DISCUSSION POINTS

1) Which of the following statements do you agree with? Why?

a) The character differences between different nationalities can help cause wars.

b) In any nation, the same variety of character types is represented.

c) There’s no such thing as “national character”.

2) Which factor do you think most influences national character (if you believe there is such a thing)? - climate; history; food; geography (mountain, desert, jungle…)

READING

The ways of tourists are strange, and one afternoon as I sat in the Plaza Mayor, I heard some Frenchmen at the next table tearing Americans apart. To the first barrage of criticism, I could not logically protest: Americans were uncultured, lacked historical sense, were concerned only with business, had no sensitivity and ought to stay at home. The second echelon of abuse I did want to interrupt, because I felt that some of it was wide of the mark: Americans were all loud, had no manners, no education, no sense of proportion, and were offensively vulgar in dress, speech, eating habits and general comportment, but I restrained myself because, after all, this was a litany one heard throughout Europe, here expressed rather more succinctly than elsewhere.

Sitting as quietly as my French companions would permit, I tried to discover what my true feelings were in this matter of honest description. In my travels, I had never met any single Americans as noisy and crude as certain Germans, none so downright mean as one or two Frenchmen, none so ridiculous as an occasional Englishman, and none so arrogant as some Swedes.

But in each of the national examples cited I am speaking only of a few horrible specimens. If one compares all English tourists with all Americans, I would have to admit that taken in the large the American is worse. If some European wanted to argue that seventy percent of all American tourists are regrettable, I would agree. If claimed ninety, I suppose I wouldn’t argue too much. But when like the Frenchman on my left he states that one hundred percent are that way, then I must accuse him of being false to the facts.

James Michener Iberia 2

Comprehension check

1) What does the author dislike most about the way people talk about other nationalities?

2) What does the author seem to think about the concept of “national character”?

3) What nationality do you think the author is? Why?

4) What does the author feel about the following:

a) Americans as tourists;

b) the way others describe American tourists.

d) Have you ever seen American tourists visiting a place? If so, do you agree with the Frenchman’s opinion?

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 1230