I’ve briefly talked about America’s naivety before, but
given how prevalent it is throughout the series, it deserves its own post.

For one thing, it’s important to define what I mean by
naivety. It’s not so much that America is gullible, as he’s more than capable
of reading the atmosphere, especially if it means getting what he wants.
Instead, this naivety has more to do with how inexperienced and childish
America can be, often without realizing it.

Likewise, I’ve also explained the role that America’s
isolation has played in this childishness. As a result of a lack of interaction
with other nations, America unintentionally comes off as egotistical. He grew
accustomed to only looking after himself, and this way of interacting with the
world stuck with him.

It’s hard for him to think about and put others first. Even
when he calls himself a hero and ‘saves’ others, it’s self-validating. Of
course, this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have good intentions, because he
does. He’s a giant sweetheart, don’t get me wrong.

On the other hand, like an inexperienced child, America
lacks a balanced understanding between ability and expectancy. He often has
grand, unrealistic plans that involve him taking the lead in saving something
or someone.

That’s what this post will focus on; how, despite possessing
the ability to make calculated decisions, America still holds some pretty naïve
and unpragmatic beliefs on how life works.

All of this equates to the fact that he’s still relatively
childish.

For one thing, in WW2, he thought that a map of his country was a world map. This is possibly a play on the fact that children often think that the world revolves around them.

This childlike imagery appears again as America proposes
unrealistic world defense plans.

On another note, we also see that he’s not great at planning
for the future. Mass production led to inflation and plummets in stocks,
which ultimately resulted in the Great Depression.

However, during WW2, this mass production starts up again.
What’s interesting is that England remarks to himself that America might have
been traumatized during his childhood due to a lack of belongings and experienced poverty whilst
expanding settlements in his nation– it’s hinted that America overcompensates
for this by producing things in bulk.

Regardless of these economic downturns, America is revealed
to have never had a cold before WW2. Remember that nations acquire colds during
recessions. If this is the case, and it’s not just a consistency error, then
being spared from illness up to this point in time would have also influenced
his naive perception of the world.

Lastly, although possessing benign intentions to give
financial aid to smaller developing nations, America doesn’t seem to grasp at
the fact that loans are more economically harmful than good. Once again, this reveals how unrealistic he
is in being able to match his expectations with a likely outcome.

That said, it’s important to realize that America’s childish
naivety and unintentional egocentrism is only one side of his person. He’s
extremely intelligent and is crafty in getting what he wants.

Most of the time, however, he doesn’t have to use wit and instead
resorts to the easier route of relying on physical force. It’s for the latter
reason that I believe his character is often misinterpreted.