Works Effective In Conveying The American Identity

Which works were particularly effective in conveying the American identity? How so?

I found four works to be particularly effective in conveying the American Identity. It is very difficult to define a big concept such as the American Identity. However, these four works that I found effective to define the American Identity are effective because they pull away from the dense ways of thinking about the concept. These four works go into the the basic natures of mankind and this is why I think they help define the American Identity the best.

> The Open Boat by Stephen Crane. I found this story to define the way that everything is structured within the United States of America. American society is structured into different classes: the lower class, the middle class, and the upper class. The same can be found within The Open Boat. Within this story, there were classes of people as well. 

• The injured captain acted as the leader of the small group of people
• The oiler was the working class
• The cook acted as the optimistic one
• The correspondent was the condescending one that was detached from the rest of the group

Just like these characters were structured within the boat, American society is structured into different classes of people. A social hierarchy within American society.

A social hierarchy within American society

> How To Tell A True War Story by Tim O' Brien was particularly effective in conveying the American identity during war time. Within the story, the reader finds out three different views of how war time is. We find out how seeing someone die in front of you can affect a person, how random acts of violence on innocent things is normal during war time, and how waiting for your own death can cause people to go insane. A large part of American history has been during wartime and war can not be omitted when talking about the American identity. We did after all fight for our independence. 

Sort of like the phrase "You're never more alive than when you're close to death," war shows a person, countries, or any entity's true emotions.

> Two more works that were particularly effective in defining the American history are To Build A Fire and The Jungle because within these works the reader can find the characters wanting to survive and find freedom.

The bald eagle is a symbol of freedom for USA