Category: American Identity

The Woman Warrior: Memoir of Girlhood Among Ghosts is a memoir written by Chinese-American author Maxine Hong Kingston that focuses on female characters from various backgrounds, tales, and traditions. The events of the book unfold in a non-chronological order, with stories taking place either in China or America and at different periods of time. Despite the distance of the two opposing lands and the characters ranging from aunts, mothers, and wives, The Woman Warrior is primarily Kingston’s own biographic tale that addresses her experience as a hyphenated Chinese-American identity as she grows up in America.

In the first chapter of the memoir that is titled No Name Woman, Kingston narrates the unfortunate life and death of her father’s youngest sister whose existence was erased upon being impregnated by a man who was not her husband and giving birth to an illegitimate child. After giving birth alone in a pigsty, she drowned herself in the village’s well together with her new-born female baby. This story is actually told by her mother who in return, warns her not to tell it to anybody else, to pretend as if she has never heard of it before and to never speak of her aunt especially in the presence of her father. In many ways, the story of her aunt has several underlying meanings and motifs that echo throughout the Kingston’s narrative of this text and her own life. It acts as a preface for Kingston’s memoir and biography, a haunting existence that branches itself into Kingston’s own life.

Talk stories encompass most of the narrative of the text with the author either retells stories she heard from her mother or other family members, and only telling stories from her own account at certain instances. Talk stories presented by Kingston’s mother seems to motivate the idea of self-invention that serves as guidelines—a list of to do’s and not to do’s in life. No Name Woman is the first talk story to appear in her memoir and as Kingston ages throughout her life, her mother kept telling “stor[ies] [for her] to grow up on” (4). The memoir starts off with the tale of the doomed aunt to the mythical tale of the female warrior Fa Mulan. The next part is another talk story focusing on her mother, Brave Orchid and her years as a medical student and practitioner in China. Growing up, Kingston’s morals and achievements are based off of these talk stories ranging from cultural myths to familial accounts. All these talk stories serve a purpose in moulding her into the perfect woman or daughter that abides the cultural guidelines of her Chinese heritage.

Unlike the tale of Fa Mulan that propagates the idea of courage and filial piety, the story of no name aunt serves as a warning. Kingston’s mother warns her as she tells the story: “Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don’t humiliate us.” (4) Young Kingston might have been influenced by this story and at some point of her life she must have feared being forgotten and having her existence erased as well. Therefore, she obeys what rules are imposed on her, idolizing mythical and familial figures such as Mulan and her own mother, Brave Orchid. However, she “does not find the story [of her aunt] useful or relevant” (Bolaki 42) as a warning. Instead, she turns this cautionary tale of her aunt into a warrior tale, merging the forbidden existence into her own through many instances in the text and throughout her own life as she “identifies with the rebellious aunt, whom she calls ‘my forerunner’” (Hunt 6).

Kingston firstly draws inspiration from the destructive silence that is manifested during the incident that happened to her aunt in the past. Additionally, the erasure of her aunt’s existence is a direct implication towards the existence of a silencing culture that is dominating her ancestors. Prior to Kingston’s creative imaginings, silence can be seen dominating her mother and their villagers as well throughout her aunt’s growing pregnancy. Kingston’s mother made it clear how she had noticed the baby bump on her aunt’s stomach but proceeded to pretend as if it was nothing. The villagers as well, considering that there were “no strangers” (5) among them and that they are closely there must have seen her body growing over the month but “[n]o one said anything.” (3) Her aunt also suffered in silence, delivering her child alone in silence and never naming her “inseminator’s name,” (8) until the very end.

Unlike her ancestors, Kingston sees the silence surrounding her aunt’s tale and death as something that needs to be destroyed rather than a humiliating secret that has to be passed on from one generation to another as a cautionary tale. If Kingston were to engage in the game of silence and pretend, she too would have participated in the family’s life-long punishment towards the aunt—which for about twenty years she did. However, upon gaining her own voice, courage, and realization, she knowingly breaks it. At some exceptions, silence can also be seen broken out by the people who practice it but only out of necessity. Kingston’s mother tells this story to her as a means of caution—warning teenage Kingston who had just hit puberty that she will face the same fate if she ends up humiliating her family. Similarly, the aunt’s family also only broke their silence to curse her after the villagers’ raid— “Ghost! You’ve never been born” (9).

Before breaking the silence of others—especially ones that have been passed through generations—she needs to break her own silence first. As Miller says, “[Kingston] must untangle the threads of her identity” before untangling others (13). Like her silent aunt, Kingston also has gone through a haunting phase of silence before she finally achieves her own voice. During school years, she has been silent for three years and struggles between two opposing notions of feminine voice. Unable to decide between American feminine and Chinese feminine she ends up “whisper[ing] even more softly than the Americans” (111). Her voice is too small that it makes no impact to her racist male bosses that disrespect her. Upon gaining her voice as a child, she eventually misused it as well—bullying the Chinese-American girl from her class into talking because “[i]f [she doesn’t] talk, [she] can’t have a personality” (116). She undergone a phase of discovery and misuse before she could eventually use that power of voice for her own good and for others.

Yet, upon gaining control of this power of voice, she eventually learns to use it for good. She breaks her own silence during her adolescent years and when the right time comes, she breaks the silence of her aunt—unveiling her existence towards the whole world. This very act of breaking the silence implies both personal and social commitment against the constricting cultural traditions. By telling the story of her aunt to the whole world, Kingston uses her voice to “protest against [the] inhumanity” of her own culture (Lightfoot 60). By breaking the silence behind the story of her aunt, Kingston is exposing the unpleasant side of her culture and is determined to undo it.

Seeing that “voicelessness [is associated] with victimization,” (Cheung 164) Kingston later uses the voice that she has acquired to rebel against the cultural and patriarchal notions that are surrounding her and that had destroyed her aunt. Growing up she’s told by her mother that she “would grow up a wife and a slave” (13) but she declares that she wants be “[a] lumberjack in Oregon” (31) and even “a scientist or a mathematician” (129) if she wants to. She even vocalises her intention of going to college and her desire for independence, rebelling against the idea that “[t]o be male is to be autonymous and active; to be female is to be passive and dependent” (Melchior 282).

Consequently, Kingston also draws inspiration from her aunt’s autonomy in carrying out her actions upon being mistreated. In a village where she was victimized, her aunt took upon her own self to decide her own fate by committing suicide, compared to being passive as she was before and letting the villagers have the privilege to torture her as they please. Despite its morbidity, Kingston establishes her aunt as a powerful female figure that was able to determine her own fate after being unjustly shamed and attacked by the villagers. She gave birth and carried her baby till the very end of their lives, protecting the innocent soul from the unforgiving society because “[m]others who love their children take them along.” (10) Her “spite suicide” (11) is both an act of compassion and revenge that was orchestrated out of her own free will as a fighter and a lover.

Like her aunt who decided her own fate, Kingston establishes herself as a rebellious individual who does things out of her own will and for the sake of herself rather than anybody else. She goes to college and “marche[s] to change the world” (31) instead of going to typing school like other villages girls are. Kingston also assumes the role of a protector through her rebellious acts as she “protect[s] [her] sister and [her]self at the same time” (Kingston 124) in her own ways even if it means making herself undesirable by “limp[ing] across the floor” and “spill[ing] soup” on the male suitors that came to their house (124), refusing the traditional notion of arranged marriage both towards herself and her sister, therefore “subvert[ing] the traditional role assigned to women,” (Houioui 29) and violating the gender boundaries imposed by her culture by choosing her own path of studies, career, and future.

Throughout her memoir, Kingston also “recounts diverse experiences involving women that turned . . . [her] into an author” (Lightfoot 56) with the most significant one being the story of her aunt. Growing up, Kingston uses her voice to familiarize herself with the genderless pronoun ‘I’ against the gendered Chinese ‘I’ that indicates “slave” (31) to demonstrate self-assertion and self-invention. Kingston detaches herself from the binds of talk stories that are supposed to shape her, the same way her aunt detached herself from the villagers and family that cursed her. Melchior highlights that the “heroine is not a female hero; she exists, usually, to further or impede the development of the hero” (282). The villagers said that her aunt “act[ed] as if she could have a private life” (9)—emphasizing herself as an individual of her own (‘I’) rather than just an attachment of her husband and this individuality of hers angered them.

According to Morante, “articulation creates selfhood” (78). Through her rebellious voice, Kington manages to create identity and individuality for both her aunt and herself by drawing inspiration from her aunt’s choice of having a ‘private life’. Instead of just retelling a talk story (one that she’s not supposed to even tell anybody of), Kingston takes a different approach in retelling the story of her no-name aunt. She reimagines and reinvents the incident that befalls her aunt and reconstructs what could have actually been. Through the little details of her infidelity that her mother has secretly relayed to her, she conjures up multiple perspectives and fictional possibilities of what could have actually happened to her aunt—further emphasizing her identity and individuality rather than just describing here as an adulterous wife. She imagines that her aunt might “have to buy her oil from him or gather wood in the same forest” (5) or that the man himself might have “organized the raid against her” (5). She creates multiple stories and possible identities for her aunt, the same way the following chapters of the book are creating her own stories as she progresses from “rewrit[ing] her mother’s talk stories” (Bolaki 39) to writing her own.

Through her imaginative rebirthing of her aunt, Kingston betrays her mother, her family, and her Chinese tradition (Johnston 139) that strictly impose silence. Therefore, Kingston looking upon the tale of her exiled aunt for inspiration seems like a treacherous act. However, through her act of cultural and ancestral defiance, Kingston doesn’t totally assume the role of a traitor. Throughout her text, she still reiterates her culture of oral traditions by retelling talk stories that she hears from her mother, signifying how she cherishes this tradition and practices it even in a foreign land (Houioui 33). She also incorporates female figures or warrior qualities from Chinese heritage such as Brave Orchid, Fa Mulan, and Tsai Yen. Despite never been to China and only hearing stories of it from her mother, she holds her Chinese heritage close and identifies with it. Like her exiled aunt, rebelled throughout her writings, doing what she can to provide justice for those faced with injustice and to provide voice for those who are unheard.

The life of Kingston and the life of her exiled aunt interweaved with one another with a bond so strong that it crosses cultural and national boundaries. Ultimately, from the existence of her aunt, her (Kingston’s) existence branches and blossoms out of it. Kingston’s mother might have told the story of her aunt as a warning, but Kingston embodies the story as her own—imaginatively reminiscing what could have happened and immortalizing the forbidden existence into paper, granting her the role of a forerunner for the author’s very own existence. Myers states that “autobiography is an interpretation, even a construction of the life” (121) and in Kingston’s autobiography, she constructs and reinterprets the life of a woman who once lived and suffered—entombing the soul that had inspired her within sheets of paper. Deliberately breaking the silence of her aunt and her own, she “eventually becomes the adult artist who ‘talks-story’ in a ‘high and clear’ voice,” (Morante 78) celebrating the heritage of her culture and her forgotten aunt, regardless of their imperfection.

Works Cited

1. Bolaki, Stella. “‘It Translated Well’: The Promise and the Perils of Translation in Maxine Hong Kingston’s ‘The Woman Warrior.’” MELUS, vol. 34, no. 4, 2009, pp. 39–60. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20618099.
2. Cheung, King-Kok. “‘Don’t Tell’: Imposed Silences in ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘The Woman Warrior.’” PMLA, vol. 103, no. 2, 1988, pp. 162–174. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/462432.
3. Houioui, Faten. “‘I Alone devote pages of papers to her’: Kingston’s Blurring of Generic and Gender Boundaries in ‘The Woman Warrior’ and ‘China Men.’” Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, vol. 5, no. 7, 2017, pp. 28-38. Quest Journals, http://www.questjournals.org/jrhss/papers/vol5-issue7/D572838.pdf.
4. Hunt, Linda. “‘I Could Not Figure out What Was My Village’: Gender vs. Ethnicity in Maxine Hong Kingston’s ‘The Woman Warrior.’” MELUS, vol. 12, no. 3, 1985, pp. 5–12. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/467116.
5. Johnston, Sue Ann. “Empowerment Through Mythological Imaginings in ‘Woman Warrior.’” Biography, vol. 16 no. 2, 1993, p. 136-146. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/bio.2010.0369.
6. Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York: Vintage International, 1976. PDF File.
7. Lightfoot, Marjorie J. “Hunting the Dragon in Kingston’s ‘The Woman Warrior.’” MELUS, vol. 13, no. 3/4, 1986, pp. 55–66. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/467182.
8. Melchior, Bonnie. “A Marginal “I”: The Autobiographical Self Deconstructed in Maxine Hong Kingston’s ‘The Woman Warrior’” Biography, vol. 17 no. 3, 1994, p. 281-295. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/bio.2010.0297.
9. Miller, Margaret. “Threads of Identity in Maxine Hong Kingston’s ‘Woman Warrior.’” Biography, vol. 6 no. 1, 1983, p. 13-33. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/bio.2010.0678
10. Morante, Linda. “From Silence to Song: The Triumph of Maxine Hong Kingston.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, 1987, pp. 78–82. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3346195.
11. Myers, Victoria. “The Significant Fictivity of Maxine Hong Kingston’s ‘The Woman Warrior.’” Biography, vol. 9 no. 2, 1986, p. 112-125. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/bio.2010.0800.

Our world is always open to changes and adaptation. As a result, we are having the continuous and unending process of globalization. Changes could be positive or negative. The continuous process of globalization across the world brings every nation to develop or to be behind in the continuous development of other nations. And this is behind the reality of this free world. This thing will also give the essence and purpose of being a citizen within the unending movement of globalization. As we are living in a free society, we are also free to do our desires as a person. As we partake in our responsibility as a citizen, we are also contributing to ourselves as an individual. There are certain things that a citizen of the world should establish and consider these traits to possess as an individual that will contribute things for the development and the continuous process of globalization in society as a whole. And these are the following; a citizen should know how to acknowledge the importance of good citizenship; a citizen who knows his role as an individual in the continuous movement of globalization; lastly, a citizen should partake in his responsibility as an individual who is part of the society and globally as well. According to John Urry, across the world over the last decade, citizenship and globalization have become two of the most strong coordinating mechanisms. It lifted a lot more than they did, reassembling civil and political life. In the case of citizenship, revolutions advocating for the protection of national citizenship have become tremendously strong in one continent after another. Garton Ash claims that in the 1980s, people in a wide spectrum of society decided to be citizens, independent men, and women, with equality and duty, with rights but also with responsibilities, openly affiliated with civil society.

A citizen who acknowledges the importance of establishing good citizenship is important. It is necessary to be a responsible citizen in our society. Because as we are part of it we already have the obligation to act morally and to maintain justice together with humanity. As a result, we can obtain a well-organized society wherein peace and justice will lead to the path of every individuality. In addition, given the fact that we are living in a free society, it is important to consider and follow the rules and regulations to avoid conflicts that will possibly occur. The value or significance of establishing good citizenship will reflect on the identity of our being as part of our nation. Good citizenship will not just only be for the orderliness of our society, but it is also our way of contributing ourselves to the development of the nation. For us to conquer the development that we want to obtain for our society we must first reflect on ourselves as a citizen and as a part of it. We should always educate ourselves to be more conscious not only in national terms but also in terms of global civic rights and responsibilities.

The awareness regarding your role in the continuous process of globalization in this world is also important. As a citizen, you are embodying the identity of where you came from and what culture you have on your own. And that makes you unique from others, and the others as well. Each citizen in this world almost has the same role and objectives in life. We might have the same role as a citizen but we all have different perceptions that make us different in a way of applying and acknowledging our essence as a citizen of this free world. The awareness we have on our own will be our guide to being effective people and individuals or our society. Knowing our purpose as a citizen is also acknowledging the role within ourselves in contributing to the unending process of globalization. Especially, it is also important to acknowledge the rights of others as well. Our role defines our purpose in a society where we belong. In addition, the awareness of our role as a citizen should be also together with acknowledging the role also of every individual that surrounds us.

Lastly, as a citizen, we are also encouraged to partake in our responsibility as an individual of the world as a whole. As a person, we already know the things that we are provoked and to stir up with a purpose. Our main responsibility as a citizen is to assure that we are a part of changes that will develop not only on national terms but also in terms of global civic. As a person with rationality, we are expected to do our responsibility in a mechanism with morality and humanity. This is a matter of how every individual view themselves with their responsibilities as a citizen of the world. Furthermore, as our world is an open gate for every possible change and adaptation we are instigated to do our part not just as a citizen but also as a person who is civic conscious.

Good citizenship is also acknowledging the responsibilities we have as an individual in our society. According to the study of Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, theoreticians have described in different ways what it takes to be a good citizen. And four views on citizenship that offer examples of striking discrepancies in how people perceive the participatory obligations of a decent citizen. An exploratory research study reveals that the four viewpoints of citizenship are strongly linked to political actions, even though the socio-economic status and the attitudinal variables associated with participation are regulated. Moreover, the matter of acknowledging the responsibilities we have as an individual is also a matter of knowing our purpose and role globally as a citizen. The role we have as an individual is also our soul as a citizen. According to Paul Rogat Loeb, the soul of an individual emerges within us the motivation and the ability to have our voices to be heard and to count our deeds. We will live a life deserving of our principles. As a citizen, we are challenged to move from defeatism to engagement. The payoff of our effort, as we discover, is nothing less than a sense of relation and meaning not present is strictly personal existence. The realization that you have is an effort inside yourself to overcome apathy in your society and help inspire others to participate in your cause as a citizen.

In conclusion, our role as a citizen is characterized by the moment we acknowledge our purpose and responsibility in the continuous process of globalization. We may have different characteristics as an individual that makes us different from others. But we are one with the same objectives and mission to contribute positively to the development not only in our nation but also in terms of global as a whole. As we are a citizen of this free world, we are also having the freedom to have our desires. But we should consider the societal norms that will make us good citizens.

What does being American Mean? Well if I’m being honest there is not a straightforward answer to what being American means. So I’m going to first start by telling you what America has meant in the past, well in the past there was always something going on in America. There was always some type of war or battle going on. America was always fighting to keep our country from enemies that keep trying to win it over, there were so many wars and battles I can speak about and name but first let me tell you why they would fight in the first place well all of the fights were over America to keep America safe and not get it taken away from enemies.

America was always getting into these big wars and battles to make sure our flag was still standing after every battle. If our flag was still standing then we automatically know America has won the battle or war that was happening and that was how we knew America was okay and still our country. This is why we do the pledge of allegiance to show our loyalty to this country and thank everyone who fought in the wars for our country, also another big part of what America meant in the past was freedom people from all over started crossing oceans to get to America but had to wonder if they were gonna be able to get accepted to actually be here and get to stay in America to start a new beginning in their life and have freedom some people got accepted and others didn’t.

In my eyes, America means freedom, privileges, and rights as in we can make decisions and changes when were older. America isn’t perfect but it’s one of the only countries we get to make our own decisions to vote, a lot of people don’t get that privilege in other countries. When we are at 18 years of age we can vote for rodes changes, environmental changes, and more. We also get to make a vote about who we want for our president and be able to make our own vote and not be forced to vote for something or somebody we don’t want. We can make our own decisions to help our country and make it better and grow because we have the privilege to make that change.

There are a lot of people who just dream to be American because people really make it seem like peace. But is it really? I mean America has its times where it could be great and peaceful but it also has its times where it has its Negation. Most American Negations are with police and colored people such as Mexicans and African Americans. I mean you always hear of white cops shooting African American teenagers over just getting pulled over or asking a simple question on why there being stopped. Some families come to America for a new start and new beginning and then they lose a child. Stuff like that is not okay and it happens all the time but people don’t really see that part of America no one really does. Another Negation is Judgement not even with just police with people in general Mexicans go to restaurants speaking Spanish and get judged and treated differently stuff like this is not okay.

Are you still wondering what America means? Well, this is what America means crazy how America means basically the same thing as it meant in the past. Yes, America basically means Change, Freedom, Rights, and Judgement. Sad how Judgement is one of the biggest meanings of America. You come to America with a different culture and for a fact, you’re gonna get judged but that is America. Like I said before, America has its times where it can be good and peaceful or have a lot of negation In my eyes, this is what I think America means and has meant in the past years.

As citizens of the United States of America, we hold a unique responsibility to our nation and its people. This responsibility is not only a duty but also a privilege, as we are given the opportunity to participate in the democratic process, uphold the values of our nation, and contribute to the betterment of society. In this essay, I will explore my responsibility as a citizen and the role that the United States of America plays in my life. I will examine the values that underpin our nation and discuss how I can uphold these values in my everyday actions. I will also explore the challenges that our country faces and discuss the role that citizens can play in addressing these issues. By reflecting on my responsibility as a citizen, I hope to inspire readers to embrace their own responsibility and contribute to a better future for our nation and its people.

The Role as a Citizen in the USA

The hard work of Americans long gone built up this great nation and made it what it is today, but as we continue to move forward into the future, it is imperative that we remember that our continued success depends on maintaining a certain standard of living – one that doesn’t just benefit us individually, but also benefits us as a community and as a nation. If you ask me, the best way for an individual to make their mark on their community is by doing their part in maintaining it, instead of trying to tear it down for what they think might be better.

Participating in democracy

To my mind, voting is a responsibility of every citizen of the United States. One of the major responsibilities as an American is to participate in the democratic process. It is a privilege to have the right to vote and it should be taken seriously. If you are an American citizen, you have an obligation to vote in all elections. Not only do you owe it to yourself, but also your community, and country.

In order for our government to work properly, it needs everyone’s help. The country works best when people participate in it. By voting, you are exercising your rights as an American citizen and helping make things better for everyone by deciding on candidates who will represent you and your interests.

Paying taxes

Contributing our fair share of taxes is another important responsibility of American citizens. These taxes help fund essential services like healthcare, education, and infrastructure that benefit our communities and society as a whole. It’s important to remember that these taxes are paid by Americans to benefit themselves, too. 

The government provides us with many services that we could never afford on our own, and without them, much of the country would fall into an even deeper state of disrepair than it already is in. This isn’t just about our physical needs, but also about our mental health: there are programs that provide assistance for those dealing with mental illness or substance abuse issues, helping people avoid prison and keep their lives on track so they can reach their full potential.

Supporting American businesses

As a citizen of the United States, I have a responsibility to make sure that my country succeeds, and that starts by supporting American businesses and buying American-made products. When we spend money at locally owned businesses, we help support the growth and success of our economy. This helps foster job creation and allows us to keep supporting local communities while receiving the best service possible.

By buying American-made products, we can also contribute to the success of our nation’s creative culture. By supporting people who are working on innovative ideas here in America, we can encourage them to create new and exciting products that help shape the future of their industries.

Serving our communities

There’s a lot to be said for being a good citizen, but it’s often hard to know where to start. In the context of our community, this means volunteering your time and resources to help the people around you. There are lots of ways to do this – tutoring kids, helping senior citizens with their errands, or volunteering at a local charity are just a few ideas. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s a genuine part of your life that feels fulfilling, not just something you check off a list.

Contribute to a Better Life

I truly believe that America is a gift. We should not take it for granted, but rather be grateful for the freedom and opportunities it provides us with. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities of life and forget about all the good things we have here in America: our rights and freedoms; our educational system; our healthcare system; etc. 

With all these privileges comes great responsibility as well. In addition to defending these rights, we also need to give back something to this country that has given so much to us through service or community involvement – anything you can do will help make our nation stronger and better prepared for whatever may come its way!

Conclusion

To sum up, as citizens of the United States of America, we hold a unique responsibility to our nation and its people. We have the opportunity to participate in the democratic process, uphold the values of our nation, and contribute to the betterment of society. As explored in this essay, this responsibility requires us to act with integrity, respect the diversity of our nation, and work towards a better future for all. By embracing our responsibility as citizens, we can uphold the values of our nation and work towards a better future for ourselves and future generations.

America is stated to be a country, a large piece of land on Earth, but it’s more than that America is my home where my great-great-grandparents fought to be here and to have an American life. It’s where the founding fathers fought to create a better life. What came as an idea of being free from the British became a reality. It’s more than a country, it’s the people who make the country. James Madison created the Bill of Rights and outline to protect our people in 1791. Not all people were treated with fairness, though. The people of America fought for a better world, fought for equality, and they are still being fought. I am proud to be an American because we don’t give up, we keep fighting. The important people cases that fought for our rights as Americans were Martin Luther King Jr, Susan B Antony, and Obergefell v. Hodges makes me proud to be an American.

Furthermore, let’s discuss Martin Luther King Jr. a man who fought for equality for African Americans. His most memorable moment was the walk-in DC in 1963, with him and crowds of people fighting for the equality of African Americans in hopes to end segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. took a stand and fought for a better America. In 1965, the 15th Amendment was established, which gave African Americans the opportunity to vote. Martin Luther King Jr. is a man to idolize and respect for him not backing down; he was a man who couldn’t be silenced because his passion for justice was needed.

In addition, another hero of America is Susan B Antony, for reason she fought for women’s right to vote. Her exasperation with the discrimination of being a woman was the spark that helped and led women to fight for their rights. She traveled and held speeches speaking out against sexism in America. If she didn’t speak out for voting rights to be given to women, I wouldn’t be able to get the opportunity to vote when I turn eighteen. The 19th amendment happened which gave women the right to vote in 1920 which was what Susan B Antony had pushed for, with her desire for fairness that is what makes a true American.

Also, the case of Obergefell v. Hodges was a case in 2015 that was held in the supreme court which fought for same-sex marriage. Due to this case, anyone in America can marry someone that’s their sex. This case was fought for the American people to be free for their choice of marriage, which lets people be open and fall in love with whomever they please. This case gave justice for gay rights to people in America.

This country fights for the rights of the people. The passion and drive for rights and freedom are what make America. Our people are resilient and will keep fighting until we reach full equality. We stand tall for justice. Democracy and liberty give us a fighting chance for our rights to a more equal society.

Being a good American is not merely about being a citizen of the United States; it goes beyond legalities and geographical boundaries. It is a mindset, a way of life, and a commitment to upholding the values that make America a beacon of hope and opportunity. Throughout my life, I have embarked on a personal journey to discover how I can be a good American, and in doing so, I have come to realize the significance of certain qualities and actions that shape this identity.

One of the fundamental aspects of being a good American is embracing diversity. America is a melting pot of cultures, languages, and traditions. To be a good American, I strive to respect and appreciate the unique perspectives and backgrounds of those around me. By actively listening to different voices and promoting inclusivity, I contribute to the rich tapestry of American society and foster a sense of unity.

Another crucial aspect is civic engagement. As a good American, I understand the importance of participating in the democratic process. Voting in elections, staying informed about current events, and advocating for causes that align with my values are all ways in which I can actively contribute to the betterment of my community and the nation as a whole.

Being a good American also means embracing equality and justice. I believe in treating others with fairness, kindness, and empathy, regardless of their race, religion, gender, or socio-economic background. I stand against discrimination and strive to promote equal opportunities for all individuals. By challenging biases and working towards a more just society, I embody the principles that America was founded upon.

Furthermore, being a good American involves being environmentally conscious. I recognize the importance of preserving our natural resources and protecting the planet for future generations. By practicing sustainability, reducing waste, and supporting initiatives that promote environmental conservation, I contribute to the well-being of the country and the world.

Lastly, being a good American means giving back to the community. Whether through volunteer work, philanthropy, or acts of kindness, I aim to make a positive impact in the lives of those around me. By lending a helping hand to those in need and fostering a spirit of compassion and generosity, I contribute to building a stronger and more caring nation.

In conclusion, being a good American is an ongoing journey that requires a commitment to certain values and actions. Embracing diversity, engaging in civic life, promoting equality, protecting the environment, and giving back to the community are all essential aspects of being a good American. By embodying these qualities in my daily life, I strive to make a meaningful contribution to the society I call home and to inspire others to do the same. As I continue on this path, I understand that being a good American is not a destination but a lifelong commitment to creating a better future for all.

To be an American? what is being a genuine American? So as to characterize the very idea of what is takes to be an american, it’s source would need to be considered. America, as a nation, is said to be the place where there is which one can live their fantasies out to whatever they shape them to be. This land is said to be one that permits the expressement of unrestrained choice, free of chain of importance and judgment, where rights are given to all ladies and men the same. It is this thought where the genuine importance of being an ‘American’ gets from. To be an American, way to live your fantasies under the free and strong judgment of our master, and under the law of land, communicating the given free rights given to each native the same. What’s more, when in times where a restricting power attempts to take these liberal rights from us, it is our activity as Americans to fortify or attach to each other, taking out the probability of annihilation according to misfortune and difficulty. That is what is intended to be a genuine American. As an American, there is a particular method for usefulness that one has about them. Americans work such that is indefinable when being to contrasted with some other. Their view on individualism,the job of the administration, free articulation, all instances of what makes Americans so one of a kind with regards to their usefulness.

In the short story America and I by Anzia Yezierska, the story is recounted a settler who wishes to get away from the persecution of her nation of origin, russia, and come to america to endeavor to live her prosperous adventure as an American. In the story, she states ‘What my mother and father and their mother and father never had the chance to give out, I would give out in America. The hidden sap of centuries would find release; colors that never saw the light – songs that dies unvoiced – a romance that never had a chance to blossom in the black life of the old world’ ( Yezierska 19 ). This is fantastic to the way that as an American, your very aura by they way you capacity is astonishing. You need to be the best at whatever it is that your heart may want. As an American, you have the freedom to accomplish such ability, without the worryment of a despot preventing what you may and may not do because of their loving, or a string of hardship because of being worked on the legislature in your nation not enabling you to thrive as you wish. Another one of a kind factor about being American is that in the midst of absolute confusion, when we as a nation would be required to be broken because of crime, we rather reinforce our bond together more than previously. After the assault on the twin towers of September the eleventh, we as a nation endured a tremendous misfortune, being that such huge numbers of thus much was yielded in the occasions of the disaster. It is the manner by which we reacted anyway that energizes the solid will of each American.

A New york city chairman named Rudolph Giuliani, at the world exchange focus 2006 talked on the occasions of 9/11. He expressed ‘Five years from the date of the attack that changed our world, we’ve come back to remember the valor of those we lost—those who innocently went to work that day and the brave souls who went in after them. We have also come to be ever mindful of the courage of those who grieve for them, and the light that still lives in their hearts.”As can be seen here, Americans take into consideration catastrophes like these to not cut them down, however to recollect the individuals who gave their lives in the midst of desperate need, and relinquished everything, and clutch that memory of good thoughts. We consider each other responsible to owe that to each other, which is the thing that makes how we do things so extraordinary in its very own honoring way.

Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and a human rights activist who once said, “Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat some of what’s on that plate.” In other words, just because you say you’re an American it does not make you one unless you know the life and struggle of being one. To be an American means to live and feed off from what it grows, manners, responsibilities, and many more.

For most, it’s not easy to be an American, the hardest part is to handle your own responsibility. If you’re working in the United States, you need to be able to support your family, pay bills and get their need, and pay taxes on time all at once and finding a job can be hard sometimes since populations grow and economy is low. Also as citizens, it’s also their responsibility to help make their community and neighborhood good places in which to live.

Being American also comes with freedom, Freedom of Justice, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Rights and many more. People often take advantages of having freedom and use it against one another. For example, Freedom of Speech is when one person has the ability to speak of what they wish to say but somethings aren’t meant to be said because it might not be appropriate at that time and wasn’t supposed to be said.

Not all Americans are the same, some are part American, some are half American and some don’t even have a single drop of American blood. But it’s what it takes to be called an American. Being an American means being different, different goals, different lifestyle, different culture and also different languages. People come from 50 different states which means not everyone’s the same, many places have different vibe and the way they live their life, one side can be country and the other can be city like. Just cause everyone is from one country does not mean they need to act the same.

“Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat some of what’s on that plate.” Everything is not what it seems to be, you can try to be an American and say you are one, but if you don’t go through the lifestyle of what it is like to be one, then it’s hard to claim to be an American. Having to show what it’s like to be an American rather that saying will prove a lot to others that not only do you claim to be one but your actions show.

Throughout history Americans have ultimately been shown to be oppressive and to take advantage of others that don’t fit their beliefs or to help further their goals. As a result it stunts economic and structural growth of the United States.

During the Gilded Era, immigrants flooded towards America, wanting to find a new, better life, and the majority of people who traveled to Ellis Island were successful. They were accepted with open arms and 80% were accepted within just a couple of hours, however, many were not as lucky. Most Japanese and Chinese immigrants had to travel to a very different kind of island, Angel Island, which was more of a prison than immigration center. When they arrived, they were immediately screened and separated by nationality, then subjected to extensive physical examinations that violated their cultural norms. The guards were heavily armed and the workers did nothing to hide their disgust for the immigrants. Their only goal? To keep the immigrants from entering America. In order to accomplish this, they employed discriminatory policies and oppressed the immigrants, because they believed didn’t fit what they believed Americans should be. Some people were even held prisoner for years while others thought to take their own lives before that could happen. Many immigrants wrote about their experience on the walls and one wrote, “In prison, we were victimized as if we were guilty. Given no opportunity to explain, it was really brutal.”Just because they were different, they were dehumanized and oppressed and this fostered hate and anger instead of the hope that they originally arrived with. Without many people entering America, this slowed down economic growth by having less people to work towards the greater good, and accomplish something that could have greatly improved the country.

Another example of oppression was about the conditions of factory workers depicted in The Jungle. The employers of factories often took advantage of the limited work opportunities and overworked poor families in dangerous and unsanitary conditions for practically nothing. The factories were a breeding ground for disease and the lifespan of the workers ranged from two to five years, depending on what job they worked. Their hands were usually a testament to these conditions, they would be swollen, covered in cuts, or burned by acid since there were no precautions set up, they didn’t care what happened to the workers as long as product was being sold. Worse still, people would fall into vats of lard and could be missing and it could be days before they realized, by which most of them had gone out marketed as Durham’s Pure Leaf Lard. Not only did they not care about their workers, but they would allow dangerous products to be sold to US citizens which would cause many people to become sick and eventually die. This would cause American decay by undoing the hard work of others and preventing the introduction of new ideas from people now dead. The unsanitary conditions of the factory caused a whole lot of dirt, disease, and rat dropping to be mixed into the products. They would often mix rotten meat with fresh and release it, occasionally labeling some as special and charging more for each pound. Rat meat and poison were also frequently mixed into the meat because though they set out poison to kill the rats, they didn’t bother taking either out. In order to achieve the money and power they desired, they attempted to dehumanize and oppress their workers, which caused the deaths of many people.

The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a story about Jim, a slave, and Huck, a white man, each escaping from their own forms of oppression, for Jim as a slave, and Huck, as a victim of abuse. As they are both escaping down the Mississippi river, they run into each other and decide to go down river to Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River meets the Mississippi, and travel downriver to a free state. In this novel, it portrays how not only a group of people impacts others, but the cultural norms as well. As they travel together down the river and experience new situations, Huck battles with his feelings about Jim and how he has been raised to think about slaves. On one occasion, he decides on turning Jim in at the next town, because of how he is helping the slave of someone who was good to him escape and he feels like he is doing something wrong, but when the opportunity arises and he is questioned by the townsman further up the river, he lies to keep Jim safe. Later he thinks,“I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so.” Which shows how far he’s come just from spending time with Jim. This shows that although oppression has detrimental effects and slows down progress, that they can lead to some opportunities that allow for understanding and unity. It also shows that although Americans are oppressive, we still have the opportunity to change for the better.

Americans are constantly finding new ways to dehumanize and oppress a group of people for their own goals and beliefs. Whether it’s for racial beliefs or for money and power, it still sets the US growth back in many ways, however, even though Americans have mainly been shown to be oppressive and to take advantage of others, it can cause people to come together and learn to accept their differences. There are many different examples of oppression scattered all throughout history, and each time we learn something different from the consequences, that even though they can be horrific, an opportunity for a positive change comes from that.

General Background

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and then it was published in the United States in February 1885. It is considered as one of the greatest American novels. The narrator of this story is “Huck” Finn who is also the narrator of the sequel The Adventure of Tom Sawyer. As Harold Bloom in his introduction to his book Bloom’s Guide firstly notes “For a country obsessed with the image of freedom, Huck Finn is an inevitable hero, since he incarnates the genius of American solitude,” (7) or later in edited version of his book he declares that “[t]he book tells a story which most Americans need to believe is a true representation of the way things were, are, and yet might be.” (2) What made this book so popular, one reason among those, might be that it is among the first books written in vernacular English.

Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner all see Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as their American starting point. Fitzgerald said that Huck’s “eyes were the first eyes that ever looked at us objectively that were not eyes from overseas.” Another novel which will be studied is The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, published in 1940, a novel by the American author Carson McCullers. The novel is about John Singer, a deaf man, and the people he meets in a mill town in the US state of Georgia.

Reading these two novels gives a sense of how America as a nation might be. But the word “nation” is really hard to define. Benedict Anderson (2006), whose theories and ideas we are going to undertake as the basis of our study, in his book Imagined Communities, declares that “[n]ation, nationality, nationalism — all have proved notoriously difficult to define, let alone to analyse.” (3) He continues: “It is not only the world that has changed its face over the past twelve years. The study of nationalism too has been startlingly transformed – in method, scale, sophistication, and sheer quantity.”

Based on Anderson’s theory of imagined communities, there are many reasons for nationalism one is language, the substitution of particular script languages with vernacular literacy, second, the overthrown of rules made by “divine right and hereditary monarchy” and the emergence of printing press capitalism. Start of Industrial Revolution made all of these easier.

Anderson comes to three paradoxes: “The objective modernity of nations to the historians’ eyes vs. their subjective antiquity in the eyes of nationalists. (2) The formal universality of nationality as a socio-cultural concept (3) the ‘political’ power of such nationalisms vs. their philosophical poverty and even incoherence.”

Statement of the Problem

The reason why we picked up these two novels as examples is that we are willing to look for the connection between the nation and the novels, and the elements which embodies American national identity are going to be critically investigated and found.

To come to this understanding of what it means to be American, you may read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Many critics such as Henry James and others called it a realistic novel which is the truest in its nature. It is not simply the adventures of the boy Huck:

Anybody who has tried to hone a sense of American history can migrate into Huck’s world with special ease because of both the “frontier thesis” and the career of racism. Heightened for Twainians by DeVoto, the vision of the West as a haven of democracy, individualism, and pioneer ingenuity lives on. For a few romantics, escape to somewhere, as they take Huck to be proposing, is still possible. (Bloom, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 2007:94)

In The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter we are provided with many distinct characters that Bloom describes as “…[t]heir lives are shot through with frustration and discouragement and the intense privacy of their inner lives gives the reader the impression that they are isolated, lonely beings. However, the frustrations they experience are most often a product of their very passionate attempts to follow their desires or convictions.” (117)

Both of these novels bring back to our memory the famous motto of Americans, the land of freedom and the land of opportunity for individuals. It is assumed that these novels are among those which portray national identity

Significance

Now this may come into our mind that what makes these novels embody American national identity? How come other American novels do not make us feel such an identity? We assume that there are some characteristics related to their text and some common elements they contain and we tend to find and gather them. Hemingway in Green Hill of Africa pronounced that “[a]ll modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn”

Nationalism is hard to define that even Marxists and Liberalists historiographers had failed to do so. As Hugh Seton-Watson observes: “Thus I am driven to the conclusion that no ‘scientific definition’ of the nation can be devised; yet the phenomenon has existed and exists.” (5) Tom Nairn, author of The Break-up of Britain frankly remarks: “The theory of nationalism represents Marxism’s great historical failure.” (94) That is why Benedick Anderson believes that “…unlike most other isms, nationalism has never produced its own grand thinkers: no Hobbeses, Tocquevilles, Marxes, or Webers. This ’emptiness’ easily gives rise, among cosmopolitan and polylingual intellectuals, to a certain condescension.” (5)

We cannot neglect the influence of the Nationalism on the modern world. What made America as the way it is today might be the impact of the novels written on the 18th and 19th century after the civil war on the collective minds. Ernest Gellner on Thought and Change defines nationalism: “Nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist.” (169) Not just Americans, but we are hypostasizing that American national identities embodied in western text might have great impacts worldwide. Not to mention English language as internationally selected to be spoken.

As Ernest Geller said Nationalism comes to be making nations, we may come across texts in future which has impacts on making nations or starts a revolution. It is essential to know those elements in the text.

Literature Review

Thomas Brook in his article named Languages and Identity in the ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “Huck tries to find his own way through a world of socially imposed lies”. In “combating society’s hypocrisy” and lies, Huck chooses to tell another lie in society which “language cannot be trusted,” and “king and duke are frauds.” He also comments on the slavery of the character Jim and Huck’s and Tom’s effort to make him free: “From Twain’s point of view society finds itself in the same dilemma as Tom. Society, like Tom, is forced to invent all of the difficulties because the original situation is so simple. The society Twain grew up in had produced elaborate codes of conduct, pages of laws, regulations, court decisions and proclamations, and in the end had their own shootout to assure slaves, like Jim, a freedom they were born with.” (9)

Finally, he claims that the identity of Huck is dependent upon language.

Others such as Forrest G. Robinson (1982) in The Silences in Huckleberry Finn, Wayne Fields (1990) in When the Fences Are Down; Language and Order in ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Huckleberry Finn’, A. E. Dyson (1961) in Huckleberry Finn and the Whole Truth and many others have also worked on silence, language, and truth in Huckleberry Finn.

Lisa Cohen Minnick (2001) in Jim’s language and the issue of race in Huckleberry Finn by paying attention to phonological and grammatical features of Jim’s way of talking to find out if the features of his speech match African-American Vernacular English by using LinguaLinks software program.

Smith (1995) disserts that the way Twain portrays Jim shows the author as “an antiracist writer oriented toward the [progressive] tradition” (1995: 123), who also has “commonplace racist attitude.” (1995: 122)

Harold Beaver (1974) in Run, Nigger, Run brings the discussion toward the narrativity of Huckleberry Finn and study of colonialism in the novel: Especially since the ‘ nigger’ in that fiction is usually regarded as incapable of taking decisive action, a tool of the white man’s machinations, a passive focus for others rather than the controlling factor of his own escape. The widely held view is this: Jim remains the sentimental stereotype, an Uncle Tom, the good drifting nigger with a heart, but no brains, no scheming imagination, no education even but peasant clowning and foolish superstitions a man of feeling who is the natural victim. (339)

A.Robert Lee in Getting Uncivilised: Huckleberry Finn as Moral Experience calls The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a black comedy that “wholly alerts to the different inclinations of humankind towards illusion, the necessary or self-persuading lie.” (30)

David E.E. Sloane (1988) on the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: American Comic Vision discusses about the development of a “Raft Ethic”, importance of “raft” in Twain’s work and his optimism by using it to get away from the society: They establish the philosophy that endows the power of the river with the undertow of humanity… The raft world allows for a finer ethic, formed in the natural background of “the big river,” which Huck and Jim develop for themselves as they discuss pragmatism, kings, and right treatment versus trash-like treatment of friends.

He also discusses about the “comfort” that Jim and Huck have on the raft and borrowing which shows their freedom from the authorities.

Michael Egan (1977) brought up the discussion about Huck’s Language Conventions and Huck’s extraordinary English grammatical and vocabulary transformation. At first it might sound compelling but then “sound perfectly natural and even logical.” He also refers to the language of poor that displays poverty in the South: “The humor, the vividness and the very Americanness of this moment are inseparable from Huck’s capacity to make a past-tense verb out of ‘suspicion’ and to invent the outrageous simile that hinges on the non-existent participle, ‘googling’. Its effectiveness, however, is undeniable.”

He believed that Twain’s writing was not prose but a mere recording of life.

Victor A. Doyno (1991) talks about the dominance of Christianity and morality in some chapters, for instance: “The widow attempts to indoctrinate Huck in the Judeo-Christian tradition by reading from the Bible the story of “Moses and the Bulrushers.”

Many critics have given declarations about human relationships and their alienation in the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Among them Oliver Evans remarks “what conceives to be the truth about human nature is a melancholy truth: each man is surrounded by a ‘zone of loneliness,’ serving a life sentence of solitary confinement” (Clark 126) Julian Symons notices the poetic vision of McCullers and believes that it makes this common loneliness into something strange” (Clark 22)

Other critics such as Ihab H. Hassan (1960) emphasizes on the social issues such as racism and capitalism in her novel: Despite its disconsolate title, the novel finds a way of acknowledging the social realities of its time. Its events hark back to the economic distress of the thirties and reverberate with the distant echoes of Nazi tyranny, and its spirit shudders with the “strangled South.” (315)

Laurie Champion claims the underlying portrayal of American Negro in the novel: McCullers provides a vivid portrait of the plight of the American Negro living in the South during the thirties, but in the end this theme underlies her more significant theme: all individuals are lonely hunters? blacks, whites, children adolescents, freaks, and the ‘ordinary.’

Many other critics and scholars have worked on these two novels around the similar subjects and themes. They have been working on many different critical aspects of these novels, but none of them has paid attention to the distinct American national identities which is embodied in the text in details. The details which make these novels differ from other ones.

Methodology

In this thesis, we are aiming to detect the embodiment of American national identity on different levels and the imagined community in the text based on the theories of Benedict Anderson (1983) in Imagined Communities. Our Method for doing so is to delve into the texts of the two novels for gathering enough information.

Works Cited

1. Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined Communities. Verso.
2. Beaver, H. (1974). Run, Nigger, Run: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a Fugitive Slave Narrative. Journal of American Stidies, 8(03), 339-361. doi:10.1017/S0021875800015929
3. Bloom, H. (2005). Bloom’s Guides: Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Chelsea House Publishers.
4. Bloom, H. (2007). Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Updated Edition). NY: Infobase Publishing.
5. Brook, T. (1982). Languages and Identity in the ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. Mark Twain Journal, 7-10.
6. Clark, B. L. (1996). Critical Essays on Carson MacCullers. NY: Hall.
7. Doyno, V. A. (1991). Writing ‘Huck Finn’: Mark Twain’s Creative Process. 136-9.
8. Egan, M. (1977). Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn”: Race, Class and Society. London: Chatto & Windus Ltd. for Sussex University Press.
9. Evans, O. (1965). Carson McCullers: Her Life and Work. Londen: Peter Owen.
10. Hassan, I. H. (1959-1960). CARSON McCULLERS: The Alchemy of Love and Aesthetics of Pain. Modern Fiction Studies, 311-326.
11. Hemingway, E. (1935). Green Hills of Africa. NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
12. Lee, A. R. (1984). Getting Uncivilised. Atlantis, 6(1/2), 29-43.
13. Minnick, L. C. (2001). Jim’s language and the issue of race in huckleberry FInn.
14. Narin, T. (1977). The Break-up of Britain. Australia.
15. Seton-Watson, H. (1977). Nation and States.
16. Sloane, D. E. (1988). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: American Comic Vision. NY: Twayne Publishers.
17. Smith, D. (1995). Black Critics and Mark Twain. 116-28.
18. Symons, J. (n.d.). The Lonely Heart. In Clark, Critical Essays on Carson McCullers (pp. 22-25).