James sees America for the ideas that the community shares. Since they believe in the equality of mankind, James notices that the community is defined by virtue. Everyone helps each other, but everyone also works hard to help themselves. This opinion changes when he sees a slave left to die in a cage without mercy. He realizes the hypocrisy of slavery, saying that if Americans believe in equality, such an institution would not be possible.
When he departs from his community, he meets various kinds of people that are unique to America. For instance, he finds his way into a Quaker village which strikes him as peculiar. The Quakers are strict, but their religion is mystic and weird to James. That experience is not dissimilar to his time with the natives. The natives have such an interesting opinion of the land and of life that when James is confronted by the Revolutionary War, he departs his European life and lives with them.
These are all portraits of America in its youth, and the theme that connects them is point of view. By celebrating the autonomy of the human, and the equality of man, America fosters the value of one's individual point of view. This is underscored by the Russian visitor who lends his own point of view, which is drastically different than what James had considered.
