Even though it is widely thought that America is the land of freedom and opportunity, Claude S. Fischer’s scholarly article “Paradoxes of American Individualism” expresses the contradictions of that statement. When Americans were polled and compared to other countries, the results revealed that Americans were far more likely to believe that their individual actions controlled the trajectory of their lives. However, Fischer highlights the contradictions of this because he realized that as much as Americans would like to be independent, they always involve themselves in groups and societies. Thus, Fischer’s main argument is that Americans should not believe in their individualism, but rather their voluntarism. Voluntarism is the act of willfully choosing to commit and associate themself with a group of people. An example of this would be joining a church or entering a marriage. People have the freedom to choose who and what they engage with, but after that, they must adhere to the rules of the group. As much as they have the freedom to both join and leave the group, the duties provided by voluntarism prevents people from truly enforcing their individualism. Therefore, when Americans believe that they have a high sense of individualism, Fischer suggests that they actually exercise voluntarism.

In Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America be America Again,” Hughes takes the argument of individualism present in Fischer’s article and furthers it by illustrating individualism’s shortcomings when it comes to race. Hughes begins his poem by praising America for its opportunities and interjects with statements like “America never was America to me” (Hughes 5) and “There’s never been equality for me” (Hughes 10). By doing this, Hughes introduces a group that doesn’t receive the benefits of America’s opportunities because they just aren’t equal. Hughes references the poor white, Negro, red man, and immigrant and shows that to all of them, their dreams will just stay dreams even though America is that land because of them. Some people might receive the benefits of the American dream, but these Americans surely do not. By doing this, the poem makes the voluntarism that Fischer alluded to shift into a privilege which not every American receives.

Similarly, Walt Whitman’s poem “America” obviously omits a group and doesn’t even attempt to acknowledge it like Hughes. Whitman describes the people of America as “equal daughters, equal sons” (Whitman 1) and tries to create a subtle distinction between them by mentioning differences in maturity and age. When reading this poem, this general lighthearted tone and praising of America mimic a few of the first stanzas in Hughes’ poem—almost making it seem as if Hughes’ poem is in response to Whitman’s. Thus, Whitman refers to every person in Hughes’ poem that perceives America as America and excludes those to who Hughes gives a voice. Fischer argues that people aren’t as free as they think because of voluntarism, but these two poems show that individualism is even more restricted when it comes to certain groups in America.