There used to be a thing or a commodity we put great store by. It was called the People. Find out where the People have gone. I don't mean the square-eyed toothpaste-and-hair-dye people or the new-car-or-bust people, or the success-and-coronary people. Maybe they never existed, but if there ever were the People, that's the commodity the Declaration was talking about, and Mr. Lincoln.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Steinbeck laments the loss of the idealized concept of the People in modern society.
- In plain terms
- He wonders where the idealized People have gone in modern society.
- What can you take from it?
- The idealized concept of the People has faded or disappeared.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who are the People today?
- Has society lost its core values?
Another view
Nostalgia for a past People may ignore historical exclusions or hardships.
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