An Icon of American Expansionism Essay - 1092 Words

As a nation born out of the desire to reject despotic rule and reinvent a new, non-Eurocentric model of the nation state, Americans during the nation’s nascent decades subscribed to a notion of anti-imperialism and relied upon a closed door approach to national foreign policy. Yet simultaneously, the United States engaged in acts of global expansion throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and by the arrival of the 20th century, the nation had reached an ideological crossroad. Following a series of foreign conflicts which left America as an active participant in global expansion and a growing world power, by the conclusion of the 19th century, the nation was forced to determine whether or not it would permanently adopt a national doctrine†¦show more content†¦When examined closely, the illustration achieves this objective by clearly presenting distinctly domestic American elements and subsequently gives them critical agency through â€Å"their insertion into underlyi ng cultural and political patterns† . Without the artist’s careful attention to detail, the subject, a white, well-dressed seemingly upper class female, would have no inherent cultural and visual link to an American identity; yet when the image is injected with distinctly American elements, the cartoon is able to gain basic comprehension on a universal level. Indeed, the domestic presentation of this blatantly American subject, with its American flag dress, American eagle pendant, and American battleship bonnet, must be wholly highlighted and ingrained into the viewer’s perception in order to establish the thematic parameters around which the artist will seek to convey the image’s deeper social commentary. Consider then that while the physical subject of the piece has been identified as American, that is only the preliminary step in uncovering the image’s intended meaning; the actual ideological subject of the image lies not in any physical object but rather in the discussion that is created by the framing of those objects within â€Å"the entire system of significance that encompasses them.† The female subject merelyShow MoreRelatedEssay On Wilderness And The Frontier1421 Words   |  6 Pagesthe frontier and wilderness an uninhabited land of opportunity; second, new historians challenged Turner and claimed wilderness and the frontier were merely constructs of society; lastly, concepts of the frontier and wilderness expanded past the American West—into space and the future. Each of these perspectives shaped the general narrative of the West. First, Turner’s frontier thesis influenced perceptions of wilderness and the frontier. 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