American Identity

The Reluctant Fundamentalist dealt a lot with the concept of identity and how identities have shifted as a result of 9/11. In the book, three identities are singled out -- America, New York, and Pakistan -- but after 9/11, the New York identity disappears into the American identity, and American and Pakistani identities are pushed apart. Binary relationships strengthen after 9/11, as you can no longer identify with both -- you're either one or the other.

This led me to think about what it actually means to be an American, but when I thought about it, most things that came to mind were not really purely American. For example, Americans pride themselves off of their freedom and democracy, but this is clearly not unique to the United States. We also often consider ourselves a "melting pot" of cultures, which may be a relatively unique feature, but if this is true, then why did 9/11 bring about such tensions and prejudices between cultures? The only overtly "American" characteristics that came to mind were those stereotypes that foreigners often have of us -- materialistic, work-oriented, and obese -- some of which may not necessarily be true, but all of which are not the most pleasant of identities. So what is it that makes people so proud to be American? Although many of these characteristics are shared by others, I think it is the sheer magnitude of power we have behind everything we do, which gives us this pride in our identity -- it really is unique to the US. If this is the case, however, it may also feed into further resentment from alienated or terrorist groups. Perhaps we should take some time to reevaluate what it actually means to be an American.