Henry Cole Baxter

UWRT 1102

5/6/17

Assignment 2 Reflection

This assignment was about finding a piece of literature and analyzing it

to try to understand and explain what a certain characters American identity

is and give examples of how this is their personal American identity. The

show I used was called Hell On Wheels. Through the assignment I think I

messed up because Instead of really analyzing what the main characters

American identity was, I really just summarized what the show was about

and what I thought the main characters identity was. Although I didnt do a

very good job at explaining the main characters American identity, I was on

the right track with this assignment and it shows that I was slowly starting to

understand the meaning of American identity and what it is supposed to

mean for a person. The point of this show was a very rough man who lost

everything working on the railroad during the industrial revolution and

throughout the entire show, his main purpose for life was to complete the

railroad. I explained in the assignment that the railroad was a major part of

his American identity. The reason I say that I was on the right track is

because to the main character, this railroad meant everything to him. This

railroad to him was part of the American dream. He learned to love this

railroad and through the railroad, he was given many opportunities to better

his life. You can see through this assignment that I am now on the right track
to understanding the real meaning behind the American identity but I still

hadnt understood it completely.