Anna Quindlen A Quilt Of A Country Summary

America is commonly characterized as the greatest country in the world, the glorious “land of the free and the home of the brave”, “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. This idealization of the American identity conveniently focuses on what people want to hear and blurs out most everything else. In reality, Americans do not live up to the dreamscape created by our views, and we never really have. America is no longer characterized by its freedom and democracy, nearly every first world country can afford that luxury. Nor are we set apart by the great opportunities given to our people, for those are far from universal. We aren’t equal, we aren’t unified, we aren’t kinder or smarter or richer than any other country across the board. It’s easy to find the shortcomings of American culture, all the things we aren’t, but the things we are have proven to be more elusive. First, let’s examine the nots.

In this speech I will be talking about whether or not I think that individuals can live together as one human race. I will use quotes from three passages. Those three passages will be Quilt of a Country by Anna Quindlen, Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer, and Rituals of Memory by Kimberly M. Blaeser. All three of these passages have something to do with diversity. In conclusion, I don’t think that individuals can live together as one human race.

America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on over glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride.

America, a country that could only be described as a quilt as it is made up of many different peoples. Sadly, equality and common respect is hard to come by in a nation full of different opinions, colors, and cultures. Through heart-wrenching pathos, Leutze’s painting Washington Crossing the Delaware and Quindlen’s The Quilt signifies that while America may seem on the verge of breaking at times it manages to succeed through the unification of it’s people.

The differences that are present in America have engendered countless conflicts all over the nation for many years; Americans have clashed and exchanged blows due to their diversity. Though showered with such troubles, the country, surprisingly, remains whole and has not yet dispersed. Shortly after the tragedy in New York on September 11, 2001, author Anna Quindlen wrote the article, A Quilt of a Country, communicating what exactly America is in her eyes. Through her argument, she expresses that America is a remarkable nation filled with people who are able to unify once there is a common objective, despite carrying warring differences and quarreling once before. Quindlen starts by first presenting the troubles frequently heard in the news,

In the story Quilt of a Country Anna Quindlen’s claim is that America is an “improbable” country and we have all come together as one community no matter what culture we are. Quindlen stated “of all nations in the world, the United States was built in nobody's image.” Of all nations we come together as one no matter the culture and nobody is able to do that. Other nations don’t except like the United States does. Quindlen also said “ America is an “improbable” idea, a mongrel nation built of ever changing disparate parts, it is held together by one nation, the notion that all men are created equal, though everyone knows that most men consider themselves better the someone.” This also proves her claim because all men are equal. If everybody

In Anna Quindlen’s essay “Quilt of a Country,” she claims that “America is an improbable idea…” (paragraph one) as well as that we are all have different cultures and beliefs, but we have stayed together against all odds. In paragraph four, Quindlen states “other countries with such divisions have in fact divided into new nations with new names, but not this one, impossibly interwoven even in its hostilities,” meaning that other countries that had these problems with racism and differences have split into other nations. It is because of this that she says that America is surprising, since we have now divided. She later mentions in paragraph six how intriguing it is that groups of people who are almost at war with each other can live together,

Generations of Americans have tried, and failed to be the “ideal” people that the world expects them to be. Although numerous of them fail, they never forget to attempt it again. Americans are persistent. From being outnumbered greatly by the British during the Revolutionary War, to the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in September of 2001, Americans continue on and prosper. Frederick Douglass once aforementioned, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” America is considered one of the best countries in the world, and only thanks to the hard-working people that continue to shape

The illusion to which Americans are being accused of subscribing is real, but our leaders and politicians are not contracting the entertainment industry to dupe the American people. It will not be the cult of self that kills the United States, but rather its cult of deceitful and power-hungry operators, who drill it into the populace’s head that America is the greatest country in the world so it doesn’t actually have to work on being the greatest country in the world. From America’s inception, it was catechized into the head of every citizen or prospective citizen that America is the land of freedom, of dreams, of equality. Then as now, the nation’s ruling class painted the U.S. into all but a utopia, pulling the wool over the populace’s eyes as they simultaneously swept the rights out from underneath minorities, women, immigrants, and even Mother Earth herself. Illusion cannot be destroying America’s exceptionalism, because America was sown on the illusion of her own exceptionalism一it was illusion in the first place that got the nation to a state of such prosperity that we must now worry about her impending

In her essay, “A Quilt of a Country,” Anna Quindlen states, “Once these disparate parts were held together by a common enemy, by fault

Celebrities and athletes from all over are helping the victims of Hurricane Harvey, and one of those celebrities is Kevin Hart. He donated $25,000 dollars to the American Red Cross to help with the hurricane victims. Kevin also challenged some of his famous friends to donate and help out. It is a tragic time for Houston even though Americans have come together once again. America is a volunteering and generous nation that helps everyone out in times of catastrophe and misfortune.

Ryunosuke Satoro once said, “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” Satoro is saying that alone you are small but together you are united and huge. America is able to succeed despite being an improbable idea due to it’s ability to unite as one under duress and join together and join as one unit despite all the differences present among the nation as a whole. America’s success is partially because of their ability to unify during times of crisis.

In Anna Quindlen’s argumentative essay , “A Quilt of a Country” she argues that conflict and atrocities bring the citizens of the United States together. The author’s use of real-life events and experiences communicates how unity, especially occurs after a conflict . During her analysis of the Cold War and its’ aftermath, she explains,”Today the citizens of the United States have come together once more because of armed conflict and enemy attack.” Here, Quindlen compares the cold war’s devastating effects on society to 9/11’s effect on the country. She analyses how, in both instances, society’s post-traumatic sense of unity brought citizens all across the country together as one.

“America is an improbable idea.”, an unexpected and eye-opening, yet simple statement Anna Quindlen uses to start her argument in “A Quilt of a Country”. In her writing, she speaks about how the “land of the free and home of the brave” is a discordant plan. The author supports her position by describing how American children are taught about the bigotry of their ancestors, how balkanized the country is with self-segregation and how all men were “created equal” but everyone thinks he is better than another. Quindlen’s argument is in fact one logical conclusion. The concept of America, on the surface, does seem improbable. However, she ends her composition unconvinced herself.

Americans through the years of existence have adapted well to the radical changes throughout the world. Technology, independence and social equality are some of the diverse concepts the United States have adapted to and developed in order to become a more unified country. Our nation believes that it is exceptional when it comes to other countries worldwide. As can be shown through the popular reference to America as the ‘shining city on a hill’. The term “American exceptionalism” is derived from ideals held by many Americans throughout history. Different people have analyzed American exceptionalism through multiple literary devices. Works such as A Model of Christian Charity, What is an American and Acres of Diamonds illustrate the