Question

1. You previously analyzed how Quindlen showed the logical progression of her ideas as the organizational pattern in the essay. Identify how the passage above also shows the logical/main idea organizational pattern. Use specific lines and explain.

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2.What can you infer about how Quinlen views division in America?
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3.What conclusion can you draw about how Quindlen views America as different from other countries that are also made up of different cultures?
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Passage: What is the point of this splintered whole? What is the point of a nation in which Arab cabbies chauffeur Jewish passengers through the streets of New York--and in which Jewish cabbies chauffeur Arab passengers, too, and yet speak in theory of hatred, one for the other? What is the point of a nation in which one part seems to be always on the verge of fisticuffs with another, blacks and whites, gays and straights, left and right, Pole and Chinese and Puerto Rican and Slovenian? 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.

Answer 1

The passage above shows the logical/main idea organizational pattern by showing a progression of ideas. Quindlen starts by asking what the point of a splintered whole is, and then describing how America is made up of different cultures that are often hostile to one another. She then points out that other countries with such divisions have divided into new nations, but not America, which is "impossibly interwoven even in its hostilities." This shows that Quindlen views division in America as a strength, as it is something that binds the nation together and makes it unique, despite its conflicts. This conclusion can be drawn that Quindlen views America as a united nation that is capable of overcoming its divisions, and that its differences are what make it special.