Significance of Space to Cultures

Significance of Space to Cultures

DeVry University

Significance of Space to Cultures

In America, we have a concept called the American Dream. Being an immigrant, I define this simply as having financial stability and security in America, the land of paradise. For a handful of people, it’s the dream of being able to live like the Joneses – a movie about a perfect, affluent family who always seemed to be ahead of the trends on what to eat, wear, drive, and everyone just wanted their lifestyle. But there are some people who define the dream as having good paying jobs, being able to afford and own things like cars and houses. They believed that the bigger their living space and the more things they owned the better.

People have a tendency of not being content with what we already have. I personally think that it is human nature for us to strive and want more than what we already have, sometimes even to a point where we become ostentatious. One example of this is seen with American Homeownership. Adams mentions that “Americans value homeownership so much” (Adams, 2009, p. 575). It is one of the first things people judge you on. Lewis mentions that “More than any other possession, houses are what people use to say, ‘Look how well I’m doing!’” (Lewis, 2011, p. 369). He also mentions that “Americans feel a deep urge to live in houses that are bigger than they can afford.” (Lewis, 2011, p. 368). This tells us that it’s basically a game of ‘my house is bigger and better than your house’ because owning the bigger and better house means that you are successful and doing well financially even if it’s not practical to own that big house, you still want it because you want people to get the implicit message that you’re well-off without having to boast it out loud. The passage also gives us the idea that some people live beyond their means and spend on things that are impractical. Living in a big house that you cannot maintain financially will put you in deeper debt...