In this paper, I consider how the dynamics of “belonging” as an American subject have been constructed. I explore the specific American subject positions that have been created through the deployment of the rhetoric of American Exceptionalism. This leads me to consider ways in which these constructions of the American subject have been critiqued by ethnic minority writers, who deconstruct one set of subject positions only to establish alternative but equally problematical sets. In conclusion, I suggest some directions for the further theorizing of American multicultural constructions of national and subjective identity.