These facts are all on the credit side of the proposition that the Jew is a good and orderly citizen. Summed up, they certify that he is quiet, peaceable, industrious, unaddicted to high crimes and brutal dispositions; that his family life is commendable; that he is not a burden upon public charities; that he is not a beggar; that in benevolence he is above the reach of competition. These are the very quint-essentials of good citizenship.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The passage lists traits that supposedly define a good citizen, using a Jewish person as an example.
- In plain terms
- It claims certain virtues make someone a good citizen, citing a Jew as an example.
- What can you take from it?
- Civic virtue is described through stereotyped attributes.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What are the dangers of linking virtue to ethnicity?
- How can we define good citizenship without bias?
Another view
The quote uses an ethnic stereotype, which is problematic.
More from Mark Twain
A Jewish beggar is not impossible, perhaps; such a thing may exist, but there are few men that can say they have seen that spectacle.
Permalink to quote #100 If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky…
Permalink to quote #102 The Jew is not a disturber of the peace of any country. Even his enemies will concede that. He is not a loafer, he is not a sot, he is not noisy, he is not a b…
Permalink to quote #99
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