What defines a country? It's land? It's Language? It's People? In her essays, Gertrude Stein attempts to decipher America by focusing only on the American language and the American landscape. She writes her works while traveling the country and notices the differences in America coexisting together. The system of Language itself is comprised of differences, different words, different meanings, different dialects, different pronunciations. She notes how people in New York adapt to their fast past lives by speaking in short phrases while people in California speak slower and more lightheartedly. America celebrates diversity, individuality, and differences.
             The most important part about differences is how they are connected to each other. In linguistics, the relationship between a word and the concept that the word inspires is arbitrary. The word 'dog' might as well be 'zoz' and it would not matter as long as the concept behind the word is the same. Therefore, the only un-arbitrary aspect of language is the mental concept behind the word. This is important because it exposes a universal system that every person shares. No matter the different words, the different meanings, the different dialects, or the different pronunciations, the concept is universal. Similarly, the physical and geological distinctions in America, present a landscape full of differences. In her travels, Gertrude Stein realizes the beauty of America derives from the ability to go, "East or West or South or North and each one of them a different city and a different state and all of them America" (p.54). America is a melting pot of cultures, languages, and landscapes standing together under the banner of "we".
             Most aspects of American culture derive from the America ideals and myths, which have a direct effect on how people speak. As expressed in Stein's "Language
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