Large, and without mercy. It is geography at bottom, a hell of wide land from the beginning. That made the first American story - exploratin. Something else than a stretch of earth - seas on both sides, no barriers to contain as restless a thing as Western man was becoming. PLUS a harshness we still perpetuate, a sun like a tomahawk, small earthquakes but big tornadoes and hurrikans, a river north and south in the middle of the land running out the blood.
Some men ride on such space, others have to fasten themselves like a tent stake to survive.
As I see it Poe dug in and Melville mounted. They are the alternatives. Americans still fancy themselves such democrats. But their triumphs are of the machine. It is the only master of space the average person ever knows, oxwheel to piston, muscle to jet.