Literary notes about Americans (AI summary)
Literary works use “Americans” in diverse ways, from a marker of national identity to a symbol of democratic evolution. In historical narratives, authors like James H. Blount portray Americans as responsible and reputable agents in international events [1, 2, 3], while Alexis de Tocqueville’s repeated use in Democracy in America examines the distinctive character and democratic tendencies of the American people [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. In fiction and memoirs, writers such as Sinclair Lewis [18] and Henry James [19, 20, 21] evoke images of Americans that blend everyday realism with subtle commentary on cultural traits and national pride. Other works highlight how the term sometimes functions as a comparison tool in geopolitical or social contexts [22, 23, 24, 25], further emphasizing its multifaceted role in literature as both a demographic identifier and a reflective symbol of evolving American ideals.
- But they were Americans, and reputable gentlemen, and he knew he was responsible for their right treatment.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. Blount - General MacArthur’s annual report for 1901, 3 gives the number of Americans killed in battle between May 5, 1900, and June 30, 1901, as 245.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. Blount - The Americans will attack by sea and prevent any reinforcements coming from Spain; * * *
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. Blount - It is not thus that the Americans understand that species of democratic equality which may be established between the sexes.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The Americans are more consistent.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The Americans have combated by free institutions the tendency of equality to keep men asunder, and they have subdued it.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The Americans do not affect a brutal indifference to a future state; they affect no puerile pride in despising perils which they hope to escape from.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The Principle Of Equality Suggests To The Americans Chapter IX:
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - But I detect another more deep-seated and powerful cause which instinctively produces amongst the Americans this astonishing gravity.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The English often perform great things singly; whereas the Americans form associations for the smallest undertakings.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - I at last understood that 300,000 Americans, alarmed by the progress of drunkenness around them, had made up their minds to patronize temperance.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - Between these two extremes the Americans are to be placed.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - This serves to explain the opinions which the Americans entertain with respect to different callings.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - Thus amongst the Americans it is freedom which is old—equality is of comparatively modern date.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The imagination of the Americans, even in its greatest flights, is circumspect and undecided; its impulses are checked, and its works unfinished.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville - H2 anchor Chapter XII: Why The Americans Raise Some Monuments So Insignificant, And Others
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - Here's the new generation of Americans: fellows with hair on their chests and smiles in their eyes and adding-machines in their offices.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - He spoke perhaps of Americans generally.”
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James - But the men, the Americans; je vous demande un peu , what do they make of it over here?
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James - “No; I believe even Americans do that.
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James - In Canada, on the other hand, the Americans had failed, and it remained to the end a firm base to the English power.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan - Yet it is charged up to Americans by Jewish writers just as freely as it is charged up to Russians.
— from The International Jew : The World's Foremost Problem by Anonymous - Charles Francis Adams, the father, felt no love for Europe, which, as he and all the world agreed, unfitted Americans for America.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams - At Washington one met mostly such true Americans, but if one wanted to know them better, one went to study them in Europe.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
