WORKBOOK QUESTIONS FOR THE FIRST THREE READINGS

(Crevecoeur and Emerson)

1. Explain why Crevecoeurs definition of what an American is falls short even as a basic
definition.

2. What distinctions does he make between the character of Americans and the character of
Europeans? What is really new about the New Continent?
3. Read the paragraph that begins with the sentence Men are like plants; the goodness and
flavor of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow and the
next two. What Enlightenment ideas lie behind Crvecoeur's reasoning?

4. Do some basic online research on Crevecoeurs life. Do you think he was the typical
American? If not, how was he different?

5. What does Crevecoeur mean when he speaks of religious indifference in his country?

6. How did the Enlightenment and the Revolutionary War affect Crevecoeurs essay?

7. Emerson in Americas first and most important Romantic, but he was also a Neoplatonic
thinker. What does that mean?

8. What does the expression Self-Reliance mean? Why was it important for Emerson?

9. In The American Scholar Emerson imagines for his country the figure of Man
Thinking.Explain its meaning.

10. Explain the meaning of the following sentence from Emersons Self-Reliance: A man
should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from
within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages.