TONE PARAGRAPH
The Epic of America—James Truslow Adams
In the excerpt from The Epic of America, Adams’ purpose is to define the American
Dream. The tone of the passage is straightforward and reassuring. The
straightforward attitude is created by the repeated definition of the American
Dream: “a dream…in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to
the fullest stature of which they are innately capable.” He states the same idea
another way when he says, “life should be better and richer and fuller for
everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” By
repeating this simple definition of the dream, Adams makes the definition clear
and easy to understand. The details he uses to define what the American dream is
and is not also make his tone reassuring. Adams says that even though as
Americans ourselves we may “have grown weary and mistrustful” of the dream, it
may be because we have an incorrect vision of the dream. He reiterates that the
dream is not about “cars and high wages” or of “material plenty.” He reassures
the writer that the dream has been “much more than that.” Again, in his
straightforward tone, he defines and clarifies what the dream is: “Being able to
grow to fullest development as man and woman…unrepressed by social orders.”
Through a straightforward and reassuring tone, Adams conveys clearly his
definition of what the American Dream is and is not.