American Identity and Names in The Professor's House

I'm writing on The Professor's House and know what I want to write about, but I'm not sure which side of the argument I want to be on. I know that we're supposed to look at the novel on it own, but I couldn't help but think about when it was published in 1925. The Fitzgerald-y '20s sure, but also politically a time that really concerned itself with "American Identity". Immigration was pretty big deal, so even though all "real" American were decedents of immigrants, there was this huge divide. Sacco and Vanzetti trials, stuff like that. And we see that in Cather's novel; Augusta is German, and so is the old house's landlord, the St. Peter's family really likes French stuff (Godfrey, in some sense, came of age in France, plants this lovely French garden, is half-Canadian, looks Spanish, etc.). So there are all these juxtapositions of different nationalities, and yet the St. Peters family is distinctly American. So there's all of that European immigrant stuff in contrast to being "truly American" in contrast to the Native Americans, Indians. Think about Tom's trip to Washington. The bill that would allow the Blue Mesa to get the attention it deserved from the Smithsonian was passed over in favor of bill that would pay for an international thing; overseas the priority over the homeland, because how much is the quote-un-quote homeland even represented in Washington.
This brings up the question of origins, roots, which I also think are central to this novel. Bear with my for a second, but Tom Outland seems a lot like Jay Gatsby (from The Great Gatsby) to me. Like Gatsby, he's the main character of the story without really being its protagonist and the readers' image of him is completely constructed by what other people think of him. Although we do hear Tom's voice for a whole section, its through Godfrey's memory, and though I don't think that there is evidence to support any motion to distrust Godfrey's memories of Tom's Story, it's notable that this entire separate section is being reproduced out of Godfrey's mind. Tom is constructed the same way the idea of "Americanism" is constructed. There are all these different ideas about what is means (meant...?) to be an American at this time, what that says (said) about your identity as a person, and they come together to create this unspoken, but socially contracted truth. I think this novel argues that all of the American parts listed are important elements of the American identity, that you need the French, Spanish, southwestern, Indian, Chicagoan, French-Canadian, German, Catholic, etc. etc. etc. perspectives to make up the collective American self.
The challenge of this argument is that no character particularly mentions it, but I think there is expositional evidence enough to support some claim about the diverse nationalities listed. There's also a lot in the names, though that would mean a little extra research. Augusta, who is German, has very Greek or Latin sounding name I think. And why is our main character’s name ‘Napoleon Godfrey St. Peter’? Maybe names are an entire direction to go in, although I don't know how that's arguable.