Is America Falling Apart 
America Falling Apart: National Identity & Consumerism
In Anthony Burgess’
Is America Falling Apart
, Burgess states that America is not where it should be. Our nation for all we portray it to be has many issues, which cannot be easily solved, as they are part of the social fabric that holds us together. If we were to go out and proclaim about the ills that senseless consumerism brings us to our society we would be laughed upon, as we don’t see them as issues, but part of our greater American identity. Americans view consumerism as part of our identity, but our fascination on it does not allow us to appreciate the greater things in life, which play a much more important role in who we are.
The United States of America comprises only 4% of the world’s population yet with our few numbers we manage to use around 25% of the world’s oil. We use this oil to make stuff, power our homes and SUV’s which take us from our homes all the way to our workplace wherever it may be. In the process of all this we manage to use a lot of goods. We buy our
Starbucks, gas, groceries, iPhones, and our new SUV. All of this building up to the fact that we use and waste a lot of stuff that we “need” to fulfill our happiness. We use material goods to fill a void, being that we don’t want to appreciate what we have around us, instead we show this through what we buy.
In the story Burgess makes the point that we don’t appreciate the finer things, because we’re spoiled. We haven’t had someone invade the USA, or have had to sacrifice significantly since the Great Depression. While many lost their jobs, the nation was brought together for a common goal and this marked a high point in our nation as we all ignored our differences to achieve something great. We did this to work together to put our nation back on track, and we had everyone working towards that common goal which we accomplished. America needs this every once in a while, as without it we lose
In Anthony Burgess’
Is America Falling Apart
, Burgess states that America is not where it should be. Our nation for all we portray it to be has many issues, which cannot be easily solved, as they are part of the social fabric that holds us together. If we were to go out and proclaim about the ills that senseless consumerism brings us to our society we would be laughed upon, as we don’t see them as issues, but part of our greater American identity. Americans view consumerism as part of our identity, but our fascination on it does not allow us to appreciate the greater things in life, which play a much more important role in who we are.
The United States of America comprises only 4% of the world’s population yet with our few numbers we manage to use around 25% of the world’s oil. We use this oil to make stuff, power our homes and SUV’s which take us from our homes all the way to our workplace wherever it may be. In the process of all this we manage to use a lot of goods. We buy our
Starbucks, gas, groceries, iPhones, and our new SUV. All of this building up to the fact that we use and waste a lot of stuff that we “need” to fulfill our happiness. We use material goods to fill a void, being that we don’t want to appreciate what we have around us, instead we show this through what we buy.
In the story Burgess makes the point that we don’t appreciate the finer things, because we’re spoiled. We haven’t had someone invade the USA, or have had to sacrifice significantly since the Great Depression. While many lost their jobs, the nation was brought together for a common goal and this marked a high point in our nation as we all ignored our differences to achieve something great. We did this to work together to put our nation back on track, and we had everyone working towards that common goal which we accomplished. America needs this every once in a while, as without it we lose