Personal identity seems like it's just such an American archetype from Holly Golightly re-inventing herself in 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' to Jay Gatsby in 'The Great Gatsby.' It seems like the sort of archetypal American issue. If you're given the freedom to be anything or be anyone what do you do with it?
Were I called on to define very briefly the term Art I should call it 'the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul.' The mere imitation however accurate of what is in Nature entitles no man to the sacred name of 'Artist.'