American History Three Questions Race Class Gender Essay

Alexis de Tocqueville makes a moral assessment of America, pointing out that the "goodness" inherent in American values like freedom and liberty is what makes the nation "great." The term "great" refers to the nation's power, status, and enduring prestige. However, social critics throughout American history have endeavored to point out the gross shortcomings in the country's policies and its hypocritical practices. In The Souls of Black Folks, W.E.B. DuBois discusses the ongoing problem of racism in America to show that the values of freedom and liberty have not been fulfilled. Charlotte Perkins Gillman's novel Herland offers a scathing critique of the patriarchal and sexist values and norms that persist in American society in spite of the faAade of offering "liberty and justice for all." Both DuBois and Gillman provide road maps to a better America, one that recognizes the essential equality of all human beings.

In The Souls of Black Folks, DuBois shows how African-Americans have developed a "double consciousness" because of racial inequality and social injustice. It has become impossible for African-Americans to recognize themselves as "Americans" because of the ways blacks have been systematically excluded from access to wealth and social capital. Similarly, Gillman uses the medium of fiction and literary irony to show that women have been constrained by their gender, as men hold positions of power and dictate the roles and norms of women. Gillman illustrates what a society is like when it becomes dominated by only one gender, only half of the population.

Both DuBois and Gillman suggest that a "good" America is one that recognizes its faults and comes to terms with them. Eliminating social hierarchies is one step toward creating a "good" America. America can become "great" when it empowers all its citizens instead of only a small portion, based on accidents of birth leading to determinations of gender, race, and social class. Instead of pretending that America is egalitarian, it would be better to see how institutionalized sexism and racism continue to impact the status and integrity of the United States.

2. When Paine suggested that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness depended on the rejection of outmoded social institutions like religion and politics, he was not necessarily advocating atheism and anarchy. On the contrary, Paine was urging the American colonists to adopt a new vision for society. The new vision for society was not based on the traditional European social hierarchies that had evolved over centuries. Whereas the European model was based on classism, the American model would be based on the elimination of class as a defining feature of one's social status. Unfortunately, slavery proved that the colonialists were unable to shed some of the European models of social hierarchy. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the author shows how the social system of racial hierarchy defines the lives of African-Americans. In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, the author shows how self-reliance and hard work are far more important values than relying on systems of inherited privilege as in Europe.

Becoming free of social, political, and religious institutions means not allowing these systems to determine one's opportunities or status. Douglass, unlike Franklin, is keenly aware of the role that race plays. Franklin operates within the consciousness of white privilege, blissfully unaware how he has already been offered a high social status of being white just because he was born white. Franklin might not believe that organized religion is relevant, or that monarchies are relevant, but he does not realize how entrenched systems like racism and sexism had become because he writes from the perspective of a white male. Douglass, on the other hand, poignantly describes the struggles trying to break free from the shackles of slavery in literal and figurative ways.

3. Helen Keller appreciated learning about the folktales of the Native Americans, and lauds their power over the human psyche. Zitkala-Sa of course wanted to share the sheer content and magic of these stories, but as a social and political activist, Zitkala-Sa might also have published the collection of stories to raise awareness about Indian culture and how difficult it can be to develop an identity that is…