[Essay] What Is Truly Necessary?

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lehfess

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Hello, I've written this assignment and I would like to know if there are grammar mistakes. Also I'd like to know if you think it is well structured, or if the paragraphs are too long... Those kind of things as I'm not a native speaker! Thank you very much.

Nowadays the term “consumerism” is often used with a negative connotation, even though it has other meanings which have not that connotation. Surprisingly, the Spanish dictionary “Real Academia Española” defines the word consumerism as the immoderate tendency to acquire goods which are unnecessary. It is inevitable that goods are bought and sold without thinking about the utility they really have. Many people want things they have never seen before only because it is unknown to them. Are the things man cannot produce by himself necessary? Or do people create objects which they think cover their basic needs?

Henry David Thoreau states at the beginning of the chapter Economy in Walden that, “By the words, necessary of life, I mean whatever, of all that man obtains by his own exertions (…). The necessaries of life for man in this climate may, accurately enough, be distributed under the several heads of Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel;”. Without taking into account the things Thoreau listed, there is nothing necessary in life lives if it cannot be produced by men themselves. For instance, in The Awakening the idea of conspicuous consumption is portrayed in the Pontellier marriage and the main character Edna cannot stand that Mr. Pontellier buys her luxurious presents to show their wealth. However, she prefers to live in a small house as she wants to become an artist. Although this has many interpretations, it can also be seen as the attempt to live apart from society and to try to live a simple life only with the indispensable. Before, people would move from the countryside to the city in order to live what they thought was a better life. Nowadays it happens the opposite, as gradually more people want to leave the city in order to a simpler and more peaceful life.

This could be related in some way to “Maslow's hierarchy of needs” since people keep adding new needs to their lives. Nevertheless, Maslow’s ideas cannot be applied to everyone as there are people who reject the factitious cares of life. In addition, his idea includes everything a person may need from a psychological point of view. It seems some people have ended up thinking they cannot solve their problems. Is society the culprit of the current state of our lives? Humans keep blaming society instead blaming themselves for the decisions they have taken, even though they are the ones who build society. This idea is stated by Katherine Anne Porter in Katherine Anne Porter: Conversations:
The whole effort for the past one hundred years has been to remove the moral responsibility from the individual and make him blame his own human wickedness on his society, but he helps to make his society, you see, and he will not take his responsibility for his part in it. (48)
Human beings would discover what they really want by experimenting and looking at their mistakes. As objective idealism postulates people can only discover or learn ideas from their own experience. Moreover, it is preferable to err in the attempt to improve than to assume something to be true.

“They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York. We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.” This extract Thoreau wrote in Walden summarizes the reality humanity is currently living. It is true that thanks to some inventions people have managed to improve their way of living by facilitating activities that were tough. Nevertheless, the unique aim of these inventions is making everything effortless. Technology is hindering human’s critical thinking ability and the result is that many of them are becoming machines. The man enslaves himself and he is unable to see the useless effort he is making in developing meaningless devices. Why is everyone in such a hurry to invent things that did not exist before? If there was not any need for it in the past centuries, why do people need it now? Humans want to live faster, to show that they are powerful and that they can demonstrate everything. Can science or religion demonstrate everything? There are not explanations for some phenomena and still people only believe what scientists say. Albert Einstein said “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Despite the different religious beliefs that exist, it should be accepted that science cannot demonstrate everything. Humanity has invented religion and science; as a result, they cannot deny the existence of transcendental phenomena attributed to religion and they cannot believe everything that is tested in laboratories.

Is it possible to live the way Thoreau lived? Although it is possible, it should not be a model to follow. The best choice is to find a way of living in which the person feels comfortable and happy with. Despite it is an arduous task to reject everything the man has developed until now, he should try to be an individual and not a machine whose primary function is to solve problems and do a specific task repeatedly. People are creating a meaningless dependency on technology. Furthermore, they think they are unable to live without it and that is only hindering their individuality. Mankind has the ability to analyze and to be critical, therefore they are capable of discovering by themselves if something is necessary or not for them. It is possible to live a simple life without those things that have become dependencies such as technology.
 

emsr2d2

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Welcome to the forum.

When do you have to submit your assignment to your teacher/tutor?
 

lehfess

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Thank you :)
I have to submit it tomorrow.
 

emsr2d2

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Then I wish you good luck. You will see from the explanatory notes for this section of the forum that we cannot help with homework or assignments. It wouldn't be fair. Your teacher needs to see what you can do, not what we can do.
Write the best essay you can, submit it to your teacher and wait to get it back. If there are any comments or corrections by your tutor which you don't understand, then you can come back and ask us to help you understand where you went wrong.
 
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