When the American identity was first created, they intended it to be a stone wall protecting everything perceived as American while blocking out everything deemed “different.” As time went on and the country grew in age and experience, the American identity grew with it. Writers such as Amy Tan and Jamaica Kincaid had significant impacts on changing how people viewed the American identity. Through their pieces and the original text of the Preamble, we can see how this identity has grown significantly to accommodate every person in America. The Preamble was the first outline of the American identity that was created to connect the people of America under one umbrella of core beliefs and values. When it was first established, it suggested that to be truly American is to have rights, to be free, and to have pride in the U.S. The only people at the time who could fit into that identity were white Americans. By making such a dense and specific identity, the Preamble excluded those with different experiences and deemed them unworthy of being American. It states that in order to be truly American, one must “secure the …show more content…
In “The Ugly Tourist” Jamaica explains that when one does not fit into the American identity, they are considered to be “an ugly thing” (Source G) that should change to be a part of the whole. She talks about how being different and being excluded from the American identity gives the illusion of being “alone in [a] crowd” (Source G) and being separated from anything and everything. She believes that by dismantling her past and personal experiences, she could change herself to fit into the American identity. She concluded that the true American identity is to conform. To be American, a person must want to be like everyone else and do whatever it takes to achieve that. She believes you cannot be a separate being and still be a part of one true