America A Narrative History : Summary Statements

During the 17th and 18th century, English residents felt that England was over-crowded and intolerable. They wanted to lessen these problems that rose up because of the large population increase and to establish more religious freedom (Horn). The English believed that the best way to go about this was to colonize the New World. Subsequently, many colonies began to develop, and of these colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Virginia were the most well-known. The early settlements of Massachusetts and Virginia were both established by similar groups of people at the same time; furthermore, their contrasting beginnings as a colony, views on religion, and method of economic stability all contributed to our American heritage today.

The theme for American History is to not lose hope over life’s disappointments and to instead concentrate on the positive. The quote, “You are forgetting who you are, nina. I have seen you staring down at the boy’s house. You are heading for humiliation and pain,” plays a big role in the story. When Elena is about to step out the door to go to Eugene’s house (who is white), her mom warns her and says that she’ll be humiliated. But Elena wants to take the chance and would rather think about the positive outcome instead of the negative. Elena is seemed as an optimistic person. Even though Elena may have known that her mother was right, she still went for the opportunity and hoped for the best. This is an excellent example of not losing hope and

America is viewed by many people around the world as the land of opportunity. This suggests that America is a country where anyone can succeed, live prosperously and have freedom; that if only they can make their way here, all their dreams will come true. People believe America is where they will find freedom; a place where you have freedom of religion, freedom of speech, political autonomy, etc. Every day there is talk of America’s illegal immigration problem; people are dying to come here, figuratively and sometimes literally. These stories of unwanted immigrants coming to the US have been told by politicians and the media for a long time. However, people never hear about the hardships some of these

In Creating America, Joyce Moser and Ann Watters suggest that, “In understanding American identities, we need to come to terms with unity and division, with separateness and common ground” (Page 1). Moser and Watters is explaining that America is a world of contradiction. We are given two options but we cannot choose one side because we are given both options without asking or having to take part in such decisions. For example, we want peace, yet we cause war. We are known to be the land of equality, yet we still fight for equality. We judge one another because of our looks, our religion, our appearances, etc., yet we tell ourselves to not judge one another. These actions are inevitable because we are accustomed to it or we have no say. Moser

Then, when the English arrived in North America in the mid 1500’s, their goal was not to plunder the land and get all the immediate riches they could. They chose to focus their attention on long-term economic growth through the agricultural resources they found in certain areas of the country.

Zinn’s text introduced me a whole different view of, “The First America” story, throughout my education, every text that I encountered in school was a sugarcoated version of the actual story. While reading his texts it was very disturbing with his vivid descriptions of the experiences that the Indian Americans went through when Columbus arrived to their land, North America.

Two of Dr. Chafes primary points were that individualism challenged the normal and Christianity was practiced once a week worship. For entrepreneurs, individualism meant that one could begin to explore their own individual aspirations and be creative with no limits. “The natural result of individualism is innovation. It’s led to an invention, agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and affordable necessities and luxuries. None of this would have been possible if individuals weren't encouraged to think independently and create new things and keep some of the wealth from what they built” (Abbo, 2015).

It was the summer of 2014. We had ten days to have the American vacation of a lifetime. This short period of time in my life would define America to my family and I. The rocky structures, colors resembling rust in Utah, the blistering heat of Arizona. The insect ridden Nebraska. The industrial Ilinois. The Great Lakes overlooked by Wisconsin. The rocky mountains covered from base to peak in trees, almost submerged in a vivid green. Now it was time, to take it all on and explore.

In “Rewriting American History,” Frances FitzGerald claims that “each generation of children reads only one generation of schoolbooks,” and those children only have a particular version of America based on the textbook they read in schools. FitzGerald is correct in her claim that children read only one generation of schoolbooks; however, children do not get a particular version of American history based on their schools’ textbooks. Students should realize that American history is constantly changing, and they cannot only depend on historians’ opinions on historical events. Instead, they should be open-minded to multiple perspectives of history and understand why people interpret it differently.

“YOU WERE MY BABA’S BHAIYA? But HOW? I have never seen you before in my life!” I exclaimed. “He gave up on me, when I started this” he gestured towards the bottle of rum. “He wouldn’t let me near you but now it seems as though I am the only family you have got- aside from your Bhaiya.” He gestured toward my Bhaiya, Rameez. “He told me once that if there was an emergency where he wasn’t able to be here, he would send you here.”

I looked out at the sky, it was a nice summer day. The sun’s rays were bursting out, small wavy clouds rolled by. I looked over my shoulder and saw Anish running towards the school bus, panting and whaling his arms.

I have crash landed on a planet called Earth. I am in the region commonly known as the

American history is a multi-faceted progression of time that cannot be explained through the simple statements of facts or events. In order to properly understand and analyze American history, one needs to account for the variety of perspectives available throughout history. Most often narratives of American history are written through the perspective of wealthy, elite white men, thus, it is important to also chronicle the history and perspectives of the minorities as well. Thus, in an attempt to properly understand the progression of American history, this essay will aim to compare the accounts of the wealthy elites to the small, non-farmers.

The history of America is mirrored in American Literature. The American dream, the idea of equality and being able to achieve anything you wanted, meant that millions of immigrants moved to America. America claims to be a country which enables everyone to have equality and freedom however in the texts we can see it is rather a Capitalist and individualist country. The paradox of America can be seen through the fact that the Statue called freedom was built by slaves. The inequality can also be seen through the experience of individuals such as Abraham Lincoln who was assassinated for trying to abolish slavery. The reflection of America through texts such as ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and the poems of Sylvia Plath shows the tragic face of America, in which ‘representatives of the upper class are engaged in acts of egotism, self-aggrandizement, and heartlessness.’ In these texts, the American Dream is different for each character as it varies from having money to being a perfect wife or mother. Underneath the concept of the American dream lays America’s reality of a harsh world which proves that not many can have the American Dream but rather their dreams will turn into their nightmare as they live in a country based on Darwin’s idea of ‘Survival of the fittest’. These texts show that those who accept what they have are able to achieve their dream however those who want everything and strive to have everything find that their dream turns into a nightmare

As colonial society progressed through the late 1600’s, it was becoming more of a societal normality