Study Questions:
One. What is the essential
ambience of the mall and its psychological effects on patrons? See paragraphs 5
and 6 on page 280.
Two. In what ways is the mall an
insidious drug? See top of page 281. “I am the mall.”
Three. What is the mall and the
emotional giddiness of shopping in the context of history? See page 281.
Four. What did other cultures know
about the magic of shopping that modern Americans are presumably ignorant of?
See bottom of page 281.
Five. How is the American mall a
degraded form of shopping when compared to the great shopping sprees throughout
the world in the last several hundred years? See page 282 top.
Six. What is Guterson’s damning
conclusion about the mall? See page 285.
Seven. What does Ira Zepp mean by
the term “centeredness”? 287 and 289
Part Two. Why the Mall Is So
Dangerous (In Ways We Can’t Even Imagine)
One. The mall is all about maximizing our desires out of the
practical realm and into the irrational realm.
Two. No one knows, including the “experts,” why we desire
things. We have ideas, theories, like we’re shopping for emotional reasons,
like renewal, self-esteem, therapy, stimulating our pleasure centers, etc.. Yes
we desire things for all those reasons, but those explanations are only
partial. In the end, we really we don’t know why we crave things that cost more
than we can afford. It’s not knowing the mystery of our desires that makes our
desires so dangerous.
I don’t know why I crave watches
that cost between $1,000 and $5,000. I don’t know why I crave cars that cost
over $50,000. I don’t buy these things, but the very fact that I desire them is
annoying and disturbing and a waste of energy.
Three. I resent exerting energy not buying the things I desire.
To suppress one’s impulse to buy requires energy and will power and I resent
having to spend time thinking about the energy I spend on not buying. This is
completely insane, but it is the condition of struggling to be responsible in a
world that titillates our shopping desires twenty-four hours a day everywhere
we go.
Four. There is a line from Guterson’s essay (281): “I am the
mall.” In other words, the mall is dangerous because it is not only a physical
entity that constitutes the major center of suburban life; it is something we
internalize. The mall is the externalization of the Id, which is raw, naked
human desire unencumbered by the powers of reason and logic.
Five. The mall is dangerous because it consolidates the most
recent innovations and creative energy in one location. It keeps us up to date
with what’s going on the realm of art, culture, and technology. Natural human
curiosity compels us to keep up to date on what the world’s greatest minds are
up to. We smart. If something is lame, we’re not drawn to it. In the
competitive world of shopping, we only get the best and the brightest.
Six. The mall has become an authority on what is fashionable,
cool, in good taste and we are consciously or unconsciously influenced by this
Authority Figure to the point that we become helpless to its dictates. Being an
obedient shopper is all about being helpless to one’s desires and insecurities.
Seven. The mall is the Mama that’s missing in suburbia. In a
society where both parents work or the one single parent works, a young person
needs a center, a place to feed, to clothe, to converse. The Mall becomes a
substitute Mama for which all these things can take place. In contrast, the
suburban home is often a quiet, lonely prison and the bustle and buzz of the
mall provides the sense of belonging young people crave.
Eight. The mall panders to the reptilian centers of our brain,
primitive instincts that most of us are ignorant of. However, these reptilian
instincts—to dominate, to feel safe and secure, to feel a sense of belonging
with our species—are exploited by the mall’s creators, the diabolical geniuses
of Madison Avenue. A deeper explanation of the reptilian brain centers can be found by watching The Persuaders. Of course, this documentary can be used as a research source.
Nine. The mall is a substitute for religious meaning. In the
absence of faith or a defined purpose, we find religious meaning at the mall,
which offers transcendence, sacred experience, renewal, and shared experience,
the very things offered in our world’s holy temples.
Ten. The mall is a corruption of the Persian bazaar and the
Italian agora and other historical shopping venues, which were based on cycles.
You shopped as part of a communal activity and within certain time boundaries.
It was understood in other cultures that shopping is a highly potent activity
and that in moderation it can be exciting and renewing to the spirit, but that
if taken too far, the law of diminishing returns set in to the point that one’s
spirit was corrupted.
In our modern age of commerce
THERE ARE NO BOUNDARIES. WE HAVE COMPLETELY SURRENDERED TO THE HELPLESSNESS OF
SHOPPING. See page 281.
Eleven. The mall is dangerous not because it is intrinsically
bad, but because IT IS TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING.
This is true of all things:
Romance taken too far becomes a
sick obsession leaving both romantic partners crippled.
Eating sumptuous foods taken too
far results in gluttony and crapulence.
Ambition taken too far results in
someone becoming blind to meeting the needs of their family.
Cleanliness taken too far becomes
an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Shopping taken too far makes on a
crack cocaine addict.
The problem with the mall is that
it is based on taking over your life and in this extreme state it is dangerous.
Writing Option for Essay #3
based on #5 from page 328: Analyze the “noncommercial reasons” (compulsions)
for going to the mall.
Sample thesis:
Chapter Seven’s selections make it
abundantly clear that the mall is a reaction to suburban life that makes shopping
the driving force in our lives by exploiting our weaknesses and emotional
vulnerabilities, which include ___________________________________,
_________________________________, ________________________________________,
_____________________________________, and _______________________________.
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