What were Paz's impressions of the United States? How does that contrast with the literature being written? In your mind, what accounts for the discrepancy?

Paz's impressions of the United States were quite positive. He saw that America was prosperous and her people were optimistic. The people believed in the inherent goodness of life and the wealth of possibilities. Oddly enough, that contrasted with the literature being written at the time. The literature took a much more somber tone, and was not optimistic about the future. I believe that the discrepancy exists because people are living contrary to what their thoughts would suggest. North Americans live and act with great optimism, as though the United States will always exist the way that it has. Yet the more somber people are able to influence the population's way of thinking by positing dark situations when the world is not as we know it. And, in their eagerness for scandal and danger, people accept those thoughts.