Question

Read the excerpt from "A Quilt of a Country."

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.
Once these disparate parts were held together by a
common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and
the electrified fence of communism. With the end of
the cold war there was the creeping concern that
Which statement best traces the development of a
central idea from one paragraph to the next?
The first paragraph describes different groups of
Americans. The second paragraph discusses what
unifies them.
The first paragraph describes ideals shared by most
Americans. The second paragraph describes how
these ideals sometimes differ.
The first paragraph describes immigrant groups. The
second paragraph discusses native-born Americans.
The first paragraph describes America during
peaceful times. The second paragraph discusses
America during times of war.

Answer 1

The point of the excerpt is to explore the question of what unifies the diverse groups within the United States.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject of this question is English.

The central idea in the first paragraph is the diverse groups of people within the nation, including Arabs, Jews, blacks, whites, gays, straights, Poles, Chinese, Puerto Ricans, Slovenians, etc. The second paragraph discusses how these groups, despite their differences and occasional hostilities, are still interconnected and unified in some way.

For example, the excerpt mentions how Arab and Jewish cabbies chauffeur passengers of different backgrounds, yet there is still talk of hatred between them. It also points out that other countries with similar divisions have divided into new nations, but the United States remains impossibly interwoven even in times of hostility.

Learn more about Diversity and Unity in the United States