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Creating unique identity online
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Growing up and having been taught to be reserved and humble, I am not the type of individual to publicly post my life events on the web, where anyone can have access to my private life. Private life should remain private, not for the entire universe to peep into intimate parts of your life. Selling personal items to complete strangers who do not share the same values as me just seems bizarre to me. In John Freyer’s essay, “All My Life For Sale”, Freyer goes on a selling expedition of his cherished belongings, which all hold some sort of connection to himself, Freyer came to the realization that he no longer yearned for the liberation of living in New York, but to be anchored down and stay rooted to a place he has built a connection to. I agree with Freyer that everyone needs a place to be rooted to, and the best way to stay rooted is to keep items of sentimental value.
If I were to select a few items to auction off on the Internet, I would have the hardest time selling my pink teddy bear and my family photos. Each and every one of the items mentioned above holds a very personal and deep history to me, which I would never want to forget or lose. When I was eleven years old and my family went to Las Vegas for the first time; I remember the vacation not being a very happy one. It was around the time my Grandmother had passed away and my family was stricken with grief. My Uncle Tom thought a family vacation would help direct our sorrows elsewhere and make us happier. When we went to Circus Circus in Las Vegas, I was not in any mood to be happy and playing games. However, upon many encouragements for me to enjoy myself, I sloppily tossed a quarter on the table in front of me, and surprisingly I had miraculously managed to to...
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...f mines. My possessions are tied to memories and experiences I have gone through, and without them, I would not be how I am today.
In John Freyer’s essay, “All my Life for Sale” he is telling his audience that it is ultimately alright for people to have personal belongings that “own them”. Everyone has something that they deem as personal and would like to keep to themselves in privacy. If one has nothing to anchor them to their past, most likely they forget. Having a physical object as a reminder holds a much stronger value than just memories you remember. Freyer’s items represented his memories and roots to where he lived in Iowa. Once it was all sold, he had nothing left but nostalgia for the missing items. As John Freyer said, “I wanted to return…and continue the life I’d started there…I wanted a place to be grounded. I wanted to stop starting over” (87).
...are rather very cheap sometimes, they usually contain commercial and mass produced items that aren’t unique and anyone can have. From worthless items people can build a value that essentially covers up the underlying problem but by finding satisfaction in that illogical idea gives them a comfort zone for a limited amount of time till they find a better item to put their importance in. This phenomenon itself on its own creates a chase, chase after the everlasting circle of materialism. The distinguished grasping item is then given to Billy and he tries to compose a purpose of life out of it as well. “And the crucifix went up on the wall of Billy Pilgrim” (Vonnegut 39) Even though it meant valuable to Bill’s mother, she doesn’t keep it. Billy doesn’t care much about it because he isn’t so religious and this item that mattered so much once has become a piece of scrap.
Reading the story “On dumpster diving” by Lars Eighner it made me feel grateful for my materialistic things, because I would not want to experience dumpster diving to survive. Eighner has led me to question where I place my value. He has made me curious about what treasures could be found in dumpsters. Most of these items have lost their intrinsic value; however, they could hold great personal value. A can of food could mean a meal for someone in need. It has also made me wonder about what I throw away, and if someone has ever discovered what I’ve thrown away and used
It is of no surprise to anyone that people in general, particularly Americans, tend to be overly-enticed by materialistic things and ridiculous ideals, placing more emphasis on them than things of sentiment. In “On Dumpster Diving,” author Lars Eighner develops on his experiences as a homeless man not in an attempt to defend the art of Dumpster diving, but instead to build upon the idea that a majority of people spend too much time and money on things that will not matter in a few years—they should instead focus on things that will never lose their value. Throughout the essay, he is attempting to persuade his audience that they should change their regular way of thinking and let go of materialistic things in order to live a better, more sound, and overall healthier life. To develop this purpose, Eighner utilizes juxtaposition, exemplification, and definition.
“Everything could be found there: suitcases, portfolios, briefcases, knives, plates, banknotes, papers, faded portraits. All those things that people had thought of taking with them, and which in the end they had left behind. They had lost all value.” How terrible could it have been for even photographs of loved ones to lose their
According to Maanvi Singh’s, “You Can’t Buy Happiness, If It’s An Experience”, “A growing body of research has shown that experiences tend to make people happier than material possessions...But they tended to feel more positive about experiential purchases, and their feelings about material purchases were more likely to be tinged with feelings of impatience” (Singh 2-4). One’s own adventures can generate the feeling of satisfaction and gratification within oneself, allowing a person to be truly pleased with life. A person should always give importance to their own experiences and accomplishments. Memories should be treasured by a person as they are unforgettable and things that cannot fade away. To sum it all up, touching upon one’s memories and intriguing background can make a person truly
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
In “On Dumpster Diving,” by Lars Eighner, he explains his view on dumpster diving and he sees things differently compared to others. His project was how he saw a new perspective when dumpster diving. Even though he became homeless, he learned a lot when scavenging. Eighner cherishes the things that people do not when something good of value was thrown away. It is safe to say that he saw it as “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” When scavenging he wonders why people threw away certain things away even though they were still considered good or in good condition. Throughout the passage, Eighner uses his own experience since this was his point of
Tharp, Bruce M. "Valued Amish Possessions: Expanding Material Culture And Consumption." Journal Of American Culture 30.1 (2007): 38-53. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 April 2014.
Not all trash finds its way to a landfill. I have acquired amazing treasures: perfectly good furniture and toys from curbsides and Dumpsters. My Grandfather always said “one man’s trash is another man’s treasu...
“ ‘What else a man got ‘cepting what he can pass onto his son, or his daughter, if she be his oldest?’ ” This symbolizes that his family is very important to him because the things that he passed on to his child were the most important things to him, not whether they had monetary value, but the stories and good times that went along with the items. The treasures also show that he is very affectionate about them because he jumped off a flight of stairs to attack the thugs and protect his treasure. He put his health and life at risk for a battered harmonica and a
The short stories of Ted Chiang are written in a way such that the overarching structure help to give a deeper meaning to the stories. The rationale for why Chiang writes in this way is to help vary his writing style and help give the story more meaning without writing more words. Ted Chiang manipulates the structure of one of his works, “Story of Your Life,” for the purpose of augmenting the meaning the story and its underlying themes, while also using it to build a stronger relationship to the audience.
To Josh, lost property was nothing but materialistic things gathering dust on a wall, in a train station, until he realized just how much these “things” could bring people together, shown by the woman who lost something on her cardigan at the start of the novel. Josh is described to understand how the lady feels once her item was once gathered and found, free and completed. With a chapter showing that even though some items may seem unvalued to others, doesn’t mean they are the same in our own eyes. Josh’s view
It’s amazing how something so seemingly insignificant and ordinary can represent something so meaningful in one’s life. I have many such objects, but this one may be the most unique. Maybe it is my vivid memories of the jagged, towering mountains or the crisp Colorado air. Maybe it is the weekend of being carefree and just enjoying life. Maybe it is because it was the only trip I have ever made to Lake City. Yeah, it is all of that, but none of that would matter without it being one of the few but always memorable times that my best friend Adam and I got to spend together. That is why our “traveling trophy” has such sentimental value.
by Baker in this quote, "...and any one could could have spoken out as one
I have a very fulfilling feeling about what I have been able to accomplish in my life so far. I want the absolute best for myself and those close to me. I often go above and beyond to help those around me succeed and be the best version of themselves that they can possibly be.