Exploring the Text

1. Note how rich the first paragraph is in rhetorical and literary devices. How does Thomas Paine use imagery, parallel structures, juxtapositions, and figurative language to engage the reader?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - Note how rich the first paragraph is in rhetorical and literary devices. How does Thomas Paine use imagery, parallel structures, juxtapositions, and figurative language to engage the reader?
2. How does your knowledge of the pamphlet’s occasion affect your reading and understanding of the piece?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - How does your knowledge of the pamphlet’s occasion affect your reading and understanding of the piece?
3. Paine writes, “we have none to blame but ourselves” (par. 2). How does that statement appeal to both ethos and pathos?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - Paine writes, “we have none to blame but ourselves” (par. 2). How does that statement appeal to both ethos and pathos?
4. What does Paine mean by “superstition” (par. 3)? What is the rhetorical effect of the juxtaposition of that with “the infidel”?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What does Paine mean by “superstition” (par. 3)? What is the rhetorical effect of the juxtaposition of that with “the infidel”?
5. How effectively does the phrase “[a] common murderer, a highwayman, or a housebreaker” (par. 3) serve Paine’s purpose?

   Question

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   Exploring the Text: - How effectively does the phrase “[a] common murderer, a highwayman, or a housebreaker” (par. 3) serve Paine’s purpose?
6. Political writer and thinker Christopher Hitchens reminds us that when President Franklin Roosevelt “made his great speech to rally the American people against fascism after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he quoted an entire paragraph from Paine’s The Crisis beginning: ‘These are the times that try men’s souls… .’” Speaking of our own time of “crisis,” Hitchens goes on to say, “In a time when both rights and reason are under several kinds of open and covert attack, the life and writing of Thomas Paine will always be part of the arsenal on which we shall need to depend.” What crises do we face today? Do you agree with Hitchens regarding Paine’s importance? Why or why not?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - Political writer and thinker Christopher Hitchens reminds us that when President Franklin Roosevelt “made his great speech to rally the American people against fascism after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he quoted an entire paragraph from Paine’s The Crisis beginning: ‘These are the times that try men’s souls… .’” Speaking of our own time of “crisis,” Hitchens goes on to say, “In a time when both rights and reason are under several kinds of open and covert attack, the life and writing of Thomas Paine will always be part of the arsenal on which we shall need to depend.” What crises do we face today? Do you agree with Hitchens regarding Paine’s importance? Why or why not?