Values vary between societies, nations, people, and even gender. There are no set values that describe the world as a whole, this is because everyone is different from one another. Everyone believes life should be lived in their own way. However, Samuel Huntington and Cormac McCarthy overlap the values they see in the world in their own books.
Samuel Huntington, the author of Who Are We?, demonstrates the Anglo-Protestant cultural worldview and values. The Anglo-Protestant were one of the first to colonize in America. Due to this, their values are exemplified in every decision they made. The Anglo-Protestant viewed their community as one, and labeled themselves as: independent, hard-working, loyal, and self-reliant. Anglo-Protestant’s value of independence flourished when they moved away from Europe and into land of their own. The want to practice their own religion and to feel safe when doing so gave them courage to move to new land. However, their independence is aligned with the responsibility to choose their path of faith. In the Anglo-Protestants views this right path is “to honor and be loyal to God.” When this path is chosen, they remain loyal to God and their sect.With this loyalty the Anglo-Protestants demonstrate their hard work and self-reliance by creating a community and form of government. When migrating from one country to a new land, the Anglo-Protestant had to learn to use their own power and will to create a shelter, food, and a stable environment. These values have not ended with Anglo-Protestants rather, they have grown with America in every generation.
Cormac Mcarthy, author of All the Pretty Horses, writes about a boy named John Grady Cole who is from the West of America. A sixteen year old who grew up on a family ranch. However, the day came when his ancestors pass away and the ranch is being sold. With this news, John Grady Cole decides to move away from his family and start a life on his own. The journey that unfolds for John Grady Cole is one he would not expect, however it allowed him to learn more about himself and who he is. Within this journey, John Grady Cole is independent, hard-working, loyal, and self-reliant. These values are consistent with the Anglo-Protestant views.
John Grady Cole demonstrates the Anglo-Protestant values throughout his journey. Independence is shown by the want and courage of John Grady Cole. He had a choice to continue to be with his family or try to collect success on his own. This examples the Anglo-Saxon by having a safe place in Europe, however they wanted to pursue their own success in their own way. John Grady Cole love for the ranch life is what interested him to travel on his own and leave the family ranch. On his travels, John Grady Cole befriends two other Americans who are on a journey just like his. Even though these acquaintances are new to him John Grady Cole stays loyal to them through thick and thin. The three travelers face many struggles but in the end, John Grady Cole never gives up on them. His loyalty exemplifies the Anglo-Protestant way by having a decision on which path to take, to stay with those around you and beliefs or leave and forget those who supported you. One may argue that John Grady Cole chose that path that had him leave those who supported him, however he still beholds the family name and does not discourage where he has come from. Therefore, he never abandoned his family and can still be labeled as loyal towards them. His loyalty spread to those who he befriended. The three of them are self-reliant, with the struggles they faced the three men made due with what they were able to encounter. John Grady Cole shared his values with those in All the Pretty Horses and the Anglo-Protestants. These values have prolonged to people who are living in America in today’s world.
Independence, hard-working, loyal, and self-reliant are values consistent in American culture today. However they can be identified differently. They have grown with America, but America has also grown as well. Therefore these values can be showcased different in each society and in each person. Values will forever exist, but the statement and significance of them is what will vary.
3 replies on “Short Essay #3”
This essay was very good, as you make a good argument and use helpful examples to strengthen it. Also, your essay was well organized as you explain both the Anglo-Protestant cultural worldview described by Samuel Huntington and John Grady Cole. You make a great comparison between the Anglo-Protestants leaving Europe to America and John Grady Cole leaving behind his family and going on a journey. Lastly, I really enjoyed your final paragraph where you talk about the world today, which was very interesting.
Overall, I felt as though this paper had a lot of depth to it. There was much description and defining ideas about the Anglo-Protestant culture. Despite this, I did not notice a clear or set thesis statement. Rather, there seemed to be an entire paragraph that acted as a thesis. Slimming this down and having a clear thesis statement would be ideal for helping the reader understand the main viewpoints of this essay. Though, your body paragraph had strong points about the relationship of John Grady Cole and Protestant-Anglo culture. Lastly, your final body paragraph went on a bit of a tangent as it was more general and did not entirely wrap your paper up. Possibly including themes from your conclusion in your other paragraphs would be of essence.
I enjoyed reading your paper. I liked how you structured your paper by stating your thesis, then introducing the Anglo-Protestant values and life, next giving background information of the novel, then getting into the argument, and lastly ending with a conclusion. I think it flowed well. To improve your essay, you could proofread better. I found some grammatical errors, so just carefully rereading your essay will solve that issue. You could also add evidence to back up your claims. I do think your claims are convincing and strong, and to make them even better would be to; provide evidence. In your fourth paragraph, you mention John Grady Cole’s loyalty to his family. I want to know more in depth how he is loyal to his family still after leaving the family ranch and entering a new country. If there was evidence right here to support this claim, then it would be really strong.
Something I question is how can someone be independent and loyal at the same time. I understand it for the Anglo-Protestant life because you are loyal to God, but in John Grady Cole’s scenario he’s loyal to Rawlins, Blevins, his family, and the new community he joins in Mexico. So, I just wonder how he can still be independent while being loyal to all these people.