Alexis de Tocqueville Questions 2 and 5

Question 2: Why does a society devoted to equal opportunity weaken each individual?
Response: According to Alexis de Tocqueville equal opportunity open to all weakens a person because everything becomes more competitive; the American becomes more competitive because they know they can attain what another American has. Alex said an individual is weakened because they are always competing with one another to attain the next best device or house, etc. Alexis de Tocqueville said, “It is odd to watch with that feverish ardor the Americans pursue prosperity and how they are ever tormented by the shadowy suspicion that they may not have chosen to the shortest route to get it.” In that quote Alexis is saying that the pressure from wanting to “be the best” and wanting to get the best causes the Americans to torment themselves because they are never able to rest. It weakens and blinds the American because they fail to acknowledge all they do have because they are always in competition to get the “best new thing”. Alexis said, “Americans cleave to 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 id expecting to stop living before they have relished them. They clutch everything but hold nothing fast, and so lose grip as they hurry after some new delight.” The quote explains that Americans do not relish what they have. The Americans are weakened because they lack acknowledgement about everything they have, and because they torment themselves because they are always competing with another person for the next “best thing”.

Question 5: Does Tocqueville think Americans are restless because they don’t know what they want or because what they want is not attainable?
Response: Tocqueville thinks that Americans are restless because what they want is not attainable. He said, “Among democratic peoples men easily obtain a certain equality, but they will never get the sort of equality they long for.” Tocqueville is saying that there is the general equality that all men share (rules of government) but there is another equality, which is not attainable for some men. Then Tocqueville said, “That is a quality which ever retreats before them without getting quite out of sight, and as it retreats it beckons them on to pursue. Every instant they think they will catch it, and each time it slips through their fingers. They see it close enough to know its charms, but they do not get near enough to enjoy it, and they will be dead before they have fully relished its delights.” In that quote Tocqueville is talking about equality in a sense of one man wanting what another man has. He is saying that an American is restless because they get close to having what another man has but then it slips right through their fingers. Every time the American thinks that they all the same things as another man something new comes along (“every instant they think they will catch it, and each time it slips through their fingers”).

Ethics and such

What are the ethics of your life? How do the people you interact with on a daily basis contribute to your understanding of how you should behave? Think of your parents/teachers/adults, but also of you friends and peers?
When i was younger we attended church a lot and from church i established my morals. Some of those general principles still remain with me today. Also, I in church and from television shows I learned that morals are important because without them people are more more lost than they have to be.In school the adults have a passion for their jobs,they try to help the children and for the most part they all well behaved. From them I have learned to search for a career path that I would be passionate about. My mother and father helped me to analyze situations ("think before i speak")and to make decisions that will benefit myself and others. From my friends I have learned what paths to follow and paths not to follow. One of my best friends helped me to understand action because she never waited on anybody to do anything for her so would just go out and get it done herself. I have learned also learned discipline from school, family and some friends. I think discipline is the most important thing i learned because it requires discipline to behave appropriately ...well discipline is required in every aspect of a persons life. Now that I think about it that what everybody has been trying to get to understand since i was a child and that is learn discipline. =)

Langston Hughes/ Claude McKay Comparison & Contrast

Compare Hughes poetry to Claude McKay. What is similar? What is different?
They are similar because they both speak of the depression of blacks in Harlem.
In Claude McKay’s Harlem Shadows he talked about the rough environment in Harlem, which forced women to become harlots. He explained what he saw at night. “In Negroe Harlem when the night lets fall its veil. I see the shapes of girl who pass to bend and barter to desires call.” In Langston Hughes Theme for English B he says, I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you: hear you, hear me-we two-you, me, talk on this page.” Langston Hughes is talking about Harlem and that although he writes the paper he is the voice of Harlem. Both Claude McKay and Langston Hughes serve, as the voices for Harlem and they both understand the Negroes situations in Harlem. Langston Hughes said, “I hear you, Harlem” because he understood that it was rough and Claude was had the more visual poem, which explained what women, did at night because of their rejection in society. Also, both Claude McKay and Langston Hughes write of Africa. In McKay’s To the White Friends he said, “ am I not Affric’s son?” and Langston Hughes The Negroe Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes writes about Africa, which he uses to talk about the Negroe’s upbringing (foundation of his soul). The differences are that Claude McKay gives more details of what happens in Harlem (using people, seen in his story He so loved). Langston uses takes a broader approach he does not give anecdotes of peoples lives instead he talks about peoples struggles more as a whole (seen in his poem Mulatto).