Pros And Cons Of Having An American Identity
When the term the “American” was coined it meant something new, something unknown. Initially, the unknown quantity was the land and the Native Americans. Then the Europeans traveling to the new world and finally, at least in this essay, the blacks. The one common quality through these three different unknowns is self-reliance. The form of self- reliance varies from striving to maintain an individual identity to forming an identity to being allowed to have an identity. Native Americans were uprooted from their large open and free spaces and forced onto reservations. In The School Days of an Indian Girl Zitkala-Sa writes of many times when she made it known she was not happy. Her initial decision of leaving her mother was quickly replaced by
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Then to top off the oppression that slaves felt, they were not allowed to form any heritage or individual identity. Fredrick Douglass challenged this oppression by attempting to escape once, learning to read and write behind his master’s back, and teaching a Sunday school class to help other slaves learn to read. These direct acts of rebellion in the eyes of the white slaveholders result in an even greater attempt at squashing any hopes and dreams Douglass may have. These attempts made by Douglass are also forms of self-reliance, he knows that no one besides himself will rid him of the shackles of slavery. The obvious evidence of this is when Douglass says had [been] given the inch, and no precaution could prevent [him] from taking the ell” (pg. 260). Douglass was taking control and there was nothing that could stop him. Very similar to Nat Turner, he was going to require a lot to stop him from murdering all of the people he wanted to. At the end of it all Nat Turner was very proud of what he had done, he was “yet daring to raise his manacled hands to heaven, with a spirt soaring above the attributes of man” (pg. 122). Both of these men did what they thought was best to incur change in the United States, both of which did, one through fear and the other through knowledge, both were satisfied with this. This self-reliance, the strength to fight the social norms of the time through eccentric ways struck fear and hatred into the hearts of whites
Then to top off the oppression that slaves felt, they were not allowed to form any heritage or individual identity. Fredrick Douglass challenged this oppression by attempting to escape once, learning to read and write behind his master’s back, and teaching a Sunday school class to help other slaves learn to read. These direct acts of rebellion in the eyes of the white slaveholders result in an even greater attempt at squashing any hopes and dreams Douglass may have. These attempts made by Douglass are also forms of self-reliance, he knows that no one besides himself will rid him of the shackles of slavery. The obvious evidence of this is when Douglass says had [been] given the inch, and no precaution could prevent [him] from taking the ell” (pg. 260). Douglass was taking control and there was nothing that could stop him. Very similar to Nat Turner, he was going to require a lot to stop him from murdering all of the people he wanted to. At the end of it all Nat Turner was very proud of what he had done, he was “yet daring to raise his manacled hands to heaven, with a spirt soaring above the attributes of man” (pg. 122). Both of these men did what they thought was best to incur change in the United States, both of which did, one through fear and the other through knowledge, both were satisfied with this. This self-reliance, the strength to fight the social norms of the time through eccentric ways struck fear and hatred into the hearts of whites