Monday, October 12, 2015
Dystopia
I think that the two essays do reinforce the ideas we have been talking and reading about in class. Both essays refer to topics along the lines of nihilism, dystopian America, the need for asceticism, and the inevitability of destruction and corruption but in different ways. In the essay Enclose, Encyclopedic, Endured: The Mall of America, a main idea that was mentioned many times was about how over the top and overdone everything in the mall was. The mall had such a large turnout of people daily and was enjoyed by them so much because it allows all the people to get away and escape from a far from perfect world and go into a seemingly perfect one. Journalist David Guterson mentions this topic when he notes that “There are, one notices, no clocks or windows, nothing to distract the shopper’s psyche from the alternate reality the mall conjures” (162). Guterson is saying that the lack of windows or clocks really lets you escape from the real world and all its problems and just get lost in the joy of the mall.The essay Is America Falling Apart is also very much about nihilism and pessimistic thoughts. These ideas are shared when Anthony Burgess states that “Perhaps only a country full of bombed cities feels capable of the kind of social revolution” (327). Burgess is saying that Americans know things are messed up and not right but are unwilling to do anything about it despite having this knowledge.
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I completely agree with you that what the essay's were portraying. In the essay from the Norton Reader, "The Mall of America", the author David Guterson explains that a mall seems to represent what America has become over the years. He goes on and asks, "If the Mall of America was part of America what was that going to mean?" (162). It means that people are indeed getting lost in a big world to distract themselves from any important things that are happening around them and buying more items that they think will keep them happy. I agree that the next essay, "Is America falling apart?", by the author,Anthony Burgess, oversees that Americans would not know the feeling of any kind social revolution because one reason is that they are to buried into their possessions and are too distracted to care about what is going on in the country.
ReplyDeleteI agree in the “Enclosed. Encyclopedic. Endured: The Mall of America”, David Guterson explains “The media encourage us to visit our megamall in the obligatory fashion we flock to Jurassic park – because it is there” (169), what he’s saying is that there is truly no reason we go to the mall, we go just to go. This is showing how Americans reject the concept of asceticism, people will go in to the mall for no reason at all, with nothing to buy, but will leave with ungodly amounts of new possessions. It is the same in the second essay “Is America Falling Apart?” Anthony Burgess states “You don’t share things in common; you have your own things. A family’s strength is signalized by its possessions.”(236), this shows the consumer culture in the United States is completely rejecting the concept of asceticism and at the same time adopting nihilism, because much of the possessions they have mean practically nothing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Heather in saying the two articles do go along with the idea about nihilism, and dystopian America because in the story Enclose, Encyclopedic, Endured: The Mall of America, that man does talk about how the mall is extraordinary. He compares this mega mall to a casino. He says, “…no clocks or windows, nothing to distract the shopper’s psyche from the alternate reality the mall conjures.” (162) Usually casinos have no windows and no clocks insuring you forget what tie it is, therefore you spend more time and money inside the casino, or in this case the mall. In the story Is America Falling Apart, Burgess is saying that America is not happy anymore, and that America is becoming evil; that America is, “no longer her rich step mother: she is Europe’s sister.” (238) He is saying that America is indeed falling into a society where they will end up acting like Europe, which is evil and unhappy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about America being a dystopia. In the Norton Reader it says “People are underpaid but they go through an act of liking their work, the open markets are luscious with esculent color the community is more important than the state, the human condition is humorously accepted” (235) People come to America because they see it as some sort of utopia. What people fail to see is that America has many issues that are not shown to everyone. Whether it’s political corruption, poverty, or social issues we have our own set of issues. The media tends to cover up the flaws and glamorize the country. They make everything seem good, so that people will be attracted. I think that people are okay with things looking nice while the condition is not so good. People would rather have things looking nice so that it can cover up its other flaws.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying about both of these essays reinforcing the ideas we discussed in class. Both essays show that corruption is alive and well, and has many different forms. In, “Enclosed. Encyclopedic. Endured: The Mall of America,” David Guterson talks about how many people come to the mall just to forget about their lives for a little while. Guterson explains, “Here we are free to wander endlessly and to furtively watch our fellow wanderers, thousands upon thousands of milling strangers who have come with the intent of losing themselves in the mall’s grand, stimulating design” (162). He shows his audience that the mall is in all honesty just a huge avoidance of people’s real problems and a place where all of their problems are nonexistent. As well as Guterson, Anthony Burgess shows his audience that America is corrupted and decides to do nothing about it as well. In, “Is America Falling Apart?”, Burgess states, “You don’t share things in common; you have your own things” (236). He is saying that Americans are so worried about themselves and what they have and that they don’t even care about sharing things in common with people anymore.
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