Analysis: The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman

What makes someone an American? This is a question that has so many answers because so many people have different views on Americanism. One person might claim you have to be born in America, some might say you have to be raised in it. While they are not necessarily wrong, others will have a different idea. Some people view Americanism as an attitude, not a nationality. It is how you present yourself to others and to the world. They believe Americanism is based on the American people, not the American land. To them, being an American is about understanding their values and ethics and going along with them.

Being an American means a few things. Freedom, protecting the weak, loving your country, and being active in political affairs. The most important and also the most defining is freedom. Americans are free in both mind and body; able to think freely and, for the most part, act accordingly. Being an American means that almost anyone can run for government positions. Being an American means that if you don’t like the laws, you work to change them through politics. Being an American means dreaming bigger than reason, and working to fulfill that dream. Being an American also means that while you are free to disagree with America’s government and political figures, you realize that America is trying it’s best, and you respect that.

Malcolm X delivered a powerful speech on April 3, 1964 at the Congress of Racial Equality in Cleveland, Ohio. Black people in America came together to receive motivation to fight for equality.In this speech Malcolm X inspires black people to take a stance and fight for their civil rights. Malcolm X uses rhetorical techniques to persuade his audience to push for equality between races.

What it means to be an American is that you have the freedom to vote freedom of speech. You have the liberty to be what you want in America no one chooses for you. Also have the liberty to work wherever you want not be someone 's slave. Being American means you don 't have to hide your religion, the color of your skin or your sex. You have the ability to speak what you want. There are so many good things about being American but there are some downsigns.

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” That one sentence changed my life, those thirty one words altered my decisions, the words “liberty” and “justice” shaped my future. To some, freedom, liberty, and independence are benefactions; others view them as excesses. But to me, those words signify duty, honor, and country. Everything granted to us is not free, we have to earn each and every aspect of the objects we have in life. In order for the people of this country to continue to relish the freedom and independence America stands for, one needs to stand out and sacrifice their time and effort to preserve it.

Jane Addams life as a child was not easy, she had a congenital spinal defect which led to her never being physically strong and her father who served for sixteen years as a state senator and fought as an officer in the Civil War always showed that his thoughts of women were that they were weak, and especially her with her condition. But besides that she lived a very privileged life since her father had many famous friends like the president Abraham Lincoln.

America is a “land of living hope, woven of dreams, aflame with longing and desire” people who come to America come here to get a better life or career. Most people who come to America for a few years think they are Americans because they wave a flag, but they don't know the true meaning of what it means to be and American. An American is someone who will die for it’s country, someone who emigrated here for more opportunities, and someone who is encouraged by the history of America.

During an argument with her father, Sara Smolinsky said, “My will is as strong as yours. I 'm going to live my own life. Nobody can stop me. I 'm not from the old country, I 'm American.” This is a quote from page 138 in the novel, Bread Givers. Bread Givers is written by Anzia Yezierska, whom like the girl in the novel, had the same experience with her father. Sara’s father, Reb Smolinsky, strictly believed in the Jewish customs and traditions from the Old World. This included the binding expectations for this daughters. Reb Smolinsky has four daughters, Bessie, Mashah, Fania, and Sara. The daughters are the providers of the family, while their father, a holy man, studies the Torah all day. Sara is the youngest of the daughters, and she

"We stand here today united in a belief in beauty, genius, and courage, and that these can transform the world" Jane Addams was an incredible woman who helped make the changes in child labor laws and the rights of workers that occurred during the Progressive Era. She took action to get corporations to raise wages and improve workplace quality for poor Americans, even though she herself was rich. She fought to make America go through an evolution both mentally and physically by making people aware of the struggles of working immigrants and making sure changes happened to keep workers safe as they provided for their families.

Jane Smiley argues that Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn suggests only “a recognition of the obvious -- that blacks, slave and free, are human” and therefore does not deserve to be shelved on the western canon nor taught in schools (Smiley). Contrary to Smiley’s statement, the story educates on many more morals and philosophies in addition to racism and depicts the protagonist Huck fighting against deeply rooted societal conventions at the time (and even in places today) that a black person amounts to less value than a white person. This novel deserves to be on the western canon as it is far more nuanced than Smiley suggests; Huck’s fighting societal prejudices, teaches people to defeat stereotypes and value people not

Jane Addams was born September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois. She was the eighth of nine children, and her father was a rich industrialist. In her lifetime she was a pioneer and social worker in America, and received her Bachelor's degree from Rockford College for women.She was also a progressive hero because she helped the community become a better place by helping people in need.

The American person has no true ideals, or beliefs that make him or her up. Americans are free to believe in what they want, think what they want, preach what they want, and most importantly say what they want . Authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman show in their texts such as “Self-Reliance” , The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , and “I Celebrate Myself” that there is no true definition of the American identity. The American identity can be seen in the many aspects of peoples lives, and a a quality that many Americans portray is the ability to have individual thoughts and emotions as well as the capability to not conform to society because they stand up for their own individual rights.

In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville provides an analysis and critique of American civic life. During his travels across the country, he discovered how different America was from Europe, particularly France. While the majority of Europe consisted of aristocratic countries with hundreds of years of history, America was a young democratic country. Most notably, he observed that America was growing in equality. The growing equality becomes a presupposition of individualism and isolation, but despite this inevitable growth of equality, individualism and isolation can be minimized. Tocqueville provided an analysis of how citizens can prevent equality from evolving into a high degree of isolation.

In 1782, French aristocrat J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, wrote an essay titled Letters of an American Farmer as a way of defining Americans. To persuade readers from countries unfamiliar with the American society is his purpose for writing this. Throughout he shows a feeling of admiration and respect towards the American way of life.

In Chapter XXXI, Jane moves to Morton and Finds her job very bad. Rosamond Oliver, a rich woman, gives Jane a place to stay, and when St. John visits, Jane believes that Rosamond and St. John are in love. In Chapter XXXII, Jane faces nightmares that include Rochester, Jane also