American Literature and the Search for Freedom and Identity

Introduction: American Literature and the National Experience

Coupled with expansion and a break from overseas cultural standards, the American way of life brought about its own set of classic literature. Important in this literature is the vivid description of an unexplored territory, which often becomes the backdrop for many works. Yet even alongside these descriptions of wild America, there is another portion — the technologically altered — that clashes with the prevailing worldview offered by many writers. Literary figures such as Walt Whitman, Eugene O'Neill, Stephen Crane, Tennessee Williams, and Mark Twain have showcased what it was truly like to live in the land of opportunity: a land where nature and technology can clash, and where human beings have the chance of living full, free lives.

Walt Whitman and the Celebration of Nature and Equality

One of the ways that writers have vividly painted depictions of American freedom and equality is through the imagery found within the countryside. Walt Whitman is certainly one such writer who ties American freedom to the simple matter of comparing one's livelihood to the wild nature of the mountains. In Song of Myself, Whitman exudes pride in the self and the perseverance of the life around him: "I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you" (Whitman). The beginning of his poem establishes that he is satisfied with his very being, and that all around him there is an idea of freedom easily grasped in his surroundings.

Whitman further speaks of the American ideal of equality, bringing his poem around to descriptions of the peoples and elements found in the American countryside. He speaks of "growing among black folks as among white," and that regardless of one's origin — "Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff" — "I give them the same, I receive them the same" (Whitman). This light-hearted view of American life is unmistakably celebratory. One sees this clearly in the later lines of "[along] far in the wilds and mountains I hunt, wandering amazed at my own lightness and glee…" and the earlier declaration of "I am satisfied — I see, dance, laugh, sing" (Whitman).