What Is American Culture

In America, people might think that there is only one culture, but there is more than one culture because there are people from different parts of the world that  have different ways of living their lives and have ways that they think is right and others that they think is wrong. It could be seen as though the american origin was influenced by many other cultures like Native American, African, Asian and Latin. The american came from western origins and then after years of immigration, other cultures blended into the american culture. In other words american culture is a mixture of many cultures.

 In the book blended, it shows a biracial girl, Isabella,  trying to find her identity in this world. Her mother is white and her father is black. They got divorced when she was eleven because they argued all the  time on tiny things like the flavor of a drink, argue on how Isabella should do things around the house, they finally divorced and Isabella had to change everything. She switched houses every week, her friends, her parents and her room. In the book there are chapters that show how different american culture is practised between her mom and her dad. The book also shows the way people will treat her depending on which parent she is with, when she is with her mom people will complement her walk up to her and ask her questions about her hair and stuff but when she is with her dad no one will walk up to her or complement her but they will give her side glances and she has security following around. 

Every week she has to switch houses, so she lives two lives, some weeks she will be with her mother and her mother lives her life like a hippy, she doesn’t really follow the the main american culture, but she is still very strict and makes sure isabella is in her place. Her dad on the other side is very outgoing and he is more like a hipster, always on the trending things and makes sure isabella has the fancy things too,  her father is also a huge believer of god and has pictures of jesus around the house and also has pictures and quotes made by great black leaders. And this shows that she does have a big toll in lives every week but she gets used to it after some time. Her parents got remarried to other people and she loves both her step parents and they love her too. Her hippy mother and hipster father are from two subcultures of the main American culture. They could be from two other cultures; african culture and white culture.

Critical discussion :

Culture is a large set of diverse aspects of life and they are intangible, it consists of practises people share in common like their values, beliefs and norms. It is also how we do things and how we behave and communicate. Cultures can also have subcultures where people from a main culture do not agree with some norms and values and decide to make their own group that do things a little differently. An example of a subculture is hippie culture, a subculture od american culture, people of the hippie culture were against war during the 1960s and 70s. 

In the book it shows white supremacy and racism and other issues that come up because of  someone’s race. Whenever isabella was with her mom people were smiling at her greeting her and not looking at her very nastily. While she was with her dad everyone would disrespect her or just bump into her and not apologize people always assumed she would hoplift or commit a crime. Black Americans are overrepresented as perpetrators of crime in U.S. news media. This is especially true when looking at the incidence of violent crime. Although it is shown to be true it does not always happen and it does not give people to go ahead and assume that every black person in american is a criminal. For many, being white privilege. It was being able to walk into a store and find that the main displays of shampoo and panty hose were catered toward your hair type and skin tone. It was being able to turn on the television and see people of your race widely represented. It was being able to move through life without being racially profiled or unfairly stereotyped. We see in the book whenever isabella waas with her mother in the mall or anywhere else.

  African Americans are mainly from african ancestry and they also have nonblack ancestors. African Americans are mostly populated in large cities in america like Chicago, Detroit, Houston.  African american culture is mostly known for its music like hip hop and rap, great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X and many more. White americans refers to people having origins of Europe and the Middle East. White American culture is everywhere and it is the highest population in America. The founding fathers of the United States are American, they made  the great United States that we know and love and that is what culture is mostly known for.   

Works Cited: 

Chalabi, Mona. “What Is White Culture, Exactly? Here’s What the Stats Say.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 Feb. 2018

Cole, Nicki Lisa. “Defining Culture and Why It Matters to Sociologists.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 2 Aug. 2019

Lynch, Hollis. “African Americans.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 June 2019

Nomorerace, and Doomgazer. “What Is White Privilege, Really?” Teaching Tolerance

Sun, Elizabeth. “The Dangerous Racialization of Crime in U.S. News Media.” Center for American Progress, 29 Aug. 2018

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Hippie.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 May 2019

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