I Believe In America Summary

Over the past few weeks of class, we have covered the first five chapters of our textbook, written by George Brown Tindell and David Emory Shi called, “America, A Narrative History.” Each chapter told the reader a narration of the history of America, as opposed to an expository version of America’s history. Each chapter had its own main idea over a portion of history, along with many details that cover the importance of the main idea. As a reader, one may obtain a deeper appreciation for the country 's history, prior to entering the class on the first day. The most important aspect of history, besides the battles that are fought, is the different cultures that make up today’s modern America.

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

America is a wonderful place to live, because we are free. Freedom is important, and many people in other countries do not have much freedom. I am glad I have a place like this to grow up in; where I know that I can be equal with other races and other genders. Also, I am glad I have a place like this that will respect me and I know it will be a great place to have my children grow up in.

In the poem “America,” by Tony Hoagland, the idea of Americans being consumed with their money is shown using symbolism and metaphors. The speaker in this poem is a teacher whose name is never mentioned. One thing revealed in the poem is that the speaker has a father who is presumably very wealthy and successful. One of the teacher’s students compares America to a maximum security prison. A recurring theme throughout “America” is Hoagland showing examples of America’s greedy society using a teacher, student, and a father’s experiences. Using metaphors of money and symbols of rivers filled with merchandise, Tony Hoagland captures how the teacher begins to think after he hears his student compare America to a maximum security prison.

Our America by LeAlan Jones and LLoyd Newman makes readers feel bad about children deaths in Chicago which inspires people to help even though it makes readers feel bad.

The “American dream,” a promise of the ability to turn your life from rags to riches if you try hard in the United States of America, has been the definition of what it means to be an American. But over time it the American dream has changed and its pledge perhaps more viable than ever. This is due to the simple fact that America as a nation has evolved over time and the core values which its people encompass are a reflection of the times. So as an American how do we define ourselves and our nation outside of the American dream? America has been known over time as a “big brother”- protector of mankind. Yet many of our citizens did not have equal rights until the 1960’s and it took the fourteenth amendment to guarantee equal protection

James Baldwin and Langston Hughes wrote two pieces of literature, Baldwin's letter to his nephew at the beginning of The Fire Next Time and Hughes’ “Let America be America Again”, to show how minorities, specifically African-American, struggled in America. Both authors write how about minorities are oppressed and how they have to fight oppression in order to realize “The American Dream” and overcome obstacles the white American man did not have. The two pieces give an insight on how, not only the African-Americans but also “the red man” and “the refugee”, are oppressed in America. Leonard Pitts work is about how Americans tip-toe around the problems is their country. Pitts statement in his article is that Americans need to realize what is wrong with America and how they need to work together to fix it.

In Ralph Ellison's "What America Would Be Like Without Blacks" The author describes and analyzes the idea of “purging” African Americans from north America. To support this the author describes how they became deeply ingrained in “white “American culture in a short period of time. They began to influence aspects of society such as speech, music and dance. These changes to society where readily adopted without true origin being noticed. The authors work can be described as opinionated description, because it lacks the objectivism of most expository writing. the author fully describes the idea and he gives support information, but within his word choice it’s clear to the reader that the other has a very strong opinion on the black purge.

Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle in their book “Rereading America” feel that commencing college is a very disturbing experience. So many things we have to deal while starting college, but the major challenges are expanded difficulty levels and higher expectation which we are not familiar over the years of high school. In order to solve this issue, we have to remodel ourselves by taking up the challenge and rethink about our strength and flaws. To succeed in college we need to be mentally strong and dedicated towards our goal.

By 1600, England’s feudal system was nearing extinction, as a new family (Tudor’s) came to power and wanted support from the middleclass and the establishment of new liberties for Englishman (i.e. trial by jury and no arrest without a warrant), which resulted in a large amount of local and self initiative to prosper in the community: yet many beggars now existed, culminating in an increased need for colonial expansion both for personal prosperity and more space for the existing population.

Written in the first half of the 20th century, “Let America Be America” is a poem that documents and responds to the oppressed state of the United States, in both the past and present. The poem is a plea for a return to the original principles of freedom that our country has seemingly forgotten. Additionally, the speaker sees America as the broken home to oppressed people who have lost sight of the ultimate goal of freedom and happiness. Although America is often perceived as the “land of the free,” Langston Hughes’s poem contradicts this ideology by not only painting a vivid picture of oppression in America but also by providing a desperate hope for the future.

The purpose of a preface is to introduce the subject of the book to the reader, and this book accomplishes that goal. Kinzer perfectly begins his book by telling the reader about a conversation he had with an Iranian woman at a book party. He recounted that they had a cordial conversation and that politics really didn’t play a part. That was until the woman brought up the fact that she was related to Prime Minister Mossadegh and Kinzer, naturally intrigued, inquired if she could tell him anything about the coup against him. He noted that she quickly became agitated, crying out, “Why did you Americans do such a horrible thing?” She went on to say, “We loved America. To us America was the great country, the perfect country” and “I can tell

Mabalon and the GABRIELA organization were both able to bring theory into practice through their writings and websites, another way to attempt this change is through an autobiography. Autobiographies are another way to represent the Filipino American experience and how a representation can transform to an experience. Carlos Bulosan makes his life story newly and uniquely visible through his creative and critical work. In his autobiography, America is in the Heart, Bulosan speaks of his difficult life from living in the Philippines and his move to America along with his search for a better life. He begins with his life as a child which he describes himself as a Filipino peasant child. By the young age of 5 he worked in the fields with his mother trading

In another famous poem of his titled, ‘America’, Allen Ginsberg reflects on the rottenness pervasive in his native country. He manifests strong resentment over the post-World War US policy be it over nuclear bomb, or over Asian countries, or related to Communism for that matter. Ginsberg takes America to task for its hypocritical appearance. He claims that America may put up an exterior of ‘an angelic country but it resembles a devil from within. Its acts do not correspond with its exterior. It betrays not only the onlookers but its own people. The poem being conversational in nature, rather expressively manifests truly the emotions of Ginsberg and the likes of him relating to America .The irregular structure of the poem , further complements the theme of the poem since through this irregularity , Ginsberg is able to convey the frustration of the commoners over the dirty politics of their leaders.

Vito Corleone, the “godfather” of the family is a very diverse character. He is intelligent, clever and an excellent speaker. Like the tagline of the movie, he frequently makes an “offer he can’t refuse”. Another trait is his ability to read people, especially during Bonasera’s plea to the don. He is also a ruthless person, if he cannot deal with words, guns and bullets will. Even with his supposed evil, he is seen as many as a very loving father and many people love him. He was clearly hurt when he found out Michael gunned down Sollozo and McClusckey, indicating he loved Michael that he didn’t want his son to be part of any crime. He is able to separate blood and water, and embrace them both, evident when he adopted and raised Tom Hagen like he was a son. He also show a deep sense of morality, not agreeing to the dawning drug business at first, and when he did agree, he proposed that it should never be sold to kids and near schools. Near the end of his life, he became more relaxed and was able to enjoy his remaining day.