The Lot By Michael Leunig Analysis

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Context piece “Our construction of reality is always dependent on our environment” For years, philosophers, religious leaders and other individuals have given their views on reality and tried to establish the balance between the subjective and objective truth, to create a somewhat ‘formula’ for reality, however after all different theories and views have been proposed there is still yet to be a defined answer. This is because a person can choose to perceive reality, either intentionally or not, in whichever way they want. Through past life experiences or external influences such as the media, an individual is presented with a number of influences as to how they perceive reality. “This is water” by David Foster Wallace explains to us…show more content…
Michael Leunig the author of ‘The Lot’ addresses the consequences and result of an individual conforming to society and ‘following the pack’. Through television, magazines and marketed goods, the media is used as the primary channel to present the individual with their vision of the objective truth and reality. The main appeal is ‘beauty’ or ‘attractiveness’, which is addressed in ‘Thou shalt be attractive’ in the Lot. Leunig highlights the contrasted pressures inflicted on people to conform to society’s perception of beauty, and that examples of ‘what you should constantly look like’ are constantly in front of us, and rule our lives-“like a…show more content…
How often is it that a friend, family member, or even yourself act completely different in ‘cyberspace’ to how you really would in a face-to-face conversation? Too often. This idea is portrayed in ‘Spies’ particularly through the Hayward family. From an outsiders perspective they appear to be a near-perfect family. A returned war hero, Nobel and prestigious father, a beautiful loving and ‘faithful’ wife, and an intelligent, charismatic only child, all living in such perfection behind the oak wood door of their immaculate home. Allowing the people in their environment to see the constructed reality that they publish from the outside, however in the privacy of their own home, this created reality cannot protect them from the truth that Mr. Hayward is in fact a controlling and abusive figure in the household and Mrs. Hayward is partaking in an affair with a deserter of war. A symbol in the creation of this false reality is the blue scarf that Mrs. Hayward wears at one stage of the novel, as a ‘cover-up’ of the wound inflicted upon her by her husband. Through creating realities we are able to protect ourselves from the truth for a period of time and to a certain extent, however we cannot
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