Cameron Meehan
Mr. Wes Priest
Great Books Period 7
22 October 2009
Why Americans Are Often So Restless Interpretive Q’s
2. Why does a society devoted to equal opportunity weaken each individual?
When a society is devoted to equality it weakens each individual, because he believes that not everyone can be equal. This is true as he writes, “…men will never establish an equality which will content them.”(167) He then goes on to write at how people notice the slightest inequality over more obvious ones so they can gain the advantage in obtaining their goal, or as he writes, “When inequality is the general rule in society, the greatest inequalities attract no attention. When everything is more or less level, the slightest variation is noticed. Hence the more equal men are, the more insatiable will be their longing for equality.” (167)
5. Does Tocqueville think Americans are restless because they don’t know what they want or because what they want is not attainable?
Tocqueville believes that Americans are restless because they don’t know what they want. As Tocqueville writes, “They clutch everything but hold nothing fast, and so lose grip as they hurry after some new delight.” (165) He sums up that as soon as we see something we like at the moment we chase after it until we obtain it, then when we have it we no longer want it. So after capturing the thing we thought we wanted we see something new and move on. It is because of this Tocqueville believes that we don’t know what we want. He also argues, “Americans cleave to the things of this world as if assured that they will never die, and yet are in such a rush to snatch any that come within their reach, as if expecting to stop living before they have relished them.”(165) This is true in the fact that when we have acquired something it has been replaced by something newer and better and we want that even more that the previous item and we disregard the first item as though it never existed.
