The Flamingo and the American Culture
Is not the American Culture just beautiful? Well, not everybody thinks the same. Jennifer Price tells the story of the plastic flamingo as she established her view of the American Culture. Price uses her tone, vivid diction and clear examples to say that Americans are arrogant, hypocrite, and envious.
First, she describes the American culture as being arrogant and cocky in an imprudent manner. Price says that Americans all over the country gave a meaning of wealth to an animal that sits on the grass. Americans believed that because they had these souvenir, which they obtain from Florida, they were over every other family around the neighborhood. Also, she states that they made the plastic animal, which is already brighter than its surroundings, way hotter than the real one (Price). The animal already stands out very well by itself with its natural color, but they wanted it to stand out even more in their yards, by increasing the color, just to call attention.
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Second, she uses an ironic tone to criticize the hypocrisy of the American culture.
Price says that in the late 1800s Americans hunt the flamingo for food and plumes. This cause the flamingo extinction in Florida. After this, about a century later they start using the image of a flamingo to earn profits and get a better image. They did not care that they were the main cause of the extinction of this animal because they were being driven by their greed. Then, in another paragraph she says that other cultures have always seen the flamingo as “special” like Christians who associated whit the red phoenix (Price). Still, Americans without knowing just use it to create envy among
others. Third, she uses several examples that describe Americans as envious. Price tells how the flamingo became more popular over time. Everything started with a few people getting souvenirs of flamingo from Florida but the more people obtain souvenirs the more people wanted one. These people did not care about the symbol of the flamingo. They did not even know why they wanted one; because other people had one, it was a requirement to also have one of the luxurious plastic birds. Also, she says that Elvis, a famous singer among Americans, bought a pink car. After that everybody starts using pink for washing machines, cars, and kitchen counters. Elvis was not the best role model at the time, but he had fame and fortune so nobody really care about his action. The Americans only looked at his fortune and thought that they wanted to be as famous as him. Americans have always thought of themselves more than others and act in an envious manner. Americans act according to the way other people act. Price describes their attitude as cocky and full of envy and through her ironic tone, word choice, and various examples she is able to communicate this message.
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They lead to the demolishment of the use of the flamingo. The Americans altered the bird to how they saw it and to the best of their ability. It was used for many things which led to the overuse of it. We can compare this to how in Florida they were driven to extinction for their elegant plumes and edible meat. We can also see that the American culture changed things that previous cultures established. We knew it as a red phoenix, ancient Egyptians saw it as their sun god Ra, and in Southern American places it is art, dance, and literature. These things were all previously established, but then came the Americans who changed it, overused it, then killed
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Watters, Ethan. Crazy Like Us: the globalization of the American psyche. New York: Free Press, 2010. Print.
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