Thursday, October 22, 2009

Why Americans Are Restless Interpretive Questions

2. A society devoted to equal opportunity will weaken all because without some difference in social class, race, etc., every individual would notice even the slightest difference in people. de Tocqueville states on page 167 that, "Even if, by misfortune, such an absolute dead level [of equality] were attained, there would still be inequalities of intelligence which, coming directly from God, will never escape the laws of man." There will always be inequality, no matter the time period. If it is not political or social, there is still that of intelligence or the serendipitous ways of luck. All in all, there can never be complete equality.

5. de Tocqueville thinks that Americans are restless because what they want is not obtainable. People are always striving to find the best, the newest, the most advanced, and so miss the most enjoyable parts of life. They want happiness, yet subconsciously they do everything in their power to ensure they cannot achieve it, speeding by all that could allow them to experience it. As de Tocqueville writes on pages 165 to 166, "A man who has set his heart on nothing but the good things of this world is always in a hurry, for he has only a limited time in which to find them, get them, and enjoy them." In other words, if a man were trying to experience every good thing he could before he died, he would rush to get them all done without truly enjoying them; that being said, he would also never appreciate what he had seen on his journey.

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