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September 09, 2005
For him, Orange is Not an Orange but...
The author of this essay grew up in 40's. I imagine that during that time, there werent as many convenient and fancy grocery stores that we see everywhere in USA was established. As customers, we could purchase orange from anywhere in the country any time we want. The boy's desciption of craving for the orange seems to be really strong and he admits that he almost waits Xmas to arrive because of the oranges. The author writes, "...digging pasteverything else in your Christmas stocking..." bringing up that the oranges were included in the Christmas presents during that time. In today's world, would you be as happy as the boy if you find an orange in your presents? Of course NO, we are living in a different time, we are getting used to the habbit of getting what we want, whenever we want it. It wasnt always like that as I grew up in a communist country. The stores never used to sell fruits, cakes, cheese and such delicate stuffs to public. During one holiday afternoon, I came home from school and found watermelon on top of each other in my parents' drawer. I remember how I got excited to see those watermelon. Now I lost the excitement and that childish "I want that ..." feeling. In my opinion that feeling is both encouraging(will do anything to get it) and precious(so you get to have a nice memories and such) thing to have, not only for oranges and watermelons!
The essay is not only about the process of putting the orange in one's mouth and feeling the sensations of the fruit. It is about an American Culture during 40's.
Posted by lcisbold at September 9, 2005 02:07 AM