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Can America Change? And If So, Who is Capable?

media type="youtube" key="QTahrYXCChI" width="425" height="350" [|Do we believe we can fly?] Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare” gives an unpromising, but powerful depiction of the future of the United States. He covers many aspects of our nation, such as individualism, equality, and freedom, all on his way to coming to several fearful conclusions: perhaps Americans will be controlled by institutions, prejudices, and mores that they cannot eliminate; or perhaps they will push prospective ideas so far out of reach that they aren’t able to harness them later. In summation, Americans will be too afraid to join hands in revolution. Although he writes about all of the aforementioned aspects- individualism, equality, and freedom- and covers them in depth, his link between equality and revolution is especially compelling and important. Equality represents democracy and the even treatment of all people- a virtue unique to Americans that is significantly valued. Throughout the chapter, de Tocqueville focuses on this “special link between equality itself and revolutions” (634), as well as one of the sole reasons for why Americans can’t risk a fundamental change in their society. De Tocqueville sees equality as one of revolution’s greatest enemies, primarily for the reason that it inhibits Americans’ will to change. De Tocqueville defines equality as “an innumerable crowd who are much alike, who, though not exactly rich nor yet quite poor, have enough property to want order and not enough to excite envy” (636). Not only does he imply that universal equality promotes contentment, in essence, he sees a direct correlation between personal property and equality, as if equal treatment is the same as equal distribution of land ownership. After introducing his definition, De Tocqueville presents the positives of equality: it enables individualism; upon widespread implementation, it serves as a catalyst for peaceful relations; and it gives everyone ownership to property, “the wide distribution of personal property results in a greater number of those enjoying it” (637). However, the negatives associated with these positives of equality often inhibit the possibility of a revolution. He states, “the same social condition which prompts their longings restrains them with necessary limits. It gives men both greater freedom to change and less interest in doing so” (636) De Tocqueville’s primary point of emphasis is that equality results in contentment, and contentment inhibits the will to revolt. De Tocqueville follows up with a very accurate observation, one that relates the freedom obtained from equality with fear “…the majority of citizens in a democracy do not see clearly what they could gain by a revolution, but they constantly see a thousand ways in which they could lose by one” (637). In essence, De Tocqueville believes that equality enables the freedom, but it is that same freedom that causes Americans to be afraid of the risks associated with revolution.

GRAPES

OF

WRATH

“The man sitting in the iron seat did not look like a man; gloved, goggled, rubber dust mask over nose and mouth, he was a part of the monster, a robot in the seat…he could not see the land as it was, he could not smell the land as it smelled; his feet did not stamp the clods or feel the warmth and power of the earth. He sat in an iron seat and stepped on iron pedals” (Steinbeck, 35).

The farmers also deal with the bitterness of leaving behind things that they love together, “the armies of bitterness will all be going the same way. And they’ll all walk together…” (Steinbeck, 88).

“A strange thing happened: the twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream” (Steinbeck, 193).

The Image of Change

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"I'll Be There"- Tom Joad

Wall 3 Reflection and References Wall 1: Puritanism Wall 2: Individual expression in nature Wall 4: The American Future: where dreams may or may not come true