Summary Of On Being An American

Mencken, HL. “On Being an American” HL Mencken’s “On Being an American” is a collection of newspaper articles about his perceptions on America as a white male at around the early 1900s that were compiled into an essay. In the first of these articles, Mencken writes that what makes America so charming are the people that live there (he narrows this down to people who are 50% American). He says that Americans are the youngest of white races, and that this carries into American culture and politics. He characterizes Americans as people with a fresh and innocent point of view, who are easily excited and strive to do everything with the best of motives. He says that there is no better show in the world that can compare to America and even describes
The essay starts with him describing his life while he was growing up and his relationship with his family, particularly with his father. He describes his father, who was of the first generation of free men who hadn’t personally lived through slavery, as, “the most bitter and I have ever met”, yet still powerful, charming, and even beautiful. Baldwin explains that his father’s bitterness and paranoia, which had ultimately killed him, came from, “the weight of white people in the world” who he said, “would do anything to keep a Negro down”. He then says that when he was younger, he did not feel that this was true and was certain that he would never feel how his father did until he started working in New Jersey, where, he explains, no matter if it was in bars, restaurants or while looking for places to live, he was always being forced to leave or was met with hostility from white people, the phrase, “we don’t serve negroes here”, constantly being uttered. The climax in this essay comes when he reaches his breaking point, when he was told “we don’t serve negroes here”, for the umpteenth time and the rage and paranoia that he kept inside of him, came out, and he ended up throwing a mug at a waitress and having to run from the police. In