1. Gopnik’s primary message in this essay is that anyone can make an impact in history no matter what their background is like. Gopnik’s uses the lives of two notable historical figures, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, to make his point. Lincoln was born into a poor, uneducated family that lived in a log cabin in the rural woods of Kentucky. Darwin, on the other hand, was born in the English countryside to a family of free thinkers and of wealth. Both came from vastly different backgrounds, yet both, who were born on the same day, were able to leave a lasting impact with their ideas and actions on the modern world.
2. The major differences in Lincoln and Darwin’s families is that Lincoln came from a family that was poor and uneducated …show more content…
Gopnik calls Darwin and Lincoln “central figures of the modern imagination” because of their strong presence they still have even after their deaths. Lincoln presence in the modern age is evident in our U.S. history textbooks, the day that we dedicated to him, and the monument that we have of him in our state capital. Darwin and his explanation of the evolutionary process are still talked about in our science class and “continues not only to cause daily fights but to inspire whole new sciences.” Both men achieved the label of “central figures of the modern imagination” through their logic, arguments, and reasoning. These qualities allowed for Lincoln and Darwin to spread their ideas to the masses.
8. Lincoln and Darwin’s writings have contributed to our definition of society today by their arguments. Lincoln used his argumentative skills he learned as a lawyer to get people to see that to end the civil war, slavery must come to an end as well. In his writings, Darwin argued about how our biology changed through thousands of years. Their arguments have altered the way we think by making us think about what is morally right and to seek the truth through research. Also, Lincoln and Darwin’s contributions are still responded to “in politics and popular science
2. The major differences in Lincoln and Darwin’s families is that Lincoln came from a family that was poor and uneducated …show more content…
Gopnik calls Darwin and Lincoln “central figures of the modern imagination” because of their strong presence they still have even after their deaths. Lincoln presence in the modern age is evident in our U.S. history textbooks, the day that we dedicated to him, and the monument that we have of him in our state capital. Darwin and his explanation of the evolutionary process are still talked about in our science class and “continues not only to cause daily fights but to inspire whole new sciences.” Both men achieved the label of “central figures of the modern imagination” through their logic, arguments, and reasoning. These qualities allowed for Lincoln and Darwin to spread their ideas to the masses.
8. Lincoln and Darwin’s writings have contributed to our definition of society today by their arguments. Lincoln used his argumentative skills he learned as a lawyer to get people to see that to end the civil war, slavery must come to an end as well. In his writings, Darwin argued about how our biology changed through thousands of years. Their arguments have altered the way we think by making us think about what is morally right and to seek the truth through research. Also, Lincoln and Darwin’s contributions are still responded to “in politics and popular science