The Changing American Personality

As turner notes this foreboding concept, Cena seems to echo these same sentiments with the mention of the sheer pride of being American as postulated by love for the American flag. Although the frontier ideal was gradually lost, it played a huge role in the formation of the American character and could be largely credited to present perspectives on what it means to be patriotic. As John Cena postulates the uniqueness of the United States, there is an inherent reference to the frontier thesis further cementing Turner’s work in shaping the American perceptions. Jean Twenge (59) states, where a person is born has more influence on his or her personality compared to the family that raised him or her. Our modern American figure has changed significantly over time.

Additionally, Turner (2) asserts that American growth can be explained best through the presence of free land, its receding characteristics, and the increased American establishments towards the West. Turner’s significant contribution to the history of America was his argument that the past of the boundary best demonstrated the distinctive history of America. According to him, the underlying importance of the border lay in the consequences of this cultural reenactment on the American character. Turner (4) claims that the border is the line of the most rapid Americanization. As such, the availability and dominance of various cultural values, as well as the prevailing individualism can all be ascribed to the influencing power of the border. In as much as Turner (6) argues about the border’s promotion of unique American democracy, a majority of his critics propose that the contrary is true.

According to the critics, it was due to the cooperation between communities and not the isolated individuals who made it possible for the absorption of the West into America to take place. The American Dream according to Gish Jen In the typical American by Gish Jen, an American citizen gets embodied as one with a keen sense of continuously striving to make the best of their opportunities and improve their standards of living on a communal as well as on the national level (Jen 5). Though the main protagonist gets to be the one exhibiting these American traits, a section of the original gets portrayed as persons who are relatively lazy and would rather take an easier way out than work hard to achieve personal goals (Zhang 1452).

As a later composition than Turner’s frontier thesis, the novel personifies what it means to be American in the figure of the American dream. Conclusion The American image and personality have undergone significant changes since the 1920’s. Turner argues that the frontier past was responsible for best explaining the unique history of the American people. According to him, it is this frontier that was responsible for the rapid Americanization. However, Gish Jen gives an account of three Chinese immigrants who moved to America in search of opportunities. In as much as they try to maintain the traditional values of the Chinese culture, they are soon consumed by the ways of the free society and become typical Americans as they try to conform to the norms of their new community.