The Main Values of the Americans (1919)

One of the most important values and beliefs of any American is his toughness which comes from his sense of individual freedom. The pioneers who lived on the frontier had a hard life, so they had to be tough and self-reliant.

The Americans consider that persons must rely on themselves; otherwise they risk losing their freedom. They must come to both financial and emotional independence from their parents as early as possible, usually by the age of 18-21. So, self-reliance is one of the traits and moral values supposed to be obligatory to a true American. It designates the ability of succeeding on one's own. The favourite sayings of the Americans are: "Life is what you make it"; "Actions speak louder than words" and "Pull yourself by the bootstraps".

Another national value accounts for their confident and unaffected manners. It's the old belief that everyone in America has equal opportunity to succeed, an equal chance to success. This value is supposed to have been particularly true at the times of settlers' moving west to make a new beginning. The differences in wealth between rich and poor were little at that time, so one's fortune depended only on one's industry. And if everybody had chance to better his living conditions, then everybody's duty was to try, which led to the overall competition with one another. And up to now people who compete successfully are honoured and called "winners". Those who do not like to compete and are failures are dishonoured and called "losers". Most of Americans believe that competition and desire to win are healthy and desirable.

In spite of the fact that society can't consist only of winners the Americans are optimistic. This trait proceeded from a "can-do" spirit of earlier settlers which had to be inventive experimenters and had come to believe that every problem has a solution: a difficult problem can be solved immediately, an impossible one, may take a little longer.

It goes without saying that one more, not less important value of the Americans is material wealth. Most Americans believe that wealth is a reward for hard work and that it is possible to have a good standard of living if a person works hard. The great American dream "from rags to riches" is still alive by far. It goes on attracting immigrants from all over the world.

Check your comprehension.

1. Name the most important values of the Americans. 2. Why do Americans consider self-reliance to be one of the distinctive features of a true American? 3. What are favourite sayings of the Americans? 4. What do they mean? 5. Do you think confidence to be a positive or negative trait? 6. What does a person's fortune depend to your mind? 7. Who are winners? 8. Who are losers? 9. How do you understand a "can-do" spirit? 10. What is a great American dream?

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The American National Character (1949)	\|	Englishmen and Americans (2141)

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