How an author sharpens a key term across a text
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
What Madison Means by a Republic (founding-era essay)
Background: [1] In The Federalist No. 10 (1787), credited to James Madison, a faction is a group of citizens united against others' rights. [2] Madison has argued that its causes cannot be removed, so he asks which government best controls its effects.
From The Federalist No. 10 (1787): [3] From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction.… [4] …A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.… [5] …The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended. [6] The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens,… [7] …On the other hand, the effect may be inverted.… [8] …Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens;… [9] …Hence, it clearly appears, that the same advantage which a republic has over a democracy, in controlling the effects of faction, is enjoyed by a large over a small republic,--is enjoyed by the Union over the States composing it.
Word notes: [10] Here democracy and republic are forms of government, not parties. [11] To admit of no cure is to allow none. [12] The scheme of representation is a system of chosen representatives. [13] Delegation is handing power to others; the latter is the second of two things named. [14] A sphere is an area; inverted means turned the other way. [15] The cuts leave out how small democracies have fared and why large republics choose better representatives.
Ari sees that sentences 3 and 4 both say 'by which I mean'. Why does Madison define pure democracy just before republic?
- To set up a contrast: a republic differs by using representatives instead of rule in person.
- To make clear that democracy and republic are forms of government, not parties.
- To show that the two forms are much the same, so that a choice between them would matter very little.
- To show that a republic is a democracy, as many people use the two words today.
Luz tests the final meaning of republic, the form best able to control faction. Which government fits it?
- A small town whose citizens elect a few representatives to run its affairs.
- A large nation whose citizens meet together and vote on the laws in person.
- A large nation whose many citizens elect a small number of representatives to govern.
- Any nation that holds elections, whether voters choose leaders or decide the laws.
Tala reads sentence 6, where representation will refine the public views. Which sense of refine does Madison mean?
- To improve and purify the views as they pass through a chosen body of citizens.
- To hand the views over to others, since note 13 says delegation is handing power.
- To make the views smaller and sharper, as a writer refines a draft by cutting.
- To narrow the views to the local wishes of each district's own voters.
Jun stars the short sentence 7, 'On the other hand, the effect may be inverted.' Why does Madison add it?
- To limit his claim: representation alone may fail, which sets up the case for size.
- To say the public views will be turned upside down and so become more widely shared.
- To show that pure democracy is safer than a republic run by chosen representatives.
- To take back his support for a republic, since representatives may not serve the people well.
Pia looks for a case of the extended sphere in sentence 8. Which case shows that part of a republic at work?
- A nation with so many different interests that no single one can gather a majority.
- A small republic whose citizens share the same few interests and act as one.
- Any large nation, whether its citizens govern in person or through representatives.
- A nation whose elected representatives are wiser than the voters who chose them.
Bo reads sentence 4, where a republic promises the cure. Given the rest of the excerpt, which sense of cure does Madison mean?
- The election of wise representatives, the benefit of a republic that sentence 6 describes.
- Healing, so that a republic makes faction disappear for good.
- Removal of faction's causes, which the background says Madison first argued for.
- Control of faction's effects, the advantage that sentence 9 names for a republic.
What Emerson Means by the Scholar (address)
Background: [1] Ralph Waldo Emerson gave "The American Scholar" as an address to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on August 31, 1837, and it was later printed with his other addresses and lectures. [2] The address opens by hoping that American thinkers will stop depending on the learning of other lands, and the excerpt below is copied exactly from an 1855 printing, with a mark at each cut.
From "The American Scholar" (1837): [3] In this hope, I accept the topic which not only usage, but the nature of our association, seem to prescribe to this day,--the AMERICAN SCHOLAR.… [4] …In this distribution of functions, the scholar is the delegated intellect. [5] In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. [6] In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking.… [7] …Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the bookworm.… [8] …Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst.… [9] …They are for nothing but to inspire.… [10] …Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential.… [11] …Without it, thought can never ripen into truth.… [12] …The office of the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances.
Word notes: [13] In these notes, the distribution of functions is the way a society hands out its jobs among its members, the delegated intellect is the member sent to do the thinking for all the others, degenerate means fallen from its proper state, subordinate means lower in rank, and amidst appearances means among the ways that things merely seem to be. [14] The cuts leave out an old fable about how people came to be divided into many separate trades, Emerson's account of what nature and the books of the past teach the scholar, and a long passage on the scholar's private life, and in 1837 Emerson, like most writers of his time, used man and men to mean people in general.
Milo stars the rungs for sentences 5 and 6. Why does Emerson set Man Thinking against a mere thinker and a parrot?
- To show that a true scholar thinks for himself, unlike one who repeats the thoughts of others.
- To show that a scholar in the degenerate state has grown too old to think well.
- To show that a scholar is anyone who studies hard and reads widely at a college.
- To warn listeners not to become scholars, since society makes scholars its victims.
Kira reaches sentence 12, which names the office of the scholar. Which sense of office does Emerson mean?
- A lower rank, since note 13 says subordinate means lower in rank.
- A duty: the work the scholar is there to do for others.
- A room where the scholar works, such as a study at a college.
- A post of public power, such as an elected office in the government.
Ren sees that action enters the ladder only after books. Why does Emerson add action in sentences 10 and 11?
- To add that thinking must be lived, since without action thought cannot ripen into truth.
- To show that the scholar's office is to guide others, as sentence 12 says.
- To replace books with action as the scholar's main business from now on.
- To praise people who work with their hands above the people who spend their lives in study.
Noah reads sentence 7, 'instead of Man Thinking, we have the bookworm.' In what sense does Emerson use bookworm?
- A member sent by society to do its thinking, as note 13 explains.
- Anyone who loves reading and spends a great deal of free time happily with books.
- One who values books for their own sake instead of thinking for oneself.
- A scholar in the right state, who has become Man Thinking by reading.