Reflections.

__Fear of Change __ Americans are fearful of a lot of things, but their biggest fear is change. According to deTocqueville, comfort in our society will prevent us from revolutions. I find it interesting that in our last presidential election, Barak Obama spoke about change and how he was going to bring change to our society. Indeed he brought change, with the installment of the first black President, and many other decisions, but he has failed to bring fundamental change to America. And I believe that there will not be fundamental change in our society, unless people are comfortable enough with letting go of comfort, despite its consequences, but it will take the majority.

__Displeasure of Image__ It's easy to find someone who is displeased with one thing about themselves. In fact most people in modern society find something about themselves to nit-pick. This is not just a modern phenomenon; since the Puritan age Americans have been cautious about the image that they give off, even if that means covering up who they really are. To cover up our reservations Americans do many things. They act to be someone and something they're not by altering their appearances through plastic surgery, clothes, etc. We do this because we feel like we need to meet a certain standard which can often be given off by the media. But being afraid of how people perceive our outside self is not our only fear. Americans fear the way other people perceive our moral values. This is apparent in //The Scarlett Letter,// where Hester Prynne is scorned for her adulterous actions. No matter what it is that Americans are self-conscious about, they always find a way to cover it up.

__The American Dream__ All Americans are entitled to the pursuit of happiness, given the democracy of our country. This entitlement allows room for everyone to have a dream of their own. Thus titled the American Dream. The dreams of Americans are in no way one-note. Because America is comprised of many different types of people, the American dreams are vast as well. Throughout the novels we have seen many dreamers, Gatsby in //The Great Gatsby// with his arms outstretched in hopes of winning Daisy, and Blanche in //A Street Car Named Desire//with her voluminous expectations of achieving a rich life. But are these dreams that we set for ourselves obtainable? I guess that depends on your dream. The great thing about man, Steinbeck believes, is that "unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments." (//The Grapes of Wrath).// Essentially the conclusion that I have come to, is that it is beautiful to have the innate ability to dream, whether or not those dreams are acomplishable.

__The American Other__ For decades beyond decades, Americans have picked a specific race, class, gender, etc to dehumanize. Those people are the American other. As Americans we put ourselves on pedestals and anyone who doesn't meet those margins can often be ostracized. Such for example, Hester Prynne. Because of the adultery she performed, she was literally ostracized from the community. Such things the black community faced up till the 1960's, but you can argue that they are still dehumanized today. The LGBT community and even immigrants are facing a massive amount of dehumanization today. Throughout our history there has always been an American other, and as time goes on, as pessimistic as this may be of our country, I believe there will still be an American other. The root cause of dehumanization stems from our insufficient and self-depricating views of ourselves, because in order to put ourselves on a pedestal, we must put someone down.