Part II

″ Well, Americans: What, nothin' better to do? Why don't you kick
yourself out? You're an immigrant too. Who's usin' who? What should we
do? Well you can't be a pimp and a prostitute too.″ 1

-White Stripes

When the white euroamericans won the war of Independence

against England, their first move was Americanizing themselves to

be distinguished from their past European culture. Americanization

meant changing their speech, ideals, traditions and customs to fit

this new American identity. Another part of this new culture was to

rapidly expand their territory as a way of demonstrating their power

and strength. This imperialistic idea becomes the focal point of the

new American that will bring along many years of social destruction.

Native Americans, African Americans and women are ideal

examples of those whom have fought against the white mans will to

dominate over the rest. These civil conflicts are perfectly

demonstrated in the works and speeches of Cochise, Charlotte

Perkins Gilman and Mark Twain.

Many North Americans have used literature as a way of

leaving traces to describe the different ethnic and gender situations

that had to be faced through out American life. Samuel L. Clemens

aka Mark Twain, gave an identity to American writing by mixing

colloquial dialects with important issues of the time such as racism

and freedom. In one of his most important works, the Adventures of

1
Musician Jack White wrote the song Icky Thump to describe the actual debates
about Mexicans immigrating into U.S. territory, a conflict that is easily related to
the discrimination towards Native Americans, African Americans and others that
immigrated during the 19th and 20th Century.
Huckleberry Finn, there is a comical pessimism about the life in the

South where local black and white people are presented in their

most sincere form. Huck comes forth as the innocent American

youth that is being corrupted by the violent ideologies of the white

man. Although this story was written in 1876, it takes place in the

1840s before the Civil War. By the historical context of the text,

slavery was still legal at the time and U.S. expansionism was taking

its place all over the East and South. Both of these themes are

demonstrated through out the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and

use the idea of freedom as an important part to consider in the

course of the story. Racism is also being constantly faced and is

clearly demonstrated with language and dehumanization of the

black characters. In many cases Huck is treating Jim as an inferior,

even though he knows he is wrong at times, it has become part of

his nature. During one point Huck and Jim are having a discussion

about how Frenchmen talk and weather it is correct or not, but Huck

ends it because ″ …it warn′ t no use wasting words you can’t learn

a nigger to argue.″ As mentioned before, the search for freedom

becomes the central theme of the story especially at the end. When

the adventure is over Huck ends his story with a new one, one that

leads towards the new ideas of expansionism and how it is a chance

for freedom and to get away from what he has already gone

through as he says, ″ …I reckon I got to light out for the Territory

ahead of the rest.″

As a consequence of this strong ideal that emerges rapidly

after the turn of the 19th century, the white man was not the only

one going to go through massive cultural changes. In the case of the

real Native American2, their tribes had been in contact with outside

cultures for many years before becoming familiar with the white

man. One example that caused many to move West was in 1848

when the white people from the east moved towards the west, all

the way to California, in search for gold. The Gold Rush started the

whole idea of taking over land that did or did not belong to the

Native American tribes. This act would eventually be referred to as

Manifest Destiny, which meant that the white American male had

the right to expand their territory as much as they liked and that

they should rule anything in their path. Constant battles over

territory took place between the white men and the Indians. As a

consequence of the massive immigration to the United States taking

place at the time, there were more and more men willing to fight for

a piece of territory. By the 1860s the Indians where outnumbered in

their battles making it practically impossible to win. In Cochise′ s

speech I am alone3, he refers to this problem in his own words4 ″ …

where I have destroyed one white man many have come in his

place; but where an Indian has been killed, there has been none to

come in his place… as the deer before the hunter″ . The U.S.

2
According to the white American, the only Native Americans were those white
people born on U.S. territory.
3
The speech to the Americans is dated 1872 as a way of peacemaking for his
band. Back in 1868 the 14th Amendment passed, which agreed that anyone born
in the United States where guaranteed citizenship excluding the Native American
Indian.
4
General Turill dictated this version of the speech in 1907. He was also present at
the time Cochise gave the original speech.
expanding their territory and the idea of the white male dominating

is clearly being criticized by Cochise since this meant moving to

reservations far away from their home land. The whole purpose of

this speech is to maintain a safe piece of ground for Cochise and his

band to live in peace, but it goes beyond by giving a coherent point

of view that symbolizes great strength and intelligence from his

part. Even though expansion towards the West was affecting its

people in many ways, back east there were other situations of

oppression taking place.

The U.S. expansion had a huge impact not only in territory,

but also in the minds of every man living in the U.S. even if they did

not directly take place in the physical expansion of their country.

The man became dominant in more ways than one, making the

woman’s rights practically inexistent. For Charlotte Perkins Gilman

and many other female writers this became the theme of inspiration

for their stories. In 1892 The Yellow Wallpaper was published, a text

that although fictional received heavy critique especially from the

male point of view. This story criticizes the institution of marriage

and the insignificant role the woman is supposed to take. It was only

a couple of years earlier that women where given the chance to

divorce and get custody of their children, being able to keep the

money that had been personally owned. On the other hand, women

had no political rights, so becoming a writer was a great profession

to inform people on a wide scale of the social difficulties

surrounding them. The independence of the woman acquiring a

profession is one of the points used in the text as a factor that

affects the character’s mental stability. The main character of The

Yellow Wallpaper is a typical middle class housewife and mother,

until she falls into a great depression5. This depression is resolved

with the rest cure, which states that the patient must not do any

physical or mental work for the rest of her life. This could be seen as

a way to make the woman stay away from work and keep her

intellectually numb. Through out the story her husband, who will not

even let her leave the house, is constantly controlling the female

character. The diminishing vocabulary used by the husband towards

his wife clearly demonstrates the role of dominance that the man

wants to play. At one point the wife gets out of bed to touch the

wallpaper and the husband wakes up, ″ What is it, little girl? he

said. ″ Don’t go walking about like thatyou’ll get cold.″ By calling

her little girl is like when an owner would call his slave boy, even if it

were an older man he was referring to, it was a way of showing

superiority. Charlotte Perkins Gillman could not have written this

story if it were not for her own personal experiences that created a

sort of feminist mentality6. Which means the psychological fiction,

as a form of writing is also a semi-biographical one, since the author

experienced many of the situations in the story, even though not to

that extent.

5
Many women suffered from postpartum depression, which would simply be
diagnosed as hysteria or some other form of mental illness.
6
The author did not like to be referred to as a feminist even though many of
works showed other wise, such as Herland where she offers an all woman utopic
world.
 There has been great destruction and discrimination through

out the American History, but from that have emerged many

influential people that have fought in their own way to change the

violent ideals of their country. Thanks to these people, the North

American culture is not defined mainly by the white man dominating

over the rest, but of powerful multicultural backgrounds that

continue to be a characteristic of the U.S. in the present day. Since

the United States is composed of so many differences and conflicts

it makes it difficult to explain what makes an American an American

and if one should be proud of it.