Questions

1. How does Mary Gordon establish her ethos in the first paragraph?

   Question

   Questions: - How does Mary Gordon establish her ethos in the first paragraph?
2. How does the author characterize Ellis Island? Based on your reading or experience, does her description of the place match your impression?

   Question

   Questions: - How does the author characterize Ellis Island? Based on your reading or experience, does her description of the place match your impression?
3. What is the rhetorical effect of Gordon’s shift to personal experience in paragraph 13?

   Question

   Questions: - What is the rhetorical effect of Gordon’s shift to personal experience in paragraph 13?
4. Gordon writes, “But I suppose it is part of being an American to be engaged in a somewhat tiresome but always self-absorbing process of national definition” (par. 15). Do you agree? Why or why not?

   Question

   Questions: - Gordon writes, “But I suppose it is part of being an American to be engaged in a somewhat tiresome but always self-absorbing process of national definition” (par. 15). Do you agree? Why or why not?
5. What does Gordon imply about America with her final sentence?

   Question

   Questions: - What does Gordon imply about America with her final sentence?