Monday, October 31, 2011

Crevecoeur

Think about the ways in which Crevecouer's "American" does or does not resemble the "average" (whatever that is) American today. What are the key factors that have influenced major changes in this individual's identity, and thus mark the difference? In regard to similarity, what are the factors that have allowed for persistence across centuries of some of the foundational "American" features Crevecoeur highlights?

15 comments:

  1. The ideal of the American has not change a lot, but the actual average American has. In Crevecoeur's time, the average American was an independent farmer. Self-sufficient in his needs. This is the birth of the American independent spirit which lead the US to be the first independent ex-colony in the Americas. America still possesses a certain distinct view of the individual unrivaled in the old world. Self-sufficiency still remains one of the greatest virtues in the American psyche. Now the self-reliance is manifest in a different form that that in the colonial era. Few Americans are farmers, but still in all the ways possible individuality is expressed. America today is even more diverse than the America seen my Crevecoeur.

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  2. The ideals of what an American is, has not changed. People from other countries still come to the United States for opportunity and freedom, because we still share a pride for discovery and challenge. But, there is also a difference from Crevecoeur's time to today's diversity in our country. It is like American's have become disconnected with the roots of the people who began our country. As Crevecoeur describes the family with an English father and French mother, who had a son who married a Dutch woman, and their sons marrying women all from different nations. This was the normal of their day but, over the centuries this country has grown to include different ethnicities. People that have immigrated to the United States, from my point of view, have gathered in their own spaces within communities and cities. American have become so self-reliant we have separated and i feel like there is no unity. There is only unity when our country has been threatened it is only then that we stand together.
    I think the factors that allow persistence are the values we still have as Americans from the very beginning when the Colonies claimed their independence. The fight, the inner strength of the early Americans remind us that opportunities still exist in this country.

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  3. When comparing the American citizen of Crevecoeur’s day to the modern American, the biggest difference between the two is in how each views the country of their day. Crevecoeur goes to great lengths to describe how America is ruled not by a few powerful elite, but by every citizen who is willing to cast their vote. To use his words, “We have no princes, for whom we toil, starve, and bleed” (405). Much of his letter is dedicated to describing the freedoms we, as American citizens, have. Crevecoeur’s letter was written in 1782, a mere six years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when most people in America still knew what it was like to live under British rule. Through this letter, it is apparent that many of the people from that generation prized their rights as one of their most precious possessions. Today, because we are so much more distant from this period of history, we tend to take our rights and privileges as American citizens for granted, except for when those privileges are threatened.

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  4. Through out his letter De Crevecoeur talks extensively about the land, how furtive it is and how amazing that common man gets to settle it. It is in this section that we see the largest difference between then and now. Today it is only the "wealthy" that own an larger extent of land; while the "commoners" live in flats or neighborhoods. Our culture, in terms of land, has become much like the European at that time with the wealthy controlling the lower classes. Today, it isn't shocking to find modern day "castles" strung throughout the country side. Our nation has split more into the old feudal system, but with all that said many of our rights and ideas have stayed the same. There are laws in place to prevent the oppression of the princes, churches, or lords which was the problem in that time. We, as a nation, are still free men able to choice our futures. The classes are not so separate that the commoners can't open their own business line or buy property. Also there is still the freedom of the mixture of cultures that De Crevecoeur was so impressed with.

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  5. In his writing, Crevecoeur describes America as being "wild, woody, and uncultivated." He describes Americans as being middle-class farmers, with neither those who are extremely rich nor those who are extremely poor. He also describes America as being an "asylum," a place where over-worked, starving, afflicted people can come and have rest. Crevecoeur also says Americans "ought to love their country" and that an American's "rewards...follow...the progress of his labour."

    The "ideal" American today is someone who values work, family, land, community, freedom, and patriotism. However, I believe the "average" American today values money, fame, and self more than the ideals listed above. This has changed drastically from Crevecouer's definition of the American, although Americans still like to fantasize and believe that not much has really changed.

    One thing that defines Americans today as strongly as before is that Americans always have and always will value freedom. Crevecouer says that in America, "man is as free as he wants to be." This is appealing to all peoples, and I believe that valuing freedom and opportunity is what truly defines an American.

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  6. I believe that while the core American values Crevecouer describes are still popular among Americans today, America in general has changed dramatically since Crevecouer's time. The Americans of this time were certainly experienced greater economic equality. Crevecouer states that the rich and the poor are "not so far removed from each other." Well we can certainly see that is NOT the case any more. Many of the world's wealthiest people made their fortunes here in America. And of course, the Occupy Wall Street movement going on now is a result of discontent toward the so-called "upper one percent." Industrialism and capitalism have flourished to the point that American society is much more divided than the that which Crevecouer describes.

    However, I do believe that the core American values Crevecouer outlined are still important to Americans today. Crevecouer writes that American labor is "founded on the basis of nature, self-interest: can it want a stronger allurement?" I believe that America is still a land of opportunity. Americans today still value the hard work and freedom that we as a country continue to enjoy. Although America has changed dramatically since Crevecouer's time, I think that his analysis of what makes an American still holds true.

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  7. The ideal of the American has not change very much, but the average American citizen has. In Crevecoeur's time, the average American was an independent middle-class farmer who was self-sufficient in his needs. This is the birth of the American independent spirit. America still possesses a certain distinct view of the individual unrivaled in the old world.
    Americans today, are still self-sufficient. The values that Crevecoeur has talked about are still expressed today. Sometimes, it is not as noticeable sometimes, but the people still come together when needed.

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  8. Many aspects of Crevecoeur's idealized vision of America endure today despite their irrelevancy to modern times. His depiction of America holds that we are an ostensibly classless agrarian society of liberated, hard-working individuals. In truth though, class distinctions in America have rarely been as defined as in the last decade, with relatively few very wealthy individuals and a large, struggling "middle class."

    The spirit of Crevecoeur's superlative-filled description of this country remains an integral part of our national character though. There's no problem striving for this utopian setting, but we should not ignore how unrealistic and inapplicable this model of society has been throughout US history up to modern times.

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  9. In the reading Crevecoeur describes Americans of this time as being middle-class farmers who were independent and self-sufficient in his needs. America was a place where the hungry, the over-worked could take a break or rest. Well the ideal of American has not changed too much. This is the birth of the American spirit which leads to the Americas breaking into independent areas instead of a whole colony. In America today, most citizens are obsessed with making money but not working hard. Although this image is portraying Americans as being lazy and selfish, there are some who still believe that hard work, “rewards” will follow. For years, Americans have worked hard to achieve a happy and free life. These few values show that Crevecoeur’s analysis is still true.

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  10. I think the idea of "American" has split into two distinct parts. On one hand, you have the city people, who strive to be more like Europe, and want everyone to live like them, in a centralised environment. On the other hand, you have the country people, who live more independently, more as the people of Crevecouer's time. They do not care as much about how others live, as city people do. Really, the essence of Crevecouer's ideas are still showcased in country people, where the city people have taken on the opposite ideas, and strive to force them upon everyone. The country people still manifest the ideas because they live similarly to the people back then, living more alone then in big cities, and being more self-sufficient in their lives.

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  11. Crevecoeur was largely centered around Americans as free men who had the potential to do anything with hard work. He talked extensively about now longer being under the rule of a small elite, and how no one was required to do meaningless work. Putting the two together i think Crevecoeur viewed Americans as hard working and liberated from oppressive chains. The difference today is that most Americans don't feel liberated, and many Americans do meaningless work. A class separation has begun to seep into American society, and has undermined the idea of Crevecoeur's American

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  12. Crevecoeur's depiction of America is one of a very new and underdeveloped America. Because of the time period that this was written comparing modern day America is very difficult because so many advancements have been made in society. To say that America would never become like European countries is a bold and naive statement because the growth of any country will slowly began to take form a country with big industries and a large gap between the rich and the poor. While there may be no kings or bishops there certainly remains a hierarchic of power. The liberty that American's felt back then was due to a lack of power, a lack of a hierarchy, a lack of separation of class. Today all these things exist and Americans are slowly watching their liberty slip away.

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  13. Crevecoeur's definition of the average American is of a farmer who is not exactly rich and not exactly poor and is not part of an aristocracy. Today the average American is the middle-class citizen, which is in between the rich and poor, and in between the educated and the uneducated.

    The definition of the average American has not changed much over the centuries, but the American society has. Crevecoeur states, "the rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe," this has changed in that today the gap between the rich and the poor is very large.

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  14. I feel that like the idea of an "average american" is just as ridiculous today as it was when Crevecoeur wrote his book. The idea that some principles can be indicative of an entire population is ridiculous. Not all americans then are hardworking or religious Crevacoeur says they are so that he can make clean broad statements. He fails to mention the Native Americans living here or the fact that at that time america was known for making illegal rip-offs in much the same way china is now. The place that Crevacoeur talks about has more in common with todays china then with america. Today we are not interested in hard work or labour and instead will rack up huge debts to keep up appearances of being wealthy. As a people americans are unfocused and can't be defined by any short work but the explosion in credit card debt has become a known strike against our national reputation.

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  15. Well, I hate to entertain the notion of an "average" American, but you seem rather keen on it, so I will do my best. I doubt that Crevecoeur was even correct about America when he visited it initially, but history is such a dark abyss that we can never know for sure. I also have less than twelve minutes to go through all of American history. This is going to be awesome!

    I think that the origin of Crevecoeur's notion of an American comes from the distinctions that he draws between the people of America and the people of Europe. It is also fair to paint America as a nation of farmers, since even many of the founding fathers were farmers as well, albeit wealthy ones who could hire away most of the work to slaves or workers. The other main difference that he notes is that Americans have an easier manner about them. That probably sums his passage up well... *takes a look in the book* Yep. That and there is less royalty.

    That was a snapshot of our nation when it was young. It's still pretty young, but nowhere near as young as it once was. Many of us are not farmers, and there are a few of us who are nearly royalty due to the sheer amount of wealth that we have. (I'm going to skip summarizing American history at that point because there isn't much time left.) In fact, many European countries have better wealth distributions than we do. As for manner, I have not been to Europe, so I cannot say. But there are more ways to be an American today than there ever were before.

    Welp, time to turn this in.

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