In America, people have been forced to conform. If you are not accepted for who you are, become someone else. One of the freedoms Americans experience is the opportunity to become whatever you want. Unfortunately, if the person you want to be is not what society thinks you should be, changing who you are is better than persecution. John M. Oskison tells a story of a Native American who is faced with a choice to conform to the standards of a church or to continue living the life he as lived for 30 years. Sherwood Anderson writes of an out of place, unhappy mother, who gave up her dreams a long time ago. These writers told stories of people who were trying to be American, but they had to conform and change to be part of that identity.
             The Problem of Old Harjo by John M. Oskison tells a story of a Native American, Harjo, who wants to join the Mormon Church. But Harjo has two wives, which is strictly forbidden in the church. Harjo is given two choices by the missionary: give up one of your wives or be forsaken by God. Oskison says, "on one side stood a convert eager for the protection of the church, asking only that he be allowed to fulfill the obligations of humanity and on the other stood the church [...] that set an impossible condition on receiving old Harjo to itself" (969). Harjo and his wives have lived in harmony for 30 years, but suddenly he is supposed to give one of them up. Harjo and his wives are too old and need each other to work in order to survive. So to be more American, and accepted as part of the group, Harjo would have to conform to standards that were not standards that he had lived by his whole life. To be accepted as part of the group, Harjo would have to decide which woman would stay and which woman would be rejected and forced to live on her own after 30 years of having a husband.
             The American identity changes from person to person. For some people it is deeply rooted in their cultural, religious, ...