Living with Strangers

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Living With Strangers When talking of different cultures, there will always be gaps where one does simply not understand what goes through the minds of the foreign civilizations, it will always be hard to know the “secret” rules of the people living in different places than yourself. Siri Hustvedt got inspired of this to write her essay “Living With Strangers”, she mentions the difference between Rural, Minnesota where she grew up, and New York. In Rural it was custom to greet everyone whether you knew them, or not, if you did not, it would be considered snobbery, opposite was New York, where they probably would call you mental if you greeted every person you met. Siri Hustvedt quickly discovers that she needs to be surrounded by lots of people, and continues to share an anecdote from her first apartment in New York, she was surprised of the fact that even though you were surrounded by so many people, you just got more and more isolated from the rest of the society. Even though she was completely alone, she was still close to her neighbors, only physically though, she did not know these people, but she got to know them in a very intimate way, she could hear them yell at each other downstairs, and she could see the neighbors walking around in underwear. So in a way she was close to these people, but she did not know them in person, she calls them “fellow New Yorkers”, which is why she is “living with strangers” these persons are just next to her, but they are nothing but strangers to her. The author also mentions the “pretend-it-isn’t-happening-law” which is another aspect of the unwritten rule that you do not greet people you do not know. Siri Hustvedt is fascinated that so many people move to the big cities, thinking that it is because they want to be around people, when they are only going to get lonelier, it was kind of akward because people do not know how
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