Exploring the Text

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  1. What are Booker T. Washington’s goals as articulated in this speech? What does he believe is the best way to achieve them?

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    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What are Booker T. Washington’s goals as articulated in this speech? What does he believe is the best way to achieve them?
  2. What appeals to ethos does Washington make in the opening paragraphs? What additional appeals to ethos does he make as the speech proceeds?

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    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What appeals to ethos does Washington make in the opening paragraphs? What additional appeals to ethos does he make as the speech proceeds?
  3. What is the point of the story Washington tells in paragraph 3 about a “ship lost at sea”? What is the rhetorical effect?

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    Exploring the Text: - What is the point of the story Washington tells in paragraph 3 about a “ship lost at sea”? What is the rhetorical effect?
  4. This speech has come to be known by the sentence “Cast down your bucket where you are” (par. 3). What does Washington mean by this exhortation?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - This speech has come to be known by the sentence “Cast down your bucket where you are” (par. 3). What does Washington mean by this exhortation?
  5. In what types of work does Washington believe African Americans should engage? What is the logic that leads him to this belief?

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    Exploring the Text: - In what types of work does Washington believe African Americans should engage? What is the logic that leads him to this belief?
  6. How do you interpret Washington’s concluding statement in paragraph 5: “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress”?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - How do you interpret Washington’s concluding statement in paragraph 5: “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress”?
  7. Why is the Shakespeare quotation in paragraph 7 (“‘blessing him that gives and him that takes’”) appropriate to the point Washington is making?

    Question

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    Exploring the Text: - Why is the Shakespeare quotation in paragraph 7 (“‘blessing him that gives and him that takes’”) appropriate to the point Washington is making?
  8. Discuss two possible—and contrasting—interpretations of Washington’s assertion: “The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera-house” (par. 10). In today’s age of globalization and outsourcing, when many of our factory jobs have gone to foreign workers, does this statement still apply? Rewrite the sentence, replacing “factory” with a contemporary place of employment. Does the new sentence effectively update the idea? Why or why not?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Discuss two possible—and contrasting—interpretations of Washington’s assertion: “The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera-house” (par. 10). In today’s age of globalization and outsourcing, when many of our factory jobs have gone to foreign workers, does this statement still apply? Rewrite the sentence, replacing “factory” with a contemporary place of employment. Does the new sentence effectively update the idea? Why or why not?
  9. Where in this speech does Washington implicitly argue against racial stereotypes and advocate American values of rugged individualism and a strong work ethic? How have racial stereotypes changed since then? Is our work ethic as strong now as it once was?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Where in this speech does Washington implicitly argue against racial stereotypes and advocate American values of rugged individualism and a strong work ethic? How have racial stereotypes changed since then? Is our work ethic as strong now as it once was?
  10. Discuss the importance of the occasion and audience of this speech. How do these factors influence its form and content?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Discuss the importance of the occasion and audience of this speech. How do these factors influence its form and content?
  11. In the introduction to Washington’s autobiography, Up from Slavery, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie McKay make the following observation: “To some, Washington’s autobiography seems to paper over centuries of accumulated white responsibility for the evils of slavery, and instead of demanding the reform of white American institutions, it calls for African American conformity to the dominant myth of individualism in the United States. To other readers, however, Washington’s message in Up from Slavery puts its priorities exactly where they had to be—on the necessity of self-help within the African American community” (Norton Anthology of African American Literature). Which view is closer to yours? Cite specific passages to support your position.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - In the introduction to Washington’s autobiography, Up from Slavery, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie McKay make the following observation: “To some, Washington’s autobiography seems to paper over centuries of accumulated white responsibility for the evils of slavery, and instead of demanding the reform of white American institutions, it calls for African American conformity to the dominant myth of individualism in the United States. To other readers, however, Washington’s message in Up from Slavery puts its priorities exactly where they had to be—on the necessity of self-help within the African American community” (Norton Anthology of African American Literature). Which view is closer to yours? Cite specific passages to support your position.