American

AMERICAN IDENTITY

As Americans we have always been different, and our differences may always cause controversy but they do not take away from what we share: our identity. Our identity as one has been ingrained in us from the first time we said the pledge of allegiance in kindergarten or from our first step onto American soil. Our identity as Americans rest within our history and our future, a future we all share. In Creating America, Joyce Moser & Ann Watters argue, “In understanding American identities, we need to come to terms with unity and division, with separateness and common ground.” Moser & Watters argument promotes the logic of contradiction as a way of explaining American identity. Spike Lee’s film; Do the Right Thing and the short stories, “Does America still Exist?” by Richard Rodriguez, “Loneliness. . . An American Malady” by Carson McCullers, “The Cult of Ethnicity” by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., and “Chicana” by Martha Serrano all relate to Moser & Watters argument, and promote the logic of contradiction.

The film, Do the Right Thing, by Spike Lee sets up a system of contradiction. For example, black and white, love and hate, conciliation and violence, and then sets them against each other. An example of black & white would be, when buggin out went in to Sal’s pizzeria and made a big deal about there not being any brothers on the wall. Radio Raheem gives an example of love & hate when he’s walking towards Sal’s pizzeria and runs into Mookie and tells him the representation of the rings he has on Love & Hate.

“Let me tell you the story of Right Hand, Left Hand. It's a tale of good and evil. Hate: it was with this hand that Cane iced his brother. Love: these five fingers, they go straight to the soul of man. The right hand: the hand of love. The story of life is this: static. One hand is always fighting the other hand, and the left hand is kicking much ass. I mean, it looks like the right hand, Love, is...