Read the following excerpt from the introduction to “a quilt of a country.” why does quindlen offer this contradiction about the “ideal” of america and its “reality”? how does she develop her central idea from this point? america is an improbable idea. a mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts, it is held together by a notion, the notion that all men are created equal, though everyone knows that most men consider themselves better than someone. . out of many, one. that is the ideal. . the reality is often quite different, a great national striving consisting frequently of failure. many of the oft-told stories of the most pluralistic nation on earth are stories not of tolerance, but of bigotry.