I want something that is not material. Something that can't be bought and something that may not even bring me happiness. I want to "venture into the unknown" , "to add a new note" and cause the "universe [to] change" (The University of Chicago Campaign: Inquiry and Impact). However, most of America doesn't want this. They want cars, and entertainment, and money, and beach houses, as do many other average human beings.
But what truly does the possession of such items bring to a person besides the momentary satisfaction of "I have it, and you dont!"?
When dolls, and cars, and new toys melt away into oblivion, objects which cannot truly be touched still remain. Rex Walls, in the Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, reaffirms this by claiming "[His kids] still have [their] stars" because they will never go away.
Now that we've clarified that regular possessions are truly not worth our time, there is still the matter of human ignorance.
Although "I'm in a more socially conscious form of my default-setting", "a huge percent of stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, as it turns out, totally wrong and deluded" (David Foster Wallace in his speech "This is Water"). As I start to rethink my opinions, I realize that there is always more to learn, more to explore rather than just obtain. By turning the head 5 degrees to the right, we could gain so much more knowledge than is available, but most of us are just too stubborn or too oblivious to move away from this.
In fact, such obdurateness can be traced back to the 1920's in America. Consumerism, the promotion of goods in the interest of consumers, flourished in the "Roaring Twenties", causing many people to become rigid in their obsession of physical appurtenances. They became a useless camera, one that could not rotate to view images from different angles. Imagine what photos would be like if they could only be captured from one height, one distance, and one viewpoint. Any minute details that made the photo unique could have easily been missed. This unwavering structure which misses out the most significant details is what the society in the 1920's was like, and what the society is like today.
For example, The Great Gatsby, by F.Scott Fitzgerald, exemplifies the theme of obsession of materialism in the 1920's, but also captures the stubbornness that continues today. Daisy, near the beginning of the novel, exclaims that "The best thing a girl can be in this world, [is] a beautiful little fool" because she has one picture of how women can obtain a perfect life, by embracing the personality of a fool and living life wildly.
But what truly does the possession of such items bring to a person besides the momentary satisfaction of "I have it, and you dont!"?
When dolls, and cars, and new toys melt away into oblivion, objects which cannot truly be touched still remain. Rex Walls, in the Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, reaffirms this by claiming "[His kids] still have [their] stars" because they will never go away.
Now that we've clarified that regular possessions are truly not worth our time, there is still the matter of human ignorance.
Although "I'm in a more socially conscious form of my default-setting", "a huge percent of stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, as it turns out, totally wrong and deluded" (David Foster Wallace in his speech "This is Water"). As I start to rethink my opinions, I realize that there is always more to learn, more to explore rather than just obtain. By turning the head 5 degrees to the right, we could gain so much more knowledge than is available, but most of us are just too stubborn or too oblivious to move away from this.
In fact, such obdurateness can be traced back to the 1920's in America. Consumerism, the promotion of goods in the interest of consumers, flourished in the "Roaring Twenties", causing many people to become rigid in their obsession of physical appurtenances. They became a useless camera, one that could not rotate to view images from different angles. Imagine what photos would be like if they could only be captured from one height, one distance, and one viewpoint. Any minute details that made the photo unique could have easily been missed. This unwavering structure which misses out the most significant details is what the society in the 1920's was like, and what the society is like today.
For example, The Great Gatsby, by F.Scott Fitzgerald, exemplifies the theme of obsession of materialism in the 1920's, but also captures the stubbornness that continues today. Daisy, near the beginning of the novel, exclaims that "The best thing a girl can be in this world, [is] a beautiful little fool" because she has one picture of how women can obtain a perfect life, by embracing the personality of a fool and living life wildly.
Ananya, it totally wows me how you tied in SO MANY different sources into one coherent blogpost! You must be amazing at synthesis :)
ReplyDeleteWoah! nice job on your synthesis. Also, I love your metaphor-"they became a useless camera"- its ties into your post and even your overall theme very well :)
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