What is American?

Name

Professor

English

16 November 2008

What is American

America is a consciousness rather than a culture , a way of life more than a precise political identity . Through the decades of immigration and settlement , with its unique characteristics of absorption and adjustment , assimilation and integration , America has become more than just a word for a geographical entity - it is a melting pot of diverse streams of humanity with their individual traits morphed into a fused sense of the American way of life . Fugazi 's lyrics define this perception

of the `American ' identity which has magnified into multi-cultural multi-ethnic dimensions beyond the limited parameters of the name

America is just a word but I use it

Language keeps me

locked and repeating ( Stacks

What is so unique about the different races and cultures coming to America , transforming themselves and causing a metamorphism in the constitution of the country , like subtle ripples on still waters ? In this global world , there are umpteen numbers of displacements and re-settlements in every nation . Why is it that the American identity is changed because of the influx of people , customs and ideas ? It is exemplified in Chesterton 's words

In a word , what is unique is not America but what is called Americanization . [The British] are not trying to Anglicize thousands of French cooks or Italian organ grinders . France is not trying to Gallicize thousands of English trippers or German prisoners of war America is the one place in the world where this process , healthy or...