'Melting Pot Society'

One major theme that De Crevecoeur looks at within his book is the theme of the value of work and reward within American society. This is something that De Crevecoeur 'sells' america with. The idea that anyone can become anything if you come to America if you work hard for it. Unlike European countries where you have to be born into aristocracy or have such wealth or social status that you can afford an education and have a prosperous life. A form of Newness in society is presented within American society that De Crevecoeur brings to our attention, and certainly when this book was released it would have had a big impact on the influx of people to America. The newness De Crevecoeur talks about within society is immigration and emigration.

"What then is the American, this new man? He is neither an european, nor the descendent of an European: hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country."

De Crevecoeur goes on to explain that he could meet a family who's heritage stems from English, Dutch and French. This extract directly explains that America was a land of dreams and opportunities and that its society was, and is still today, built up of a mixture of ethnicities and cultures, something that De Crevecoeur states is not common or happening within European society (18C-20thC). America is often described as having a 'melting pot' society because it quite literally has thousands of people making their way into America every year who are from a vast array of backgrounds and cultures that it is in theory a country where they all 'melt into one'.

This is a picture of the cast of the show Ugly Betty. The family within the TV show is a good modern and media example of how america still wants to show people it has a diverse culture. The family are a mexican family who now live in Queens, NY, the father immigrated to America and then had children within the country. This picture also shows the fact that america has an extraordinary amount of generations living within its society. In this picture there is the grandfather, his children and then the sister Hilda has a child. This shows that America today, still has a 'melting pot' society with a number of different cultures and ethnicities making up its population.