Answer: She was reluctant to define anything remotely resembling a national character because " it was a mongrel nation." There were so many different ethnic groups that had merged into one. This made it difficult and sometimes pointless to make just one group "entirely American."
In the text, Quindlen refuses to define anything remotely resembling a national character in America. This is because she believes America cannot be defined in these terms. America is a country that was born out of a combination of people from many different nations and cultures. It is a "mongrel" of a nation. And every person is an equal part of this. Therefore, there is no unified, standard definition of what it means to be American.
