America As A Symbol

America as a symbol

Why is America a symbol? Mainly because of its history. People associate this country with a variety of events, people and objects that became in their eyes strictly symbolic. Some of them are stereotypes, some are unquestioned monuments of history and some have the power to characterize and define a whole nation with only a few simple words. A symbol simplifies our reality; it catalyzes information and meaning stored in one key word. People often use them because with their help it is simpler to describe an issue or a phenomenon, or in this case a country, using symbols that are meaningful to most of us.

America is a symbol because it has became a legend, a myth which was consequently passed through generations of people who shared the American Dream a symbol of equality and freedom to all, a symbol of wealthy successful life. It was like a wonderland where nothing was impossible, where the dream for better life was at hand. All of these statements might be nothing but lies, but still they function in mass consciousness as taken for granted by many, and all because of the symbol which America had became. But sadly life is not as idealistic as the nature of symbol might suggest. This sort of still images can be very misleading and I presume only Americans can judge how much they differ from the actual state.

One of the most known American symbols/icons is Uncle Sam. Its origins trace back to 1812 when Samuel Winston gained his notoriety as a meat supplier for the American army. He was well known because of the faulty association of the US markings on the supply barrels (which in reality stood for United States) with the initial letters of his name. The icon of Uncle Sam that we are most familiar with today came about in 1917 in the form of the famous "I Want You" recruiting poster by James Montgomery Flagg. Its purpose was to persuade the future troops to join the army and it symbolized patriotism and encouraged the feeling of responsibility for the fate of the nation. Comparable to a gentler and kinder Big Brother he watched over, but did not rule, and probably this was the main reason that made him so popular and trustworthy. In this shape he easily adopted himself in the nation's consciousness.

The second but equally important