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My Way or The Highway

Submitted by Lindsay on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 13:33

As much as you may despise your birth country, it clearly grasps a hold of your way of thinking, with such a tight fist that it is hard to shake off. Allie embodies the “rebellious” traveler, who does not accept his birth county’s culture. But I think his actions speak much more than his non-stop talk. To some extent, the American outlook is that of “our way is the right way” thanks to a firm belief that America is the most powerful and/or glorious country in the world. While Allie thinks that he is escaping this frame of thought by running off to Honduras, he is actually just displaying how genuinely American he is.

Assimilation is never the object of Allie’s travels. Instead, his travels aim to defy the happiness that supposedly comes from the educated, traditional American life. This is evident in his speeches preaching about the price mark ups of agriculture and lack of American-made products. But his actions reveal the instinct of the American way of thinking. For example, when on the boat with Mr. Haddy, Allie doesn’t even try to understand that there is possibly a way to determine direction without a compass. As well, to Allie, everyone in Jeronimo is there for his needs and desires.

I believe that with an increase in education of other cultures and the multi-cultural tendency of cities this concept of an innate “way of thinking” as learned in your birth country may be able to subside for an interest in accepting other cultures. But I think that only denial of your birth county can lead a traveler to believe that we can travel without the constraints of our birth country’s way of thinking.

I agree with what you say

Submitted by alex on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 12:35.

I agree with what you say about American culture. In agregate we tend to impose ourselves on other cultures far to readily. Allie holds steadfast to the belief that he knows better than anyone, whether they're in America or Honduras, such as when he wants to take over the boat from Mr. Haddy as they travel down river. Allie, like you say, treats the villagers almost as slaves. Though this was evident in the book, the movie really seemed to emphasize it. The more interesting facet of this is that he seems oblivious to the whole thing. I feel like this is another distinctly American conundrum, imposing without thinking anything of it.

I also feel like the

Submitted by Pippin on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 12:03.

I also feel like the "All-American Way" is very unnecessarily forceful and that a lot of the times people who grow up in America develop this inability to see other ways of thinking. This is the tragic flaw in the American society, we call ourselves the "melting pot" and the "land of opportunity" the say, "So just as long as you learn to be exactly like us you'll do just fine." And the most audacious thing about it is we'll do this in other counties too!!!!!