The American Dream - Book Report/Review Example

The American Dream On Being a Cripple Nancy Mairs applies satire when talking about the American Societyand the English language. The author also includes her struggles in life with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the story. In many ways, Mairs highlights elements in the American Dream based on hope and effort. At the start, Mairs talks about her life and reasons explaining self-reference of being a cripple. The opinion of the author is that no other word defines her condition than crippled. Closer words include handicapped, disabled, as well as differently abled. Applications of euphemisms paint a different picture of her as well as her condition. According to the author, other words do not describe anyone in particular because the society is more willing to accept war, death, wrinkles, and sweat compared to crippledness (Mairs 19). The author deals with sclerosis in the next phase and hardship experiences. Nancy Mairs gives detailed accounts of changes in her life following diagnosis. Mairs hangs on even in difficult moments in the same way the drafters of the American Dream advise people. The US remains the land of opportunity that does not entertain laziness. Although she needs help from people around her, Mairs is able to teach and carry out other demanding responsibilities. Ties among American citizens are evident when the author appreciates the support she received from her family members. On the contrary, the supported she receives makes her scared. She feels that the support comes because she is a cripple (Mairs 33). The American society remains obsessed with normality and physical appearance makes Mairs hate the society. According to her, any person deviating from norms in the society must find an alternative for compensation. In the same way, the American Dream fills people with hope; Mairs considers the American society full of expectations. Overall, Mairs explains ways she applies in coping with multiple sclerosis. She does not sympathize with her condition as a cripple. The author remains grateful to herself and the people offering support. She recognizes that life constitutes what a person makes. Life and death appear equal in sense that they are on both ends of the scale in transition. Mairs remembers their deaths remorsefully but learns that the society is full of greed that did not add value to life. He ended up becoming a drug trafficker with the intention to destroy other people’s lives but eventually destroyed his. The deaths of the two are good lessons to Mairs that help to change his thinking in all perspectives. Certainly, the themes in ‘On Being a Cripple’ depict the lives within the society that was inclined towards men. However, the characters led by Mairs, the narrator, transcend through many stages of life. He leads the other protagonists consciously choose their desolation and accept to live genuinely. He embraces change and lives to define what entails to be a man. The artistic way through which the author loves working easily erodes the perceptions that her condition renders people with disability incapable of doing anything productive (Mairs 41). Mairs discovers that some people in the society are superfluous. In her description of the people who engage in help, it clearly shows that the whole activity is interesting but does not value to human life. She refers to life as beautiful, pointless, and elegant. Transition continues through the scenes and becomes clear when by reflection Mairs calls all the respect enjoyed in his day at the beach. The author transcends through that stage and approves the fact that the actions by members of the family made other people to put to a godly status were unacceptable. Similarly, the respect he commanded together with others by virtue of association with Family members was uncalled for in all ways. This was false satisfaction and the narrator calls it egotism that nears autistic narrowness. Family members also enjoy a share of transition. Her life changes in many ways after the accident. She is forced to withdraw from her sport that is freestyle skier following the ruining of her knee. She becomes bitter in her life because most of her desires in life go unfulfilled while at the same time others alienate her from her husband. This happens as Family members and others go to Indonesia and Thailand for surfing. Lack of clarity on the causes of death of others with suspicion of suicide and misadventure serve as the epitome of transmission. The Singer Solution to World Poverty Peter Singer, an author and Utilitarian Philosopher wrote the ‘The Singer Solution to World Poverty.’ He promotes a solution to the gap in wealth scales in the population of the world today. The author identifies that issues related to poverty such as starvation, malnutrition, and dehydration besides other curable diseases are because of the disparity in wealth levels. According Singer, everybody should donate money accumulated and in excess of immediate survival requirements to international relief organizations including the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Peter Singer explains, “An American household with an income of $50,000 spends around $30,000 annually on necessities, according to the Conference Board, a non-profit economic research organization. Therefore, for a household bringing in $50,000 a year, donations to help the world’s poor should be as close as possible to $20,000. The $30,000 required for necessities holds for higher incomes as well. Therefore, a household making $100,000 could cut a yearly check for $70,000. Again, the formula is simple: whatever money you’re spending on luxuries, not necessities, should be given away (Singer 22).” The mind of the reader moves to create an image of a little village. Furthermore, Singer the author has characteristics that show a person who confines his mind to equality. Through this, the author makes necessary preparations to walk through the theme of transition considering that it includes the society that is sacred and requires serenity. The plot serves as the best set up to convey the intended message. The society plays a great role when a person transits from one level to the other. Singer and Loon have grown from their days as children playing in the local river to teenagers and then to adulthood when they become professionals and in the process of introducing a fair world. Singer presents ways to eliminate poverty. The representations are existential and diverse. Through the same, characters as mentioned above transcend gradually as they get the opportunity to make their lives better. This is a responsibility of adults but requires the grace of God. The transition meets resistance and support in equal measure. The frameworks of the society set in a traditional way become the true obstacles where the more enlightened masculine paradigms make the environment for transition favourable. Underlining the importance of the society, certain characters in the novel disappear and are not accorded ant other opportunity to meet with their friends or family members again. This just reinforces the view that human association in the novel needs the support of spiritual power. In this case, the bond between personhood, obligations owed to them because of their gender, and the spiritual capacity endowed to them is lost. Transition is a continuum of spiritual issues that are aesthetic, religious, and ethical. The author discovers after various years that people have to transcend (Singer 49). His history comes out when the call he receives informs him of teenage boy who has died attempting to experiment on auto-asphyxiation. In addition to the set up in Sawyer, the memories his teenage life that was turbulent, re-emerges. Singer is forty years more than his memories. This transition helps him realize that he needs to sieve his past, discard ways that were destructive and then pick the best and apply them for continuality. The description of comparison by the author brings in an element of poverty. Wealth appears godlike to Singer. The reasons advanced by the author for using US as an example is similar to the obligations that dawn on the minds of Singer on discovering that he has been living wrongly with history immediately he received the call informing him of the death of the teenager. Interactions between the pre-adolescent children and Singer capture the image of poverty being superior to the two as he trains them on how to really surf. The lads personify him as god. Singer has more power, knowledge, and skill in surfing matters. In one way, he instils this respect in the society when he takes them to the wildest and bigger waves. Singer thrives in this kind of worship for him by the two children. Works Cited Mairs, Nancy. Waist-high in the World: A Life Among the Nondisabled. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. Print. Singer, Peter. The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty. Melbourne: The Text Publishing Company, 2010. Internet resource. Read More