Les USA (document en anglais)

PORTRAIT OF THE USA

From Sea to Shining Sea

Geography and regional characteristics

The French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss has written of the "mental click" he feels when arriving in

the United States: an adjustment to the enormous landscapes and skylines. The so-called lower 48

states (all but Alaska and Hawaii) sprawl across 4,500 kilometers and four time zones. A car trip from

coast to coast typically takes a minimum of five days - and that's with almost no stops to look around. It

is not unusual for the gap between the warmest and coldest high temperatures on a given day in the

United States to reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit (about 40 degrees Celsius).

The United States owes much of its national character - and its wealth - to its good fortune in having such

a large and varied landmass to inhabit and cultivate. Yet the country still exhibits marks of regional

identity, and one way Americans cope with the size of their country is to think of themselves as linked

geographically by certain traits, such as New England self-reliance, southern hospitality, midwestern

wholesomeness, western mellowness.

This chapter examines American geography, history, and customs through the filters of six main regions:

New England, made up of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and

Rhode Island.

The Middle Atlantic, comprising New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.

The South, which runs from Virginia south to Florida and west as far as central Texas. This region

also includes West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,

Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and parts of Missouri and Oklahoma.

The Midwest, a broad collection of states sweeping westward from Ohio to Nebraska and

including Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, parts of Missouri, North Dakota,

South Dakota, Kansas, and eastern Colorado.

The Southwest, made up of western Texas, portions of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona,

Nevada, and the southern interior part of California.

The West, comprising Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon,

Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Note that there is nothing official about these regions; many other lineups are possible. These groupings

are offered simply as a way to begin the otherwise daunting task of getting acquainted with the United

States.

Regional Variety

How much sense does it make to talk about American regions when practically all Americans can watch

the same television shows and go to the same fast-food restaurants for dinner? One way to answer the

question is by giving examples of lingering regional differences.

Consider the food Americans eat. Most of it is standard wherever you go. A person can buy packages of

frozen peas bearing the same label in Idaho, Missouri, and Virginia. Cereals, candy bars, and many other

items also come in identical packages from Alaska to Florida. Generally, the quality of fresh fruits and

vegetables does not vary much from one state to the next. On the other hand, it would be unusual to be

vegetables does not vary much from one state to the next. On the other hand, it would be unusual to be

served hush puppies (a kind of fried dough) or grits (boiled and ground corn prepared in a variety of ways)

in Massachusetts or Illinois, but normal to get them in Georgia. Other regions have similar favorites that

are hard to find elsewhere.

While American English is generally standard, American speech often differs according to what part of the

country you are in. Southerners tend to speak slowly, in what is referred to as a "Southern drawl."

Midwesterners use "flat" a's (as in "bad" or "cat"), and the New York City patois features a number of

Yiddish words ("schlepp," "nosh," "nebbish") contributed by the city's large Jewish population.

Regional differences also make themselves felt in less tangible ways, such as attitudes and outlooks. An

example is the attention paid to foreign events in newspapers. In the East, where people look out across

the Atlantic Ocean, papers tend to show greatest concern with what is happening in Europe, the Middle

East, Africa, and western Asia. On the West Coast, news editors give more attention to events in East

Asia and Australia.

To understand regional differences more fully, let's take a closer look at the regions themselves.

New England

The smallest region, New England has not been blessed with large expanses of rich farmland or a mild

climate. Yet it played a dominant role in American development. From the 17th century until well into the

19th, New England was the country's cultural and economic center.

The earliest European settlers of New England were English Protestants of firm and settled doctrine.

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