Dr. Sara Henary at Plymouth Harbor
Most people who visit Plymouth Rock think about Pilgrims and turkey. For Dr. Sara Henary, visiting Plymouth, MA to attend a meeting of the Association for Core Texts and Courses engendered a reflection on Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America:
“This rock has become an object of veneration in the United States. I have seen fragments carefully preserved in several American cities. Does not that clearly prove that man’s power and greatness resides entirely in his soul? A few poor souls trod for an instant on this rock, and it has become famous; it is prized by a great nation; fragments are venerated, and tiny pieces distributed far and wide. What has become of the doorsteps of a thousand palaces? Who cares about them?”
Additional musings from Dr. Henary can be found in her recent essay on Anthony Trollope at http://www.themillions.com/2015/04/portraits-of-human-nature-anthony-trollope-at-200.html