Essay Questions

Domestic Manners of the Americans is essentially a backdrop to the writer’s critic of American religion. Is this assertion correct?

In a rather explicit manner, Trollope presents her view of American religion in the book Domestic Manners of the Americans. Through the expressions and language employed by the writer, it becomes clear that she does not condone or hold the American religion in high regard. Trollope notices the ostensible nonconformity of modern evangelism from the traditional Christian principles, ideals, and virtues. As she suspects, the whole idea of revival ministry seems to be motivated by an enterprise mentality. The assertion that the writer uses the work as a backdrop to critiquing American religion holds water, even so, Trollope criticizes most aspects of American manners and traditions as they do not settle quite well with her.

Trollope is not a fan of American manners. Support this ideology based on how it presents in Domestic Manners of the Americans.

Trollope reports the behavior of the Americans using a largely negative undertone. Throughout her time in the US, she notices how significantly the manners of the Americans deviate from those of the people in Europe. She exhibits a lot of negativity about the manners of the Americans terming them as degenerate. She cites an instance in which an individual spat tobacco onto their carpet, a behavior which she found quite repulsive and revolting. In this way, Trollope can be argued as a no fan of the manners of the people of America.

Trollope does not enjoy her time in the United States. Is this assertion correct? Why so?

Domestic Manners of the Americans is essentially a literary work the describes Trollope’s experiences, feelings, and time in the United States in the company of her son, Henry. The book is a critic of the ways of the Americans including their mannerism or lack thereof, their lack of intelligence, poor education, and carefree way of living. One of the things that also disinterest her is the evangelical movement and the fact that even at this time in history slavery is still in existence. Because the book is a documentation of the writer’s experiences and feelings while in America, it is justified to conclude that Trollope does did not enjoy her time in the US seeing as she is preoccupied with their inadequacies as opposed to having fun.