American Politics in Timothy Bascom’s “A Vocabulary for My Senses”

Individualism is a concept that is subconsciously ingrained into the mind of every American. Lockean liberty emphasizes the importance of individual freedoms, and this celebration of the self is evident in all facets of American culture. Timothy Bascom’s “A Vocabulary for My Senses” drips with this ideal, contrasting inevitably with the underdeveloped village in which his story takes place. He links individualism with modern society, subtly placing not only western, but specifically American, political ideology on the forefront of all innovations. The Ethiopian natives consistently place more trust in the community as a whole, and are thus stuck in a perpetual cycle in which they cannot escape their backward ways. Yet, Bascom’s stark contrasts are not quite so blaringly nationalistic, and he acknowledges what he considers the tradeoff for American democracy. Although he does not explicitly advocate either style of life, he believes that the passion from which nearly every native action stems cannot coexist with the rational.

In spite of benevolent intentions by the Americans, they fail to assimilate into the Ethiopian society and struggle to transplant their own culture in this vastly different world. Bascom only references “foreign” to describe American tasks or American doctors, thereby distinguishing this western world as that of the unnatural (3-5). The mission houses attempt to mimic stereotypical suburbs, and his family even “[has] a yard” (1). He uses such words as “owned” and “tethered” in describing the Americans, again reiterating this privatization of property (1). While the native land is an “open field,” the mission classroom “box[es] in” this area (2). Bascom connects these seemingly polar cultures is an almost oxymoronic phrase, essentially epitomizing their entire relationship. The natives become one people as a whole, while the individuality of Americans is preserved.