FREE ESSAY ON WHAT IS AN AMERICAN

WHAT IS AN AMERICAN

What Does "American Mean?"
Webster's Dictionary defines American as or its inhabitants. But is that all America and
an American truly is? Is a person American simply because of geography? According to
Identities, "America is a confluence of cultures." Americans are people whose lives
depict men and women who are trying to be as successful and robust as possible, this
quest is symbolic to citizens of many other countries. This is why America illustrates
the Statue of Liberty, a structure that symbolizes freedom throughout the world. America
is composed not only of these peoples, but the cultures and the ways of life of these
people.
The Statue of Liberty symbolizes a fearless and powerful figure. Steinbeck agrees that
Americans are fearless when he writes, "Americans seem to live and breathe and function
by paradox." Americans are fearless and risk taking, spending time and money doing things
like skydiving, bungijumping, and other extreme sports. Ignoring in most cases the risk
factors involved in such activities, believing that nothing is going to go wrong, that it
will occur perfectly and flawlessly. This is a trait that many Americans have the refuse
to believe that they are in danger. Most Americans believe that even though the limb they
are on is weak, it's strong enough for their safety needs. Americans daily routines are
can also be described as fearless. Case in point for many is the commute to and from
work. Most people speed and drive aggressively because they always are in a hurry.
Americans have the idea of being perfect drives, for instance, and never making mistakes.
The Statue of Liberty can also be described as fearless. The Statue of Liberty is what
most people think of when asked what symbolizes America. First, the Statue of Liberty is
a massive structure. Second, it is located on the edge of the ocean, able to endure all
the elements the weather can throw at it. Third, it has one hand raised in a charismatic
fashion, symbolizing fearlessness and powerfullness. 
Steinbeck writes "no one can define the American Way of Life or point to any person or
group who lives in it, but it is real nevertheless." The way an American lives their life
differs from person to person. Two Americans from the same country, living on the same
street, have different ways of practicing their religions, celebrating holidays, and
pursuing their culture in general. Americans can act freely, just as the Statue of
Liberty depicts freedom to Americans. The Statue of Liberty is a statue of freedom,
giving Americans the right to live and practice their culture however they want. There is
no such thing as a true American identity. According to the essay Identities, "Identity
has always been a difficult question nagging the collective American mind." No two
Americans are the same, no two live in the same manner. One person cannot tell another
how to live ones life; one person cannot define him/herself as living the American way of
life. This is because the Statue of Liberty symbolizes to people all over that America is
the land of the free. Americans are free to make their decisions about what it is to be
an American and how one lives. According to Identities "Americans have argued and
wondered about who they are." The Statue of Liberty once was the first thing that
immigrants saw when they came to America. However, there is no set of rules or guidelines
on it that say what is to be American. No one person can tell another that he/she is not
an American because there is no recipe on what attributes a true American has. 
In What's Happening to America, John Steinbeck writes, "we work to hard and may die under
the strain." An American can often be termed a hard worker. The Statue of Liberty is a
woman who works to escape the chains of tyranny. An American is also a hard worker, and
many look to the Stature as a role model. The Statue is a huge structure that requires
the work of many hard working Americans to maintain every year. 
In What's Happening to America? Steinbeck also discusses the government. He writes "We
are able to believe that our government is weak, stupid, overbearing, dishonest and
inefficient, and at the same time we are deeply convinced that it is the best government
in the world, and we would like to impose it upon everyone else." Americans feel that
America is the most powerful nation in the world that should act as a protective hand
over the rest of the world. The Statue of Liberty symbolizes a powerful and robust figure
that the world looks to for freedom and leadership. The Statue of Liberty's crown
represents the seven continents of the world. This leads Americans to believe that we are
in turn responsible for the well being and quality of other countries. If America
performs a positive action in a foreign country or domestically, Americans are pleased
with the government. Americans also acquire anger when the government does an action that
citizens do not approve of. However, Americans are represented in their government and
have a choice, because America is a nation build around the idea of freedom. The Statue
of Liberty is the source of this idea of freedom. 
In conclusion, America is a huge nation of people who are to trying to work hard to be as
successful as possible, just as the women that the Statue of Liberty exemplifies. The
Statue of Liberty literally means Statue of Freedom, and that is the most precise
definition an American can have. An American is a free person who is given the right to
live his/her life without intervention. The Statue of Liberty symbolizes this freedom to
many Americans.