National Diversity In Anna Quindlen's A Quilt Of A Country

In “A Quilt of a Country” Anna Quindlen addresses national unity and ethnic diversity in the aftermath of 9/11 with matter-of-fact optimism. She uses repetition, sophisticated diction, and >syntax< to illustrate how America shouldn’t work but does.
Quindlen starts the passage with a declarative sentence “America is an improbable idea.”(Par. 1) Throughout the first paragraph the amplification of the words idea and notion, plus other associated words, draws attention to the concept of America. She references crazy quilts, which evolved from people not having enough material for traditional quilts and needing to stitch together different types of fabric, leading to the prominent stitching instead of the tiny invisible ones. This makes the reader draw a parallel from the different groups and the different scraps of fabrics. The second paragraph is juxtaposition to the first in its focus on the reality of America. Quindlen gives examples of when the nation has failed to be tolerant, mentioning sweatshops, slavery, homophobia and racism. She furthers this by quoting the national anthem “crown thy good with brotherhood,”(par. 2) immediately after.

She uses rhetorical devices such as diction, figurative language and syntax to highlight her point. Negatively connoted words such as bemoan, Balkanized, incendiary, inflected, splintered, fisticuffs to emphasize the strife and discord that Quindlen is talking about, alliteration used in paragraphs four and five, “barely bridgeable… creeping concern…” underline the animosity between groups and the effects of it and rhetorical questions arouse interest in the subject matter. Parallel syntax and diction draws attention to the different opposing groups that make up