Snobs vs. slobs

550 Words3 Pages
Colin Tacardon Senior English Neat People / Sloppy People 1/9/09 Slobs and Snobs In her essay, Neat People vs. Sloppy People, Suzanne Britt shatters the typical presumption that slobs are lazy and immoral people. Ironically, Britt claims just the opposite, that neat people are the callous clods at heart. In a point-by-point contrasting essay, Britt explains how sloppy people are ethical, optimistic and compassionate, while neat people are coldhearted, cynical and wasteful. The very first point Suzanne Britt makes in comparison of the neat and sloppy is of moral character. For example, she states that sloppiness is only an “unfortunate consequence of extreme moral rectitude.” In contrast, Britt supposes that neat people are so obsessed with tidiness that they may “throw the children out of the house just to cut down the clutter.” This shocking image shows that neat people are the immoral ones, not the sloppy ones. With these points made, Britt suggests that our cleanliness depends on our personality and that neat people are actually less ethical. Suzanne Britt also notes a second difference between neat and sloppy people, based on optimism and hope for the future. Sloppy people are stuck in “Never-Never Land,” carrying a vision for the future in their minds that they will eventually clean up their act. On the other hand, neat people “do not care about process,” only results and are thus more attached to reality and the material world. According to Britt’s analysis, while sloppy people are too busy planning for a better someday that they forget to clean, neat people are cynical in their approach to life and tidiness. They inspect everything for immediate use and, if there is none, trash it promptly or it will collect dust and hold you back. Therefore Britt’s final judgment would be that sloppy people are more optimistic and perhaps even happier than their
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