Even in a small town people differ greatly from each other while speaking about the enormous country of the US it is difficult to draw a typical American character. The USA is inhabited by multinational and multicultural population. Though there are some traits believed to be general to the majority of American people.
Democracy has become the key point to understanding the essence of many things in the USA and American character in particular. Freedom of mind alongside with freedom of speech and religion is highly respected and guarded in the USA. It is accepted to behave well here and loosing your temper is always treated as weakness. Politeness including handshake, wide smiles and calling people by their first names is a common practice. Harassment, rudeness, and any kinds of religious or ethnical discrimination are strictly punished by law.
Americans are convinced that all people are peers with equal rights. All people deserve having even possibilities to achieve what they want in life. That’s why this country is so often called a land of opportunity. They are strong individualists who accredit that their lives are completely in their own hands and they can rotate their own universes. Americans despise any class distinction. People are respected here not for who they were born but for who they manage to become. The only differentiation is drawn between the blue- and white-collar workers.
Working hard is iconic for Americans. They prefer to grind when they are young so to have a cloudless life later. Most of the Americans work devotedly during their whole lives and go traveling and seeing the world only when they retire. If you are called a self-made person it means that you exerted yourself and went through a lot of obstacles on your way to success. It is the highest credit you could ever get. Thus Americans respect people who can face fearlessly and solve easily any problem.
Americans appreciate time and try not to waste it in vain. They like to state that time is money. It looks like they are always in haste. They don’t like to wait for an appointment and hate being late themselves.
They value their personal space and privacy. That’s why when they ask ‘how are you’ they don’t expect a direct answer. With all their politeness, friendliness, and openness they avoid discussing their private life.
Americans are not much interested in the world apart from their own country. They love their homeland and always believe it to be the best one on the globe. They pity those who were not born in the US and cannot take all the advantages of living in one the most prosperous countries ever.