American Individualism and How It Has Envolved

Think back to the 1800’s when slavery existed. The owners of the slaves treated them like animals. The slaves were just doing what they were told to do or else they knew that there would be punishment. They could not really show who they really were. If they were funny, shy, or maybe even artistic. No one got to see the real side of the slaves. As the years went on society really started establishing individualism more and more.

People in American society have their own views about individualism in our country. They choose who they are and what they want to become in the future. Because of this, there are some pros to American Individualism. For example, Edgar Allen Poe was a poet who expresses how he felt within his poetry. His poetry was kind of dark and twisted and is actually a little bit confusing to understand. This is a good example of Individualism because he showed what kind of man he was and troubles he was facing through his writing. In his day in age people were not use to authors writing in such a style that he did. He would get judged pretty harshly, but it did not stop him from writing. In one of Poe’s short stories, “The Raven” the man was grieving about his dead wife. He went into a deep darkness mourning about his wife; wondering, fearing, and doubting about what had happened to her (Poe468). This explains pros of Individualism because he expressed exactly how he felt about her dying. He got to express his feelings without being put down. Being an American citizen he got to use his right of having freedom of speech, which everyone should not be afraid of doing. This shows collectivism because it showed how he wasn’t afraid to express his individuality even when numerous people were making fun of him.

Although...

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...s probably one of the best things a human can do even if it is negative. Who knows you could even be famous one day for doing it. Being individualistic is something everyone should cherish because if everyone was the exact same the world would be boring and we would all be like robots.

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan, and William Ladd Taylor. The Raven,. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1884. Print.

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Weitlauf, Ashlee. Civil Disobedience: Henry David Thoreau. Tempe, AZ: Pell Mell, 2006. Print.