...Living with strangers Living with Strangers is an essay written by Siri Hustvedt, and in it she discusses the difference between life in the big city and life in the countryside. More precisely, she discusses the difference in social rules and her opinion on it. Siri begins by briefly describing to the reader how one was expected to behave where she grew up. Whenever you encountered someone on the road, whether you knew them or not, you should always greet them. If you didn’t, you would be considered both rude and a snob, which was pretty much the worst thing you could be in that part of rural Minnesota. When Siri moved to New York City in 1978 and she was met by a world vastly different from what she knew, and quickly learned that the social code of conduct was quite different as well. Greeting everyone you meet simply isn’t practical in downtown New York, as you are confronted with hordes of people every time you leave the apartment. On the subway, you are forced into such close contact with strangers that you can smell their hair oil, perfume and sweat, a level of intimacy reserved for lovers and family in rural Minnesota. Another phenomenon of big city life, or coping technique as she calls it, is that whenever something odd happens in the public space, you simply pretend it isn’t happening. She presents several examples of strange people doing strange things, and every single spectator simply minding their own business. To give any kind of response is viewed as...
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...Living with strangers is a short story written by Siri Hustvedt, it was publish as a newsletter in The New York Times in 2002, and in the newsletter she discusses the difference between cultures from her point of view. In the beginning of her newsletter, she describes where she grew up in rural Minnesota. Here it was a requirement to greet everyone, also if the person was a stranger. If you didn’t, people would be considering you as a snob and that was probably the worst thing to be there. When Siri got older she moved to New York City, here she quickly understood parts of the new culture. There was no way that anyone can greet everyone they meet downtown New York City, so here the unspoken greeting-rule of Minnesota doesn’t count. At this time in New York Siri was living by herself, but it was like her neighbors were her roommates. She could hear and see several acts that normally would be private moments, such as arguments from downstairs, she had no idea who these people were, but because they lived so close it was like she was living with them - she was “living with strangers”. Every culture has its own unspoken rules that strangers are most likely not to understand. Just like Minnesota had their “greeting-rule”, Siri is describing that New York’s unspoken rule is “pretend-it-isn’t-happening”. The rule is basically described as if something strange happens in New York; you simply pretend that it is not really happening. This new urban life was more frightening and...
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...Living With Strangers Moving to a new place can be hard. You exchange your old surroundings with completely new ones, you have to change old habits, and you need to go out and explore new places and meet new people. This progress can be hard for some people and it will take a long time to get used to your new surroundings. Siri Hustvedt talks about this in “Living With Strangers” from 2002. In the essay Siri Hustvedt describes her experience when she moved from Minnesota to New York In 1978. The fact that it was brought in The New York Times might indicate that her essay presents the reality of the people of New York. The essay also appears like it was written to people who already have some knowledge about New York as an example she writes: “… was traveling uptown on the Second Avenue bus. At Twenty-Fourth Street …” (line 23-24 page 6). This would mean nothing to people who don’t know anything about the streets of New York and their bus system. During her essay Hustvedt reflects on the difference between her new home New York and her old home in Minnesota. She especially points out the fact, that in Minnesota everybody used to say “hi” to everybody, even people you didn’t know. Not even was it seen as being rude, but you could actually be looked at as a snob, which was the worst thing you could be looked at, but in New York it’s an entirely different story. Here it’s totally impossible to say hi to everybody, and nobody cares if you say hi to them because people don’t even...
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...“Living With Strangers” Many people think that urban life in big cities means a happy life, with no worries and just pure happiness. But what is happiness? And what makes us think that urban life is pure happiness? In the essay “Living With Strangers” by Siri Hustvedt, we hear about a woman's move from the countryside of Minnesota, to the Big Apple in New York City. Her move is described with many comparisons with her previous life and experiences, and a lot of humor, which underlines her situation and her attitude to urban life. In the following essay I am going to analyze and comment on Siri Hustvedt’s essay “Living With Strangers”. Part of my essay will focus on the genre, the attitude to urban living and the contrasts between Siri’s life in Minnesota and her new life in New York City. As said, the essay is based on Siri Hustvedt’s own life and experiences. Siri Hustvedt grew up in Minnesota, where everybody knows and greets each other. Now she lives in New York City where nobody seems to care about each other, and where greeting strangers would be “impractical and unsound”. This is a big change for her, and she uses an overwhelming amount of detailed descriptions to describe her situation in the Big Apple. She uses many personal experiences and examples, which characterizes the essay genre. Furthermore, she is very reflective, descriptive, subjective and very personal in her way of writing the essay. “It didn’t take long for me to absorb the unwritten code of survival...
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...Living with Strangers In the essay “Living with Strangers” Siri Hustvedt discusses the lack of solidarity and the difference between the unspoken social rules, one can meet in a in a big city, for example New York City, and a small town in the state of Minnesota. These unspoken social rules are very hard for an outsider to understand. Hustvedt starts the essay by giving a briefly description of the huge difference she felt, when she moved from rural Minnesota to New York City. She talks about how one is expected to behave where she grew up. It was considered as rude and snobby to pass someone in silence – which is pretty much the worst thing in a small town – you have to say “Hi”. “Passing someone in silence wasn’t only rude; it could lead to accusations of snobbery – the worst possible sin in my small corner of egalitarian state (paragraph 3-5)”. Whereas in New York City it will make you seem mental greeting a stranger if you were to greet everyone you meet on the street. It is this problematic issue that has inspired Siri Hustvedt to write the essay. The title refers to the paradox living in a big city: on one hand you live among so many people and on the other you do not know these people so you are really on your own. Although this is not specifically mentioned; but she indicates it indirectly through an anecdote about the habits of her neighbors “...I listened to the howling battles of the couple the lived below me, their raging voices punctuated by thuds, bangs, and the...
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...d. 14/9/2011 Essay 1 Living With Strangers The big city. Just the word gives a wealth of associations: The big city is noise and traffic, a lot of life. The big city is the anonymity in the crowd. The place where everything you do is not noted by others. The big cities came as a result of the increasing urbanization after the industrialization in the 1800s when a lot of people moved from the country to the cities to get a job. But the fact that you are now living with hundred thousands or millions of other people creates many challenges. It can especially be a problem how to deal with all the people who you do not know and who you do not manage to get to know. That is exactly the theme the American writer Siri Hustvedt takes up in her essay Living With Strangers published in The New York Times in 2002. The text is built up in three main sections. In the first part Hustvedt tells her personal story about her moving from the country where everyone knows each other and everyone always greets everyone, and to the big city New York where nobody greets each other and millions of people live side by side. She quickly learns the unwritten rule which says something like, pretend like nothing is happening, “It didn’t take long for me to absorb the unwritten code of survival in this town (…): PRETEND IT ISN’T HAPPENING” (line 17-20). Hustvedt quickly captures the reader’s interest by telling this personal story in the beginning because the reader can identify herself with her and...
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...B Living with strangers All cultures and societies have unspoken rules, which an outsider like our narrator in “Living with strangers” from the New York Times in 2002, simply will not understand. Whether if it is in the country like Minnesota where greeting everyone is considered obligated or New York City where addressing a stranger would make you seem mental. This observation is what has inspired author Siri Hustvedt to write the essay “Living With Strangers”. The title refers to what apparently is going on in every major city, although the essay never specifically mentions it: We are becoming increasingly isolated while being surrounded by more and more people. Why can this be? Siri Hustvedt describes this through an anecdote from her first apartment in New York. Even though she was living alone at the time, she think of her neighbours as roommates because she was the witness to several acts that should remain private such as an argument from the downstairs apartment or another woman walking around wearing only underwear, for her to see. However, she did not know these people. They lived so close and shared so many private moments and yet, Hustvedt can still not see them as anything else other than “fellow New Yorkers”. That’s why she is living with strangers. In the text Hustvedt is really fascinated by is the “pretend-it-didn’t-happen-law”. The “law” is made so people won’t feel embarrassed. It links to the previously mentioned about never greeting a person you...
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...Living with strangers In the text “Living with strangers” Siri Hustvedt discusses the lack of solidarity and the social rules, one may meet in a big city, like New York City. Siri Hustvedt starts the essay by describing, the big difference she felt, when moving from rural Minnesota to New York City. She begins by briefly describing to the reader, how one was expected to behave, where she grew up. Whenever you encountered someone on the road, whether you knew them or not, you should always greet them. If you didn’t, you would be considered both rude and a snob, which was pretty much the worst thing, you could be in that part of rural Minnesota. Therefore, Siri Hustvedt quickly felt the difference between these two places, when greeting everyone you meet in downtown New York simply isn’t practical. But Hustvedt does not only describe it as impractical, but also as a kind of social code in the city. The title “Living with strangers” refers to a paradox that is apparent in every major city, although never specifically mentioned in the essay: We are becoming increasingly isolated while being surrounded by more and more people. Siri Hustvedt describes this through an anecdote from her first apartment in New York. Even though she was living alone at the time, she represents her neighbors as roommates, because she was witness to several acts that should remain private, such as a heated argument from down stairs and walking around wearing only underwear. However, she did not...
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...Living with strangers The big city’s has grown bigger in the last decade as a result of the increasing urbanization of the 1800-century’s industrialization. Where the jobs were moved from the countryside to the cities. To live in these big cities with thousands or even millions of other people creates a lot of challenges and problems. Especially when you have, to find out how to relate and react to all these people that you don’t know and never will. In the essay “Living with strangers. New York 2002”, Siri Hustvedt look at these challenges and difficulties there is in the big city life. The text can more or less be divided I three parts. The first part is about Hustvedt history and personal experience. She starts by telling that she comes from a small town where everybody knows everybody and you great every single person you meet whereas in the cities she quickly learned that whit all these people with so different life’s it would be impossible to great everyone. Moreover, it didn’t take long to noughties that there is an unspoken code. “It didn’t take long for me to absorb the unwritten code of survival in this town (…): PRETEND IT ISN’T HAPPENING” She also says that even though she has physical contact with millions of people every day there is no human contact. By starting with, a personal story she quickly gets the reader’s attention and it becomes easier to relate to the text. In the second part of the text, Hustvedt tells examples of this city code “pretend it isn’t...
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...hopeless to make someone notice you and send a smile your way, because while you acknowledge people they don’t acknowledge you. They’ve all grown accustomed to the oblivion that comes with big city life, or rather the feigned state of oblivion. We may all get drawn to it thanks to numerous movies and TV series romanticising it, but in fact adjusting to the big city, where things are getting lively, is somewhat of an acquired taste. This is some of the things that Siri Hustvedt emphasises in the essay “Living With Strangers”. Siri Hustvedt begins her essay with writing about the “culture shock” she is met by when she first moves to New York City. In her hometown in rural Minnesota it was a custom to greet everyone that you walked past even if you didn’t know the person. The most important part of the greeting when passing by someone was to actually speak the word “hi”. “When I moved to New York City in 1978, I quickly discovered what it meant to live among hordes of strangers and how impractical and unsound it would be to greet all of them.” (p. 1, l. 6-8). You will quickly realise that you need to adapt to the new environment and follow the rules that people in the vicinity live by. Another thing that Siri Hustvedt emphasises is a law that she learns is the way to get through the hell that is public transportation in New York City. “The simple law, one nearly every New Yorker subscribes to whenever possible, is: PRETEND IT ISN’T HAPPENING.” (l.19-20). She explains that is it...
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...Essay “Living with Strangers” Minnesota and New York are two thoroughly diverse cities, but still there are exceptions of this belief - they both, like every other city in the world, have their own tacit norms and proprieties. Cultures and societies have through time build ethics, which people outside the given group or civilization won’t understand. It can be everything from simply greeting each other, from rural Minnesota where “hi” slip of people’s tongues like honey to New York where its normal to live side by side with strangers, and addressing others on the street will make you seem ridiculous. This huge culture gap is what inspired Siri Hustvedt to write her anecdote “Living with Strangers”. The text is an essay, which is characterized by several things. It’s a non-fictional text, which means its about something real, and relates to this in an unbiased way. It is a very subjective style, written from a personal point of view, where the writer used own experience and reflections: “When I moved to New York in 1978, I quickly discovered what it meant to live among hordes of strangers…”. You can tell the text is personal by the fact that “I” is used a lot. The way of writing will seem very convincing to the ready. Hustvedt uses the ethos argument and therefore seems truthful and upstanding as a writer about this particular topic. The title represents the main topic quite well, as it refers to a very common paradox in urban societies - we have been to the moon...
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...B ‘Living With Strangers’ An enforced closeness that exclusively belongs to boyfriends and family is something you cannot run from when being on the sidewalk in New York City. So is this the definition of the so-called living with strangers? Siri Hustvedt is an American author who in 2002 wrote the personal essay ‘Living With Strangers’. She simply raises the pros and cons of living together in the big city of New York – in a very non-simplistic way. With personal experiences and thoughts throughout the whole essay, she holds on to the reader’s attention from the very first line. I will mainly focus on the choice of genre, together with the linguistic instruments that Siri Hustvedt uses in her essay. There are a lot of basics that feature the characteristics of a personal essay. The personal essay is often focused on a belief or an insight about life. It combines elements as the narrative’s former experiences or relationships and raises questions about open answers. Only this genre permits Siri to be subjective on a topic where the essay still has a professional level of seriousness, while the intimate connection between sender and receiver creates a certain sense of ethos that helps Siri convincing her audience. This genre also gives Hustvedt the space to express her experiences in a way to convince us of her impression of “Living With Strangers”. Although, there is not a precise view being shared as the personal essay’s main argument: Instead it is more a meticulous reflection...
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...Living with strangers Every culture and society has different norms and ways of living their lives which can be difficult for others to understand. When you meet a stranger in the street in Minnesota it is almost considered compulsory to say hi when you pass by, at least where the author of the article “Living with strangers’’ is from. Her name is Siri Hustvedt and she wrote the essay in 2002 which was published in The New York Times. She moved from the country in Minnesota to New York City where addressing strangers on the street is considered very odd. Siri Hustvedt’s essay is inspired by this difference between the norms and ways of doing things. The title “Living with strangers” is a bit of a paradox, because living with someone would normally make them everything else than strangers. In Siri Hustvedts life that isn’t the case. She moves to New York City where there live a whole lot of people. In New York City you are surrounded by more and more people, nonetheless you get more and more isolated in your own little world. This isolation and exclusion from the world outside is what Siri Husvedt’s essay is based on. From her apartment she could hear and watch things which should have been kept private such as a couple arguing and men only wearing underwear. They could almost have been roommates or something but they were just fellow New Yorkers who had unintentionally shared private moments. She is living with strangers. “Pretend it isn’t happening”(p.1.l.20) is a law which...
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...Michelle Gjørup Engelsk Essay 17. maj 2015 Living with strangers By Siri Hustvedt Living in big cities like New York City is a relatively modern phenomena, and why wouldn't it be when the big city, unlike the countryside has so much more to offer? Hundreds and thousands of possibilities can be found and realized in the big cities, its been this way from the time after the industrialization in the 1800’s with the increase of urbanization where a lot of people moved to the big cities to get a job. But with so many people in one place comes several dilemmas, like what do you do in certain situations when people around you seem not to care as much? The lack of social interaction has a huge effect on some people, one of them being Siri Hustvedt. In her essay “Living with strangers” from 2002, Siri Hustvedt discusses how she sees “the big city” and its lack of social interaction, and what affects it has on her as a former Minnesotan. In the countryside everyone knows everybody and people greet each other like its second nature. But as Siri so quotes in her essay people in New York has an unwritten rule to “pretend it isn't happening”. She further states that even though there are so many people that you on a daily basis get up close and personal with ”... I found myself in intimate contact with people I didn’t know, my body pressed so tightly against them, I could smell their hair oils, perfumes, and sweat.” It doesn't...
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...Living with strangers What exactly is a big city and what correlation to the term ‘’urban living’’? A dictionary defines it as ‘’ The big city is used to refer to a large city which seems attractive to someone because they think there are many exciting things to do there.’’ So what relation does it have to urban living? Well, in the essay Living with strangers, written by Siri Hustvedt, we get some insight into the life of a person living in a larger city. In this essay, we get to know how everyone is a stranger and in New York City, there rules a special unwritten law, which is the law of PRETENDING IT ISN’T HAPPENING. An aspect of living with some complete strangers that Hustvedt is completely fascinated by, is the aforementioned ‘’law’’ pretend-it isn’t-happening-law, and that is an interesting way to get some insight into this urban living. It is a peculiar occurrence because you would think that moving to the cities would affect the amount of people you socialize with, but most of the time you actually spent indoors and isolated from the big world around you. When you finally move yourself out in the big world, then you spend half of the time looking into the ground and straying away from eye contact with strangers. Interactions between humans in our modern world is quite a complex subject to debate and it will be almost impossible, to find an exact answer to how one should act. Should everyone say hi to each and not really mean it, as they do in Minnesota or should they...
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