The US American self-criticism: stories of anger and bewilderment

• Montserrat Huguet ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

     Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

     Madrid, España

     
• Localización: REDEN [Nueva época]: Revista Española de Estudios Norteamericanos, ISSN-e 2695-4168, Vol. 1, Nº. 1, 2019, págs. 49-74
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • Criticism to the system is a core place in the US American culture. The self-criticism gets its roots in the permanent restlessness of the American People, in their fears, in their dissatisfaction, and even in their insane self-destructive behabiour. Many episodes in the American history have worked out from attitudes of paranoia, disgust or anger towards communities or the public administration. The natural rhythm of society in the United States is far from acceptance and calm. On the contrary, the US history is defined by restlessnees and doubious sentiments. Thus, one might think that the American dream is fundamentally a state of permanent crisis in which people, unable to deal with their present vital conditions, transmute these conditions into havoc and creation. In the pages of this article, a breaf tour into the historical and cultural trend of discouragement is offered. It also pays attention to the American ability to self-analyze its own historical experiences. The fictionated stories, that come from the imagination but also from people’s voices and memories, convey a sense of dissatisfaction and of struggle to improve the American way of behaving. Those citizens, especially uncomfortable with themselves or with the administration, may not be aware that they are precisely those who constitute the best US image abroad. In the ostentation of a selfcriticism, of a subversive thought, these Americans, opposed to the official positions, feature the virtue of the relentless self-purge. Therefore, looking at past and present times, this paper is composed by six related arguments that rely on both historical events and fictionated stories, with the titles of: “Under the paranoid style”; “The angry nation”, “Hate: Public Limited Company”, “Images of anger”, “Guilty, ashamed and redeemed”, and “The legacy of disenchantment”.