American identity and meaning in historical literature

The Evolution of American Identity Through Literature
The diversity within the American experience, and as well within the canon of American literature, precludes the possibility of singling out two or even ten of the novels, poems, or short stories that best encapsulate what it means to be American. From the colonial and early national era and the fledgling formation of national identity through the struggles of emancipation from slavery and transcendentalism, onwards to the industrial and capitalist eras, American literature has provided an accurate reflection of the lives of individuals and communities that comprise life in different regions of the country. Geographic and cultural differentiations also help to expand what it means to be American, taking into account race, class, gender, and generation. Threads that tie together Americans throughout time and in spite of radical differences in worldview include staunch independence and self-reliance, coupled with a profound optimism. Trust in the democratic process is also a critical component of American identity, played out profoundly in the literature of the nation. Yet the setbacks and disillusionment of the twentieth century also reveals the dark underbelly of the American experience through novels that defined their generation. Taking into account the most defining features of American identity, two works from two different periods and from two vastly different authors that best encapsulate what it means to be American include Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance,” and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
From a strictly literary perspective, Emerson’s “Self Reliance” functions as an essay or polemic in which the author expounds on his philosophical standpoint, whereas Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiographical novel. As such, the latter contains much more symbolism and metaphor than the former, which offers a more straightforward insight into what it means to be American. Like other seminal works of African-American literature from slave narratives onwards, Angelou’s text focuses on the theme of liberation: of knowing that freedom is possible and being willing to persist throughout oppression, trauma, ridicule, and all manner of demeaning circumstances in order to pave the way for a better America for future generations. Like Frederick Douglass, for instance, Angelou knew that the Constitution prohibited the maltreatment of women and women of color; the title of Angelou’s autobiography speaks volumes about her take of what it means to be an American. An American is someone who sings loud and proud in spite of being oppressed, knowing full well that the ideals of the society will prevail in the end. Compared with Angelou’s autobiographical novel, Emerson’s essay on self-reliance presents a starkly different picture of what it means to be American. Emerson writes from the perspective of someone who has never experienced discrimination like Angelou but like Angelou advocates the cultivation of inner strength, or believing in oneself and one’s convictions and never giving in. As different as these two works of literature may seem, they are in common a core belief in the value of optimism amid adversity and the importance of nonconformity.
In fact, the theme of nonconformity, of the willingness to go against even one’s own family, is what these two disparate works share most in common with one another and with the corpus of American literature. Angelou begins her memoir by referring to her “black ugly dream,” as she imagines that her “real hair” was “long and blonde,” (4). As the reader progresses through her journey of self-awareness and awakening, the narrator realizes that she has internalized a tyrannical, sick, and insipid sense of self that is profoundly anti-American. Being black, being female, is as American as any other superficial marker of identity. To truly be American is to believe in equality and to practice the ethics of social justice at every corner and with every interaction. Emerson does not recognize his white privilege in writing “Self Reliance,” and yet would recognize in Angelou her own independence and unwillingness to succumb to the depressive and oppressive conditions of being a caged bird. Just as Angelou goes against the prevailing stereotypes and norms of black female self-empowerment, Emerson states outright, “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” Emerson is more severe in his approach to non-conformity, decrying church and even belittling ordinary human relationships but Angelou also deals with the despair she feels when confronted with those in the African American community who do not accept her for who she is and who she wishes to be. Her self-expression is as radically self-reliant as that of Emerson; the main difference being that as a white male Emerson would not have met with as many barriers or obstacles as Angelou did in her life.
Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” and Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings are like two sides of the same American coin. While Emerson lacks the self-awareness Angelou possesses in terms of race, class, and gender identity and politics, the transcendentalist philosophy undergirds so much of American consciousness that it has come to define the nation perhaps more than any other aspect of national identity. Angelou’s work inspires readers to reconsider what it means to be American, taking a considerable amount of power away from white male hegemony to show that true equality lies in the struggle to be free. When Emerson published “Self Reliance,” a woman, let alone a woman of color, was unable to vote or take part in her own self-determination, her own self-reliance constrained by her gender, her race, and her socioeconomic class status. To a large degree, race, class, and gender remain poignant issues in American identity construction, which is why Angelou’s novel remains as relevant as Emerson’s essay on self reliance.




Works Cited
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance.” https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/selfreliance.html