America, The Beautiful
“What, then, is the American, this new man?”
In Letters from an American Farmer, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur presents this question just as the concept of the “American” is becoming a reality. These epistolary essays were initially published in 1782 during a crucial moment in United States history: the foundation of our beloved republic was right around the bend and the inevitable birth of American literature was pending. Due to our then-newness, Letters introduces the European audience to a panoramic view of America’s customs and apparent heritage. Being then-new people, society did not comprehend as to how or whether to corral Americans into a box. We were the undeciphered puzzle the Europeans (the world) could not solve. Perhaps Crèvecoeur declares his initial optimism for this New Man, this New Adam in his much reprinted Letter III. This letter divinizes America or perhaps the glistening generalization of the new frontier — of finding America and the meaning of the American for the first time. The question “What, then, is this American new man” is answered perfectly in this letter. The “American Farmer” of the title is Crèvecoeur’s fictional persona Farmer James, a hillbilly from bucolic Pennsylvania. Letter III …show more content…
Letter IX describes Charles Town as a village infested with “excesses of all kinds very dangerous.” He described its baleful personality rooted in self-centeredness. Being self-indulgent and gluttonous were traits duly welcomed. This place was an invitation to selfishness, to a pervert and ostentatious society. This was physical evil, this was a society where the mechanism of degradation and subordination was put into place. This — Charles Town — was a place where fields and unpaved roads were rife with slavery; bigotry; malice. This, to the persona’s confusion and dismay, was
“What, then, is the American, this new man?”
In Letters from an American Farmer, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur presents this question just as the concept of the “American” is becoming a reality. These epistolary essays were initially published in 1782 during a crucial moment in United States history: the foundation of our beloved republic was right around the bend and the inevitable birth of American literature was pending. Due to our then-newness, Letters introduces the European audience to a panoramic view of America’s customs and apparent heritage. Being then-new people, society did not comprehend as to how or whether to corral Americans into a box. We were the undeciphered puzzle the Europeans (the world) could not solve. Perhaps Crèvecoeur declares his initial optimism for this New Man, this New Adam in his much reprinted Letter III. This letter divinizes America or perhaps the glistening generalization of the new frontier — of finding America and the meaning of the American for the first time. The question “What, then, is this American new man” is answered perfectly in this letter. The “American Farmer” of the title is Crèvecoeur’s fictional persona Farmer James, a hillbilly from bucolic Pennsylvania. Letter III …show more content…
Letter IX describes Charles Town as a village infested with “excesses of all kinds very dangerous.” He described its baleful personality rooted in self-centeredness. Being self-indulgent and gluttonous were traits duly welcomed. This place was an invitation to selfishness, to a pervert and ostentatious society. This was physical evil, this was a society where the mechanism of degradation and subordination was put into place. This — Charles Town — was a place where fields and unpaved roads were rife with slavery; bigotry; malice. This, to the persona’s confusion and dismay, was