As I read this essay assigned to us in my language arts class I grew extremely fond of it and started to look closely into this idea presented by Tom Wolfe. In this essay Tom speaks about a variety of issues that affect the entire human race. This is probably one of the most in depth and interesting essays that I have ever had the privilege to read. Tom Wolfe wrote this in 1968, and has a very “recent” tone about him. He most talks about the over crowding of the great New York City. It is amazing to me that a man back in this time period could have such wisdom about everything, people, the world and future problems.
Many of the ideas that Tom speaks about seem to relate to the one of the lowest animals on the food chain; rats. This man described all of what he thinks about humans, in rat terms. This is perfect even if we, as humans, don’t like be compared with these creatures we behave social and fundamentally a lot alike. This is maybe an eye opener for some of the people in the world that forget we are animals too and ferocious ones at that. One of the most interesting techniques this author uses is the way that he refers to humans as animals, like I said before. He always calls them humans, like we are some sort of strange creature you can find in the swamps. This is a very affective way of making a point.
This was almost a disturbing essay to read and analyze. It was one of those essays where I read in and every point that is made I can relate it to something that had happened or is happening. One of the best sections of the essay is when Tom Wolfe talks refers to “behavioral Sink” that we all live in. I take this sink to be symbolizing the world that we all live on. He talks about the over crowding of this sink and the damaging affects it has on every single living thing that is in ceramic prison. This essay was written so long ago but now comes into play more than it ever has. There are so many fundamentally wrong things with us humans right now it makes me sick. This just points out more, the fact that we are reminding ourselves of rats. It is a tad scary to think about, the one animal (us) at the top of the food chain, and the one at the bottom (rats) are starting to become similar in so many ways…
2 comments:
"Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth."
The problem with your analysis is that its an essay based on research by Dr. Richard Hall, and you don't even mention him. I think it's great you like the essay, but based on your writing I wonder if you really read it. Also, it would behoove you to double check things that you write. There are many grammatical and structure errors in your review.
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