Which statement best traces the development of a central
idea from one paragraph to the next?
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
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
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 without a focus