Poe

When Poe was two years old his mother died, and his father had already left the family. The Allan family adopted him and he began writing in his early teen years. He was always writing. He went to The University of Virginia and gambled to get money to pay off his debt but that didn't work, his only choice was to leave the school. He later applied to West Point, after schooling he began working as a writer full time. He started as a critic for newspapers and magazines. Many people saw him as the harshest critic. He released multiple works in the book, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.

Because Poe wrote in first person and he wrote about Opium many people thought he used drugs when he wrote. All of his horror works, mystery works, and vampire works led people to be confused by him and they saw him as a kind of dark presence. Poe's death was equally mysterious as his stories, he was found roaming the streets of of Baltimore and taken to the hospital. A few days after arriving at the hospital he died, the true reason is unknown, like all of his stories it was very mysterious and "unwritten."

What is an American?

Technically an American is someone who lives in America, but most commonly Americans are people who live in The United States.
What I think describes an American is someone who lives in America, and who has experience in all types of cultures. The U.S. is known as the melting pot for a reason, there are so many types of people, religions, and cultures here. To live here and not have experienced at least two different cultures in your life is nearly impossible.
To be and American also involves being free, or that is what it's supposed to mean, when explorers came to America they were seeking a few things but freedom was a main treasure they wanted. An important group that came were the Puritans, seeking a new world of their own, without people with different beliefs.
Another part of Americas history that shows freedom was the conflict between newly formed Americans and Britain to establish a new and free people.
To be an American is to be culturally diverse, to be free, free of religious conflict, free of slavery, and free of persecution.