American Identities

American Identities

The way one interprets the term American can differ for every individual. One's appearance impact greatly on how society views one's identity. The American identity has always been somewhat undefined because America does not have any specific definitions of what one must look like in order to proclaim his or her American self. Because the American culture is seemingly developing over time, people are confronted with the opportunity to change their physical and inner character. The way one physically appears has a greater impact than the inner self of a person toward their identity. The American identity has become a person's physical attributes, rather than their personal character.

People seem to believe that each person's identity is what automatically and visibly distinguishes one from the other. Many people feel that a person's identity consists of mainly what they appear to be on the outside. What causes people to hold this belief is the misconception about one's identity. There tends to be stereotypical views among many different ethnicities. For example, an Irish American person can be perceived as an alcoholic with a fierce temper because of the stereotypes people have been accustomed to. These assumptions can be concluded from the physical attributes this person holds, such as the freckles on his or her face.

Although these stereotypes take part in they way one is classified, there is a lot more than meets the eye. Throughout Lewis Lapham's, Who and What is American, Lapham discusses the many different ways people view the American identity. The classification put on any specific type of person has an impact on the way our culture views what the American identity really stands for. Lapham states, "The American achieves visible and specific meaning only by reason of his or her association with the political guilds of race, gender, age, ancestry, or social class" (Lapham 74). Lapham explains how one's identity is characterized into a particular sense simply from what one automatically sees them as and according to what society has made them out to be. This deceives many people into making false assumptions about certain individuals' identity. False accusations of certain people may lead others to categorize them into mistaken social groups.

Adding to the fact that one's visible physicality contributes to how society views their identity, the altercations one makes to their body impact the way their identity is viewed. Within Lauren Slater's, Dr Deadalus, Slater introduces the effects plastic surgery can have on one's true identity. Dr. Rosen, a well known doctor discussed within Dr. Deadalus states, "When you change what you look like, you change who you are" (Slater 5). What Rosen is saying is that changing how you appear to others is changing the person you are completely. By changing your physical appearance technologically, a person's true self is completely altered. How could this be so, when throughout life one learns not to "judge a book by its cover?" Over time individuals have been taught that there is a lot more to a person's identity than their external appearance.

Jacques Joseph, an author mentioned within Slater's essay, provides an example of Rosen's point that when you change yourself technologically, you are modifying more than just your external appearance. Altering one's physical appearance has more than just an effect on the way others see them; one's alterations can, in turn, have an effect on they way others feel about them. These changed feelings leave people to have strict, sometimes false, judgments about individuals. For example, Joseph states, "Beauty was a medical necessity because a persons looks can create social and economic barriers" (Slater 7). As Joseph claims, a person will long for beauty so that they can be viewed on a higher pedestal. It has become a misfortune within the American society that a "beautiful person," is more likely to receive an attention grabbing job, such as a model or movie star. A person's looks not only determine one's identity within the American culture, but also contributes to social and economic obstacles within our society. People are willing to spend millions of dollars on changing their physical appearance, when it reality all they are doing is building walls between themselves and others. To avoid these barriers that Joseph is referring to, people must realize that beauty is only skin deep. A personal identity goes beyond how a person physically looks.

Along the lines of these barriers, there are in fact ways Americans can join together. "What joins the Americans one to another is not a common nationality, language, race or ancestry, but rather their shared work of the imagination" (Lapham 5). Lapham explains that Americans may not appear the have similar traits, yet all share the common bond of a distinctive imagination. We,