Blog #1: American Identity

Our view and attachment to our American identity is formed solely on the experiences we have encountered. I used to believe that an American identity was something we either had or did not have; people either felt strongly about their identity or they did not depending on their past. However, the fact is, American identity 
is something in which we all hold an equal role. As we saw in the video clips in class, stereotypically, the American identity consists of flags, monuments, songs, and poems. In reality the identity is the people that give meaning to those symbols. In her poem "The New Colossus", Emma Lazarus describes the vivid American dream. A dream of a land that bears no judgment, harbors the weak, and huddles the weary. In essence a safe haven among an otherwise cruel world. Thomas Aldrich described a similar America in "Unguarded Gates". However, he writes about the tarnishing of the American identity from freeloaders and undeserving immigrants. So, why is there such a difference in the descriptions of American identity between these two poets? It's because of their experiences. Not any single person can define American identity; to each their own. American identity is what we take from our experiences in the past and how we act on those experiences today.