Life Without Go-Go Boots - Coursework Example

Life With Out Go-Go Boots xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx the topic of the essay: Topic of the essay is "Life Without Go-Go Boots". The topic is very relevant with the theme of the essay, which addresses the amount of effort and brainstorming that a woman does to conform to some degree to the style of dressing worn by her peers, and associates. Go- go boots denote the ultimate "must have" that a women needs to possess in order to command respect from that strata of society whose narrow view of ideal womanhood is limited to high-end ready-to-wear labels or designer inspired high fashion trends and where women are devoted to their appearance and, believe that following fashion trend brings power, popularity, and success. The writer of the essay, who is also the protagonist of the essay, is forced to comply with the requisites of such a society by following the latest fashion trends and is influenced into thinking that she will not be happy unless she has those sleek and stylish dresses. But owing to her "limited resources" cannot do so and is subsequently labeled as "Bride of Frankenstein" by her peers. She tries hard to remove this unwanted tag by initially learning to sew and then doing some jobs to gather resources to update her wardrobe with the latest styles of dressing. But later on realizes that this is a futile exercise and a never ending quest and the inner beauty far outweighs the outward and superficial flamboyance of labels and brands, which are nothing but just shallow means to flaunt the body. . She finally settles for "a life without Go-Go Boots" but somewhere in some corner of her heart, the desire to possess those Boots still lives on and as she brings up her daughter she says she will definitely buy those Boots for her daughter, if she asks for them, as she can very well understand their value and the amount of self confidence they can bestow upon their possessor. 2. State the main idea of the essay in your own words. State whether implicit or explicit. Give examples and detailed responses. The main idea of the essay is to highlight the pressure of looking trendy on a girl at various stages of life right, from her initial days in school to her subsequent years as an adult and then further on as a parent. On the quest to keep pace with the fashion and trends, a women has to constantly keep her wardrobe updated with the latest couture in trend, be it polka dots shirt or small midis she must possess them to have a kind of social standing in the society where the self worth of a person is judged not by the qualities or inner attributes but by the labels and brands she flaunts. If she wears rubber boots when the latest trend is to sport the ankle high Go-Go boots then she earns the title of "Bride of Frankenstein". Not that this is an offense but such an activity requires money and time and the author is short of former, which makes her unhappy and she "quietly suffers", as she is devoid of latest dresses and has to satisfy herself with the "hand -me down" dresses of her cousin who is three years older. Unsatisfied as she is, she learns stitching and sewing to tailor for herself the latest styles, but then learns the hard truth that the fashion is fickle and by the time she is ready with a dress that dress is outdated. Later on she goes to live in west and learns that being on her own is far more less costly and easier than trying to participate in this mad race, but deep down she knows that this dressing style in which she appears "like a silk ambassador assigned to flannel republic", is just a marriage of convenience and she like most of the women would love to flaunt the latest dress although she acknowledges that "inner individuality" is much more important t than "outward conformity" (Para 18). The idea is quite explicit as she precisely states in paragraph 3 that she "suffered quietly" during her grade five for not possessing the button front shifts and as she grows she learns stitching and sewing (Para -5) so that she could wear dresses which are in vogue. But she also realizes that the very purpose of sewing gets defeated as by the time she is ready with a dress that dress which was in vogue when she began to sew, goes out of date when she finishes. Understanding this fickle and fly like time span of fashion she plans to be on her own and realizes that she has to reckon with "life's limited choices" (Para -6) and moves out in west where much emphasis is not put on dressing (page 7) and here she sports long flannel dresses and cowboy boots (Para 14) but the ghost of wardrobe again haunts her when her daughter starts to go school and she opines that she would definitely buy the "nineties equivalent of Go- Go boots" for her daughter, if her daughter asks for them (Para 18) 3. Choose a sentence (at least 2 lines); analyze using the 4-step procedure " I am always afraid I will spill something on it. I would be too nervous to enjoy myself. If this turns out, I would rather converse than make a statement." Para 12 The profundity of above sentence can very well be understood by first considering the context of these lines .The speaker who is also the author of the essay is basically trying to survive in a world with her limited wardrobe because of her limited resources (monetary). But recently she manages to buy a latest dress, after much coaxing and persuasion from her friend who complains that she will not get away with her clumsy dressing under the cloak of being "eccentric" as a result being a writer. Having bought that dress and cherished her moment of glory by wearing that dress, the author is overly cautious and careful with its use in future and fears that she might spoil it by spilling something over it. So she does not wear it as often as she wears her other dresses because while wearing it she would be too much pre occupied by the fears and doubts of spoiling her dress .She in the end decides that instead of making a style statement by wearing the latest hot trend she would rather wear any casual dress and just be there in a society rather than making other people notice her by her dress. 4. Write a 100 word summary of the essay A modern woman is increasingly faced with the pressure to update her wardrobe with the latest trend in the market to command respect from society that judges a women not by her inner qualities and abilities but by her dressing. If she does not conform to the latest trend of fashion than she is tagged as unfashionable and looked down upon by her peers. In such a society it is not easy to remain unperturbed by such pressures, to make matters worse the financial implications of keeping wardrobe updated is high and as result a woman with limited resources remains unsatisfied and her self worth declines in her eyes itself. At such times one does realize that "inward individuality" is far more important than the superficial flamboyance of a fashionable dress, but the desire to possess the latest couture still lives on somewhere and makes it presence felt for example in this particular case, this desire surfaces when the author brings up her daughter and she makes up her mind to cave in to the desires of her daughter to posses latest dresses whenever she asks for them. 5 Find an example of fact used in the essay " Writers are supposed to be eccentric" (paragraph 9) The author presents this premise to her friend, when the latter complaints about the weird and out of times dressing sense of the former. The author tries to get away with her out of fashion ensemble by saying that writers do not comply to the latest fashion and have their own peculiar sense of dressing which often seems strange and out of place to other people. The author by citing this premise just seems to corroborate the relationship between creativity and madness. Several ancient philosophers and scholars are of the opinion that "to create" is to bring into being or form out of nothing. Such a powerful, mysterious, and seemingly impossible act must surely be beyond the scope of scientific inquiry. No wonder creativity has for so long been explained as the expression of an irrational, intuitive psychic underground teaming with forces (perhaps divine) that are unknown and unknowable (at least to the sane, rational mind). Seneca recorded Aristotle as having said, "No great genius was without a mixture of insanity" (Lansford, 1900, p. 90). Even Shakespeare agreed with this and one of his character says, "The lunatic, the lover and the poet are of imagination all compact," so from time immemorial Creative inspiration - particularly artistic inspiration , has often been thought to require the sampling of dark "depths" of irrationality while maintaining at least some connection to everyday reality. It is this irrationality that manifests in the form of eccentricities and unconventional behavior, and disposition, which is also evident in their form of dressing and appearance, and the author sites the same fact to get away with her unconventional and out of time dressing. The intention of author for citing this fact is not to persuade readers to believe that writers are eccentric but to present a premise to justify her out of time and peculiar dressing. In Para 7 she presents the same premise that writers and scientists can afford to look like "unmade bed" as such eccentricities and unconventionalities go very well with their nature of work which generally keeps them too pre-occupied to produce something creative and original, hardly leaving them with any time to pay attention to what to wear and what trend to follow. 6. Find an example of opinion used in the essay. "Now, there is fashion, and there is style. The latter, I 've found will serve. And cost less" Para 13 The author seems to form this opinion when she finally realizes that following the mad race of fashion is not financially feasible for her, she learned stitching to tailor herself the latest hot couture just to find that by the time her dress is ready, the dress gets out of fashion, she spends all the money she earns to update her wardrobe, she tries to get away with her anachronistic dressing by citing the excuse of being a writer. But she is not successful to get away with her "Bride of Frankenstein " tag and concludes that she now has to adopt a particular dressing style to remove this stigma from her name. She forms this opinion as she concludes that adopting a style would not only be far more convenient for her but also cost her less as people who adopt a particular style say of wearing "buckskin moccasins" just like authors friend in Para 13 stick by that style and sport it for years without conforming to the latest fashion trends. Such an arrangement not only makes unnecessary any kind of brainstorming to catch up with what is the latest fashion trend but also saves time and money which otherwise had to be spent to keep pace with the ever turning wheel of fashion. 7. Evaluation of the essay: The author through this essay presents the dilemma of a girl who owing to the society in which she lives is forced to follow the latest fashion trends. Owing to her limited resources (monetary) her wardrobe remains short of being labeled as the vogue or the sleek or the trendiest wardrobe. She as a child wears hands me down clothes of three year old cousin and thereby is seen wearing "pastel shirtwaists with caps " when the latest trend is to sport "straight shifts with buttons down the front" and is subsequently labeled as "Bride of Frankenstein" by her peers, who judge a person entirely by what labels and brands she flaunts and not by her inner qualities. The author suffers quietly the stigma and tries hard to part away with it by learning stitching, by doing jobs, by being writer, by relocating to the west only to realize that all this is futile and neither can she get away with her out of time or anachronistic dressings nor can she comply to the latest market trends (owing to her not so sound economical condition) and therefore adopts a style of dressing, which comes out as a convenient and cheaper option but her moment of glory is short lived as although she has realized that "individuality" far outweigh the flamboyance and short lived glories of labels and brands but somewhere deep in her heart lives the desire to possess those "Go-Go boots" which symbolize the much coveted possessions of a trendy and an in vogue woman. The author very wittily and practically captures this subject, which is very common and prevalent in modern society in which the entire state of happiness and well being of women is defined by her wardrobe. The more latest and trendy a wardrobe one possesses more happy, successful and respectful a woman becomes in the eyes of her peers. The author sites witty examples to home in such kind of situations into the mind of readers for example in Para 2 she says "My black lace up oxfords, which my parents perceived of orthopedic value " and then how her friend and peers call her "Bride of Frankenstein" and later on towards the end of essay in Para 12 " I am sure , a silk republic assigned to a flannel republic" then how the realization of fickle nature of fashion comes to her through her mother as she precisely sums up the idea in Para 6 "high fashion has the shelf life of potato salad" The author has given a sound reasoning whereby she gives a statement and then goes on to justify its validity and relevance by citing an example for example she says in Para 7 " Artists are greatly indulged by society when it comes to matter of grooming " and then in the same Para she presents the reason for such attitude towards people with creative faculties as she says that "its presumed we're preoccupied with plot devices or unifying theories or things of that ilk" and her reasoning comes out with all strength when she eventually realizes that adopting a dressing style is a one time -full solution to her dressing dilemmas , one that is both economically viable and convenient . The number of facts and opinions used by the author are limited, but she does use them aptly and appropriately for example in Para 7 she says " I moved out West, where buffaloes roam" or in Para 13 "Moccasins instantaneously decay in wet weather". Her opinions have been very crisp and precise particularly the one cited in Para 17, which also serves to sum up the gist of the essay as she says, "she will be valued for inward individuality than outward conformity" The essay also stands out for its completeness and logic that becomes evident at the conclusion when the author opines that once asked for, she will happily produce the nineties equivalent of Go-Go boots for her daughter as she can very well understand their worth and value in the eyes of a girl and the amount of self esteem they can bestow upon their possessor. 8. Compose a 500-1000 word essay on a topic that arises from your reaction and reflection notes on the essay read. Topic, purpose, and main idea: Life without Go-Go boots captures the amount of brainstorming a woman has to do in her daily life to comply to some extent with the narrow and superficial dictums of "womanhood" in modern society .The following essay tries to sum up the mere shallowness and absurdity of the process .It concludes by presenting a new outlook towards womanhood which not only is far more better than the "labels and brands" outlook but also is the need of the world where millions of people die because of hunger and poverty. Construct an outline or map The essay starts by providing a brief glimpse of the dilemma every woman faces daily regarding her wardrobe .It further develops by presenting the various scenarios in which such wardrobe problems manifest .It then moves on by contrasting this with the other part of the world where people die out of hunger .it finally concludes by presenting a far more relevant situation and problem that need a woman's attention and energies more than her wardrobe. Final draft revised for mechanics and content Its tough being a woman in modern times, one of the reason for the same being the complex clothing decisions she has to make each day. She buys clothes not because her clothes are worn out but because her existing clothes are not in 'vogue' and if she wears theses, she would lag behind in the mad race of fashion amongst her peers, who flaunt the latest brands and labels. In cozy sweaters and scarves she might look like a figure of warmth in the winter season but she will be looked upon as unfashionable and anachronistic if the flavor of dressing this season is to wear minis with bare legs. So while selecting her wardrobe she rarely takes into account the convenience and comfort of the dress but has to check constantly how much the dress falls in line with the recent fashion trend. In such times, narrow view of ideal womanhood is limited to high-end ready-to-wear labels or designer inspired high fashion trends and to command respect in the eyes of peers and associates the chief priority of a woman is to wear the dresses in vogue. The self-esteem and happiness of her is directly proportional to the number of trendy clothes in her wardrobe. . If she is not sporting the trendiest dress of the season then she earns the risk of being labeled as "Bride of Frankenstein". It is difficult to remain unperturbed in such influences and a woman needs to possess a tough mental makeup not to be disturbed by such remarks Social gatherings, schools and colleges have become platforms to flaunt the labels and brands, and in such places the worth of an individual is judged not by her inner values and character but by the labels and brands she sports. The amount of anguish and other resources that goes in such a exercise is just not worth the outcome as this quest to remain updated with the fashion is endless. Every month, millions of women buy new clothes, and the trade produces hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of clothing a year. In stark contrast with this we have a significant proportion of population of the world struggling to summon a day's meal. In such times it is wise to ask whether a world, which is marred by poverty and want, can it bear to afford the needless opulence of such fashion crazy generation. Wouldn't it have been much better if such carnal instincts of the generation that bother on hedonism be checked and the effort that is put in such shallow exercise be used in better endeavors. Its time that modern generation realizes that inner beauty and character by far outweigh the shallow flamboyance and transitory appeal of fashionable labels and brand. They should realize that true glory of a person lies in the celebration of her individuality and character and not on her outer appearance and dresses. References http://talentdevelop.com/dysfunction.html Read More