Hey guys, it's Jasmine.
We talked about the idea of destiny a couple days ago, when we were discussing Phillis Wheatley. She used classical references to imply that Americans were destined to become the inheritors of the ancient worlds. In Crevecoeur's "Letters from an American Farmer," he writes, "Americans...they will finish the great circle." He is referring to the knowledge that they brought over from Europe that would one day "cause great changes in the world." This seemed to be a statement of destiny - the Americans, from the start, had a duty to improve the world. Next, he states, "The Americans were once scattered all over Europe...". To me, this implies that they had always been destined to be Americans. When they were still living in Europe, they didn't know yet, but there was something in them that made them innately American. Sooner or later, fate would bring them together in the New World.
So do you think that Crevecoeur was trying to say that the useless were destined (from the start) to become useful, the poor to become rich, etc. in America? Did they have some sort of destiny to fulfill (like becoming "this American, this new man...you will find in no other country.")?
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5 comments:
Stephanie
Hey Jasmine! You made some great points about Crevecoeur's work (whose name I'll abbreviate to C for my sanity). I definitely agree that he was saying the lowly were destined to be exalted, mainly as a form of propaganda. With the birth of a new nation, foreign eyes as well as native eyes were skeptical and most likely believed in the eminent collapse of the country. I believe C knew that he would have to 'recruit' or bring over more people and more believers in the writing of America's blank slate, or else nobody would really believe in the nation and someone could easily take it over.
Destiny is a vague word, but used with freedom, all people welcome, and the fact that you could be a part of this history, these purr words almost make the reader want to be a part of this 'great' nation. After all, I doubt many believed that America would defeat the British, let alone persist through one battle, so that in and of itself contributes to the idea that America was destined to happen.
Plus, C couldn't lose in his appeal to the poor, lowly, etc. When you have nothing else to lose and you just can't believe your life has turned out this terrible way, you can't help but wonder if there is a greater purpose ahead, and to many, I'm sure this writing was just that.
Hey, it's Erin.
It's really interesting that Crevecoeur talks about Americans as though deep down they were always American. In a way that connects with how he talks about America as an adopting mother. He talks about the "stamp of adoption" and personifies America as a mother pulling children onto her lap. In a way, these Americans are the children, so it seems as though they were born children of America, so they were destined to be Americans.
I don't really think he believed the usless were destined to become useful and the poor were destined to become rich like you said. this is propaganda. He was trying to paint a picture of America that made it out to be a great land where everyone was free and successful so that people would immigrate. The way he describes America isn't completely accurate. That's why the French people who immigrated after reading "Letters from an American Farmer" were not successful. Life in early America was extremely difficult, and not everybody became wealthy. I think it's safe to say that most people living in the American colonies were more determined to survive than to become wealthy or "useful."
I don't really understand how you can say that, "...they had always been destined to be Americans. When they were still living in Europe, they didn't know yet, but there was something in them that made them innately American." Could you explain that? I don't think there is a clear definition of an American. It's more of an idea than anything tangible.
It's interesting that he writes that Americans would "cause great changes in the world" and, as you say, "had a duty to improve the world." This idea that America is perfect and, therefore, has to improve other nations is still common.
It's Jasmine again.
I agree that there's not one definition of "American," but Crevecoeur tries to create one. He says, "From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury, and useless labour, he has passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence.--This is an American." Later, he describes a "true American freeholder." I also agree that what he writes is propaganda - he didn't actually think that America automatically transformed the poor into rich. By painting this magnificent picture of what an American should be, he attracted a lot of immigrants.
Another way Crevecoeur appeals to poor Europeans is: the idea of destiny. He often compares men to plants, saying that in Europe they were starved of the proper nutrients and thus stayed forever weak and withered. But their true destiny was to become a full-grown plant, and the only way to fulfill that destiny was to go to America. So, what made them innately American was that they COULD become a flourishing plant - they had the power to transform into something stronger. Also, C. uses the word "metamorphosis" a couple of times. In metamorphosis, the fate of a caterpillar is to eventually become a butterfly. It's a natural progression - caterpillar to butterfly, poor European to successful American. Again, this wasn't true much of the time, but C. used the idea of destiny as propaganda.
C's writing is certainly propagandistic. It was obviously affective. As Laz pointed out, 500 hundred families immigrated to the US (only to die under harsh conditions.) When C writes that "Americans were once scattered all over Europe..." he suggests that immigrants were somehow always innately American. This creates an American history where none previously existed. The effect is to make America seem like less of a dangerous adventure and more of a desirable destiny; a utopia that was always meant to be created. Who wouldn't want to live there?
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