even a bit of dramatic cabin-building in the great outdoors. Literary characters embody this through their resistance to authority, their entrepreneurial spirit, and their tendency to solve problems by moving West (or at least changing ZIP codes).

2. The American Dream (Optimism with a Marketing Budget)

The idea that anyone can reach success through hard work and perseverance has been a central theme in American stories, from The Great Gatsby to modern immigrant tales. Literature both celebrates and critiques this dream, often simultaneously. Authors love exploring the gap between American promise and American reality – it’s basically the national literary sport.

3. Democratic Egalitarianism (Everyone’s Special, Except When They’re Not)

The notion that everyone is created equal weaves its way through American literature like a familiar tune, yet authors frequently delve into the ways this ideal falls short in reality. From Whitman’s broad vision of democracy to Morrison’s insights on exclusion, literature wrestles with the question of who truly belongs in the American “we.”

4. Reinvention and Self-Creation

Americans love makeover stories, both personal and national. The idea that you can reinvent yourself, hit the reset button or transform into someone entirely different is a theme that runs through everything from Franklin’s autobiography to modern coming-of-age stories. It’s like the ultimate American superpower: the knack for rewriting your own life narrative.

5. Frontier Spirit (Physical and Metaphorical)

Even when the literal frontier closed, Americans maintained their love affair with pushing boundaries – geographic, technological, and social. Literature explores this through characters who challenge conventions, pioneers of various sorts, and anyone who refuses to accept “that’s just how things are.”

Literary Analysis: How These Traits Function in Texts

Character Development

American literary characters often showcase one or more of these traits, sometimes leading to their success and other times to their downfall. Take Jay Gatsby, for instance, with his self-made persona and unwavering hope, or Huck Finn, who embodies a spirit of independence. Then there’s Willy Loman, whose distorted take on the American Dream illustrates how these characteristics can result in both victory and tragedy.

Thematic Exploration

Authors use these traits to explore larger questions about American society. Does individualism conflict with community? How does the American Dream work for different groups? What happens when democratic ideals meet practical limitations?

Cultural Critique

Many authors examine the dark side of American traits – how individualism can become selfishness, how optimism can ignore reality, how self-reinvention can mask deeper problems. The best American literature often questions the very traits it celebrates.

Contemporary Complications

Modern American literature increasingly examines how traditional American traits function in a globalized, diverse society. Authors explore whose stories get told, which versions of American identity get privileged, and how these traits evolve across different communities and experiences.

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Sample Assignment:

Traits often associated with the American identity include boldness, confidence, perseverance, and integrity. These traits are often demonstrated through a character’s words or actions. We’ll focus on perseverance and how it is reflected. Choose one character from a work of fiction (“The Soft-Hearted Sioux,” “Pawn Shop,” or The Invisible Man) and one person from a work of non-fiction (“Speech to the Osages,” Incidents in the Live of a Slave Girl, or “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”). Describe how perseverance is reflected in each.

Criteria:

• 300 words minimum (excluding quotations and citations)
• Include two properly integrated and cited direct or paraphrased quotations (one related to each character) to support your claims.

Sample Answer:

Perseverance in American Literature: Fiction and Non-Fiction Perspectives
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Perseverance is a key part of what it means to be American, often represented by characters who face tough times while pushing for survival, freedom, or their own beliefs. When we look at the fictional character in Charles Alexander Eastman’s The Soft-Hearted Sioux alongside the real-life figure Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, we can see how perseverance stands out as a crucial trait in both the stories we tell and the real experiences of marginalized people.

In The Soft-Hearted Sioux, Eastman introduces us to a young Native American man who finds himself caught in a tug-of-war between his deep-rooted cultural traditions and the Christian beliefs he’s come to embrace. His journey is marked by a determined effort to bridge these two often conflicting identities, even as he feels like an outsider in both worlds. Despite the challenges he faces, he holds steadfast to his moral principles, though this commitment ultimately leads him down a tragic path. As Eastman poignantly notes, the protagonist’s “love for his father and his sense of Christian duty collided, leaving him torn between two worlds” (Eastman, 1901). His resilience, even when met with rejection, showcases perseverance as not just an internal struggle but also a cultural one.

In her powerful narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs embodies the spirit of perseverance as she stands firm against the brutal system of slavery. Her unwavering commitment to achieving freedom for herself and her children highlights the incredible resilience that is often linked to the American spirit. Jacobs endured years of hiding in cramped conditions to evade capture, yet she never relinquished her hope for liberation. She writes, “My body still suffers, but for my children’s sake, I rejoice in my trials, for they lead me to freedom” (Jacobs, 1861/2000, p. 209). Her determination wasn’t just about herself; it was intricately linked to a dream of shared freedom and dignity for everyone.

References

Eastman, C. A. (1901). The soft-hearted Sioux. In American Indian stories (pp. 1–15). University of Nebraska Press.

Jacobs, H. (2000). Incidents in the life of a slave girl (J. F. Yellin, Ed.). Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1861)