Azom 1

Sumaiya Azom

October 31, 2008

English 1020

Andrea Silva

“On Paradise Drive”

What does being an American really mean? What makes us who we are? How does being am American shape us? First off, consider what kind of America we live in.

Are we a country full of hope and prosperity or are we just a bunch of superficial citizens.

Taking a drive around America can define the ideal American but maybe not in a good way. “On Paradise Drive” by David Brook will take you on that all-American road trip that can show you who Americans really are. Brooks explains the real meaning of being an American by writing in a highly descriptive style, also using ethos and as well as logos.

Brook divides his book into three interrelated sections. In the first part he describes what life is really like and how Americans live. He shows us the characters that should already be familiar to us, so we can only combine his perceptions with our own.

By taking his readers on a drive, Brook uses a highly portrayed description of what life is really like for an American. Here he is primarily concerned with the suburbs. He feels that the suburbs have “no past, no precedent, [and] no social conventions” (Brook).

Suburbia is just the setting for modern American life, but no author has the audacity to tell others of how messed up we really are.

So why don’t people just say the truth about Americans, well maybe its cause it’s too harsh for us. Brook interestingly spells out Americas flaws, while humoring his Azom 2 readers with the obvious. His book attracts readers of every age and nationality. It is not a book slandering Americans because the author has no intention of such but shows everyone the reality.

Consider Brooks division of suburbia into different “zones”. He undoubtedly defines them through clear observations about brand names and fashion trends. He employs enough familiar names and shapes to convince us that we recognize each of his zones, although they are composite types rather than the real places. He takes you on a drive through the different neighborhoods and begins within the city, which displays “a stimulating mixture of low sexuality and high social concern” (Brook). Further out, the first suburbs he describes is the “crunchy” suburbs. One may find heavily populated

“counterculture urbanites” that did outrageous things in their youth but changed because they now have kids.

Close-by are the suburbs, also known as the inner-suburb, in which “ it is apparently socially acceptable to buy a luxury car so long as it comes from a country that is hostile to U.S foreign policy” (Brook). As we drive further out, “ we begin to notice that the houses are getting bigger, the lawns look professionally manicured, and the driveways tend to be filled with Audis, Volvos, and Saabs” (Brook 25). After leaving the inner-ring suburbs, you drive straight into the heart of suburbia. Where there are split- level communities, cul de sacs, soccerplexes, and all other “stereotypical appurtenances of homo-suburban.” This is entirely a self-contained civilization.

Brook riffs us through a collection of stereotypes that will be familiar to readers of his magazine work: Patio Man and Realtor Mom, dutifully conformist college students and over scheduled sports kids, cell-phone-clutching businessmen and self regarding Azom 3 magazine editors. Brook builds characters, and has taken together the country, from the outside in, through recitations of what he supposes to be their brand-name consumer preferences.

Brook argues that in the modern day we wear different clothing, live in different sorts of houses and work different sorts of jobs. Throughout his book, Brook describes the everyday aspects of American life as being “tawdry, inspiring and comic” (Brook

280). His main argument is that America is not a perfect country. Besides nothing is ever perfect. Doesn’t Brook know that many American already realize his notion? After all,

America is striving to be a powerful nation so that it can bring about flowering individuals. Brook demonstrates through his satirical narratives that it takes humor combined with reality to help his readers cope with his opinions.

The second part of his book clarifies the mystery of motivation. In order to clarify it one must be able to provide logical reasoning and a satirical narrative to support his argument. During the drive, readers also learn more about the American culture through Brook’s application of logos. Brooks has set a more challenging task for himself, which is to offer a version of mainstream American culture that is persuasively celebratory and that explains its extensive influence on the rest of the world. "Comic sociologist" is what Brook is, although he obviously aspires to a status grander than that of a mere jokester; and finally his book does not lack for soaring rhetoric. He wants to be abstract of the ordinary American society.

For example, Brooks separates Americans into two groups: the “cosmic blondes” and the “cosmic brunettes.” This is not based on our hair color, or even intellect–it is a description of our disposition and outlook. The cosmic blondes are always sunny; the Azom 4 cosmic brunettes are more introspective. The brunettes are writers, readers, artists–and always critics. “The Cosmic Blond floats through life on a beam of sunshine, from success to success. The Cosmic Brunette obsesses and reflects, frets and fumes, turns inward, and clings to the view that the examined life is the only life worth living”

(Brooks 88-89).

So what is the motivation for Americans? The feeling that there is something wonderful waiting just ahead for us motivates us Americans. Brook uses statistics to illustrate the patterns of American living. However, he speaks in parables, uses stereotypes for the personality of people and for individuals. Brook also says that his motivation is his love of the country. He wants to tell the truth about Americans using humor because no one had really done it yet. If they did it isn’t as popular ass Brook.

Lastly, in the third portion of his book, Brook elaborates on what an ideal

American is. Towards the end of your road trip, readers are clarified on what the ideal

American truly is through Brooks’ use of ethos. However, if you probe deeper, you find that we behave the way we do because we live under the spell of paradise. We are the inheritors of a sense of limitless possibilities, raised to think in the future tense and to strive toward the happiness we naturally accept.

Ultimately, On Paradise Drive boils down to expectations, both realistic and unrealistic. These are the dreams and desires foisted upon us by those whose opinions we care about as well as those we shouldn't, such as advertisers who count on our insecurities as they try to convince us how much better life would be if we used their products. "Why do we torture ourselves with things we don't have and aren't likely to get?" asks the author. Azom 5

So what is the ideal American? Are we as shallow as we look? Brook says we are not shallow however, he says that, “we are imaginative people, dreaming people.”

We may look behind at our deep, dark, mysterious past, but we do have a huge, well- awaited future in front of us. Americans just have trouble adjusting to the reality of out situations.

Brook does not cover all of America; he only takes glimpse of the main activities of the average American. By focusing on the suburbs, Brooks has taken out of the discussion the parts of the country where most poor people live, the cities and rural areas; but he does- by ways of demonstrating that he is being un-ideological in these pages- mention a time or two that there are some problems out there. Brook understands that the

United States as a collection of happy, materially prosperous types also implicitly rules out the possibility that anybody might be doing better than anybody else, let alone that some are doing well at the expense of others.

Explicitly, Brooks insists, "There is no one single elite in America. Hence, there is no definable establishment to be oppressed by and to rebel against. Everybody can be an aristocrat within his own Olympus.” Brook's argument is that even if most Americans aspire merely to the ordinary, the universality of their aspiration elevates our society to distinctiveness and connects it with the moral profundity of the Puritan "errand in the wilderness."

To put it in other words, Brook wants readers to follow him on is journey through

America. He wants to state the obvious without slandering. Throughout his book, he answers what makes shapes and breaks an Americans lifestyle. He sympathize the positives of being what he really is, AN AMERICAN! If he was an “outsider”, people Azom 6 wouldn’t have liked it, even though what is said may be true. It is less troublesome to hear things from one of us. To leave things on a good note, Brook says that American people are” the peacablest and most good-natured race in the world, and the most personally independent and intelligent (Brook 279).

Works Cited:

Brook, David. On Paradise Drive. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004.