American Notes: a Journey

American Notes: A Journey From the start of novel in which Dickens speaks through the voice of a traveler, it quickly becomes clear that the critical view of the Americans he takes is proof of the audience it was written for, which was the British public, who apparently took interest in the lifestyle of typical Americans at the time. Whether it ended up being as influential as it intended to be or not is a debatable question, but one can assume that the point of view he writes in and the readers it appealed to at the time made it a topic of discussion among those who looked at travel writing as an entertaining source on current events. I believe Dickens’ drive for writing this was based on his desire to produce a first hand account of America, but through a frame of subtle intercultural criticism that poked fun at America’s blunders in etiquette and essentially supplanted Britain’s contempt for our culturally crass yet increasingly powerful nation. As Dickens’ journey began, he appeared very excited to be going on a tour to America, but when he steps on the steamboat Britannia he is noticeably not as enthusiastic. He states, “We had experienced a pretty smart shock before coming, which but that we were the most sanguine people living, might have prepared us for the worst.” The living conditions as he describes them on the boat and throughout his journey through America left him feeling frustrated and unimpressed with his initial experience. It was clear that prior to the journey he believed he would have been received with the best treatment throughout his tour, yet later reveals many times that he was “shocked by the ill manners” of Americans. Although Dickens’ words appealed to a Britain’s people at a historically difficult moment for their national identity, American Notes does not accomplish what it sets out to achieve, which is to give an at least somewhat unbiased account of America. It becomes too far skewed by his personal impressions