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Ownership and self identity
Ownership and self identity
Ownership and self identity
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In her essay, Why We Keep Stuff: If You Want to Understand People, Take a Look at What They Hang On To, Caroline Knapp indicates the stuff to which we are attached shows important traits which define our personality. She affirms that our houses and workplaces are full of stuff. Although we do not use or need those things, we keep them. Besides, Knapp states we keep different types of stuff: the things we hang on to for “real” reasons (educational or labor reasons) and those that have unexplainable reasons, for instance, magazines, ribbons and transaction slips. Furthermore, Knapp indicates that our stuff has meaning, a personal and sentimental meaning. For this reason, she states that the things that we hang on to are testimonies to the ways
people organize their lives. Therefore, the purges of stuff have a great psychological value in our lives, and they are not mere logistical needs. According to Knapp, in our stuff, we hold on things that we associated with our past. Most of those things are the memories of a best or worst time in our lives. They are the physical representation of our fears, dreams and desires from previous years. Sometimes, we do not discard our stuff due to fear that we might need it in the future. For this reason, the author says that we keep things as automatic-teller-machine slips. Moreover, Knapp states getting rid stuff is hard because it feels like losing a memory of our personal history. She recalls that our stuff is part of our memories. Therefore, manage stuff is manage our fears and feelings. According to Knapp, we continues keep holding on to stuff just in case we need it.
In the story “Some Tings Lie So Deep”by Denise Barnard, the main character is named Jewel and she tis struggling with her sense of self. Her mother has been diagnosed with cancer. Jewel is spending as much time as she can with her mother. She does not like her real name so she tells everyone at school that her name is Julie.
People carry things with them all the time on a daily basis. They might be physical, emotional or spiritual things. Some people could carry a traumatic past while others simply carry a bag of groceries into their house. The things one carries defines them as a person and brings out their qualities as well as their defects. Some people might think of those things as burdens while others see them as a way out of reality or as something to push them forward, something to believe in.
The story I chose for this analysis is “Why, you reckon?” by Langston Hughes. IN this analysis I will be focusing on how the great depression in Harlem had effect on the story, how racism played a part, and how or if the characters were justifyied in their actions. During this time period the intense racial divide combined with the economic harships that plagued the U.S. during the 1923’s makes for an interesting story that makes you think if the charaters were really justified.
1. The main idea is not only that owning stuff is not the key to happiness, it’s also that consumers today own more than they need to thrive which directly impacts the environment. Hill illustrates the environmental impact by showing statistics of global warming today versus the past century, and how consumerism is leading to a hotter climate. Hill debunks claims of buying happiness by discussing a study where stress hormones spike to their highest when people are managing their personal belongings. Hill’s most prominent example that consumerism is not the answer is himself, as he discusses some of the most stressful times of his life being right after coming into a large sum of money and buying whatever he fancied. When Hill concludes his article, he states that “I have less—and enjoy more. My space is small. My life is big” (213).
The chapter “Clarify What’s Important to you” introduces several successful leaders and many praiseworthy values to me. Although each leader comes from different environments and possesses different characters, all of them keep their precious values in mind and persist in chasing their ideal lives. Even if each value can be interpreted by different meanings, they all lead encourage individuals to become better.
In the essay “Say Everything” written by Emily Nussbaum, the author presents the argument that young people in this generation do not have a sense of privacy and tend to post whatever they like on the internet. She presents 3 different ideas of what happens when young adults are on the internet.
My house and my things were my new employers for a job I had never applied for”. With too much materialism, your life will be unnecessary complicated and you will not get time to do your favorite things so therefore buying less you will have time to go out and enjoy, instead of being worried about things that needs to be done. I am not saying that you should isolate yourself from materials. Without materials, people will not have jobs for example, in the above quote lawns to mow, roommates.
In order to do this we need to have responsibility for our possessions. They are ours, they have value, whether sentimental or monetary, and it is our job to take care of them. If we do not, then our hard earned money has gone to waste or our memories that were attached to it, are simply only alive in our minds. Having things to take care of helps us to have a sense of purpose in life, and teaches us responsibility to care for what is ours. Both important virtues that help us grow and discover ourselves when we have tangible objects that belong to and are cared for by
You may cling onto your favourite fashion magazines, seize the sea shells you once collected as a child, even nestle notebooks from high school, however compulsive hoarding is much more than this… it’s a severe anxiety disorder. Many fail to realise the severity of this desolated illness. Hoarding can have detrimental effects whethe...
He teaches his readers two valuable lessons that he learned through his experience of dumpster diving; take only what you can use, and the short existence of material things. I agree wholeheartedly with these two principles. Spiritual and mental things last for a much longer time than any knick knack ever can. And indeed it is easy to believe that an object holds a sentiment to us, think backwards to what that object first transformed from. A treasure chest, a block of wood, a log, a tree, a small seed. Look at that sentimental object for what it really is and it truly is nothing more than what we make out of it. Yet we still have the sentiments and memories that object supposedly holds. I too believe that there is no reason in holding onto things that we don’t need either. Eighner is trying to explain to us that we shouldn’t place our happiness in such things that clutter our lives and are really just
O’Brien demonstrates that keepsakes were a coping mechanism during the war. The keepsakes were the miscellaneous items they
Culture Centers in Higher Education: Perspectives on Identity, Theory, and Practice is a powerful and enlightening book by Lori D. Patton. Patton is a higher education scholar who focuses on issues of race theories, African American experiences on college campuses, student development theories, campus environments, inclusion, and multicultural resources centers at higher education institutions. She has a variety of publications and was one of the first doctoral students to complete a dissertation that focused exclusively on Black culture centers entitled, “From Protest to Progress: An Examination of the Relevance, Relationships and Roles of Black Culture Centers.” In Campus Culture Centers in Higher Education Patton collaborates with many higher education scholars and faculty members to discuss various types of racial and ethnic culture centers in higher education, their overall effectiveness, relevance, and implications for improvement in relation to student retention and success. Diversity, inclusion and social justice have become prevalent issues on all college campuses, and this piece of literature gives a basic introduction for individuals unfamiliar with cultural resource centers. This book successfully highlights contributions of culture centers and suggestions for how centers can be reevaluated and structured more efficiently. For many faculty, administrators, and student affairs professionals unfamiliar with the missions and goals of culture centers, Patton’s text provides a concrete introduction and outline for the functionality of these resources and also offers recommendations and improvements for administrators managing multicultural centers.
Compulsive hoarding has been universally defined by researchers as a chronic behavioral syndrome that is categorized by three unique qualities: the extreme retention and failure to dispose of an abundant quantity of useless objects, living environments so condensed with clutter that it compromises day-to-day living for its occupants, and finally a significant provocation of anxiety or distress caused by the hoarding (Franks et al. 79). Although the definition of compulsive hoarding is universally accepted, the cau...
In the scientific essay, Called Out, Barbara Kingsolver uses personification and alliteration to establish the tone of wonder. For instance, in the essay, Barbara states “Our mountains wore mantles of yellow brittlebush on their rocky shoulders.” The mountains do not actually have shoulders. The author uses personification keep the reader wondering about how beautiful the mountains are. It also gives the mountains human like qualities to give the reader a more real picture of the mountains. Moreover, Barbara Kingsolver also uses alliteration to establish the tone of wonder. In the science essay, Barbara states “Poppies that they looked like the seed packet promises come true.” Barbara constantly uses words that begin with the letter “p”. That
So why might grown-ups harbor affection for a ratty old blanket or well-worn stuffed dog? Part of the reason is probably nostalgia, Hood said, but there seems to be a deep emotional attachment to the objects as well. It's called "essentialism," or the idea that objects are more than just physical properties. When I was younger I used to watch a show called Charlie Brown, where there was a character called Linus. He could always be seen carrying around a ratty old blanket which he would drag everywhere he went.