Americans Into Three Different Groups example essay topic

To define what an American is can either be complex or simple. America is full of diversity and to try to put a definition on such a unique and heterogeneous type of society can be rather difficult. But the fact that everyone in this country comes from somewhere else and that every person has the same unique drive to succeed makes it easy to define American as one type of people. In J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur's "What Is an American?" he took the challenge in defining the American and explained that America was basically a group of European leftovers and rejects that were able to start over and create a successful new society in a new world. Crevecoeur's definition is a solid and accurate representation of the American because he explains how many different cultures had to work together and dared to develop a brand new civilization from scratch. Even as a European himself, Crevecoeur comes out right away and shows his admiration for the new Americans.

He is proud of the way they came from the poorest nobodies of many European countries and made something out of themselves with this new opportunity that was provided to them. He even goes as far as to say that America is "the most perfect society now existing in the world" (Crevecoeur 542). He is also enthusiastic about how that certain mixture of people was the right recipe for what he thought was one of the finest systems of population which had ever appeared (544). America was, and still is, one of the only places where you can find that everyone is related to at least three different cultures.

It is not uncommon to hear "so what is your nationality?" instead of just knowing that everyone in your own country is all German or all French or so forth. And usually the answer to a question like that will be something of a mixture of cultures, backgrounds, and nationalities. America has always been known as the "great melting pot" because the people of the land are all from other different lands themselves. Crevecoeur words it well when he describes that from that promiscuous breed is how the race called Americans had arisen (542). He talks about how everyone's common background is that they all do not have a common background, they are similar in the way that they all had mix their cultures together to be able to survive as a thriving civilization.

The way that Crevecoeur points out the obvious helps to shape his definition of an American. Crevecoeur goes further in his definition by dividing Americans into three different groups based upon lifestyles that are shaped from each group's geographical location. And even further into these different groups, he does add quite a bit of information about the specific peoples themselves and goes into detail about how each culture's differences blend together in this diverse society. There are the easy-going, social folk that live near the ocean, the laid back, but hard working farmers from the mid-region farmlands, and the uncivilized fur trappers and hunters around the new frontier areas. In dividing Americans up into groups, he complicates his definition to be more specific and to give his readers a clear and accurate perception of the true American, which to be American is not to be every American.

Every single citizen is different, and Crevecoeur thoroughly explains the differences in the groups he brings up. With Crevecoeur's examples of how all Americans share a common background of diversity and his categorizing of the three different groups within this new race of people, he communicates at the same time how simple yet complex defining the American is. He states how many cultures came together and stepped up to the challenge of developing a successful, surviving new society and came through with it. His definition is clear and accurate, and one would think he had himself been in the position of a poor European who started over to make something out of himself and become a true American. It would take a strong effort to come up with a more precise definition of what an American is than what Crevecoeur had.

Bibliography

Crevecoeur, J. Hector St. John De. "What Is an American?" A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 6th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2002.541-560.