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Hao Huang
Professor Gifford
English 114B
27 March 2014
Space To Be You
Space seems infinite, especially in the city of Los Angeles; it is so big that people dont
realize how vast and mind-bogglingly big it is. We take for granted the space that we live in.
Many people end up publicizing their private space through social media such as Facebook and
Twitter. However, this is due to the way society works. Society corrupts the minds of people in
that it makes them act differently around different people and different environment. People want
to be socially accepted so much that they would do anything to please others. Therefore, in each
type of space, people act according to what they see fit. We all need our private space where we
can simply just call our own; whether its a room, house, or somewhere to feel safe. Therefore,
we need to establish a border in which we can privatize ourselves from society; we need to give
each other space to grow, to be ourselves, and to exercise our diversity.
A place can have more than one meaning; it has a palatial and spatial meaning. In Erin
McClellan Making Sense of the City, she states that Both spatial and platial approaches to
understanding always require each other in some degree but continually appear as privileged or
disadvantaged (McClellan 1). An area can have its advantages and disadvantages. For example,
a house can be seen as a place people use as shelter, but however, the disadvantage to a house is
the duties that come with it. Living in different neighborhoods means different types of spatial
and palatial meaning. In rich neighborhoods, the houses look would be bigger and nicer
compared to the poorer communities. For example in the city of Pasadena, California, there are
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fancy houses that average about three to four bedrooms with a huge front and back yard that is
occupied by a family of three while there are people in El Monte that have family of seven that
share an apartment with three bedrooms. However, the duties that come with living in the richer
neighborhoods are greater than the ones in the poorer neighborhoods. In Pasadena, the income
per person from the years 2008-2012 is around $40,000, while in the city of El Monte is only
around $14,000. Because of the difference in social class, everyone will grow up into different
individuals.
In addition to spatial and palatial meanings, McClellan also talk about all discursive
spaces are bound by opportunities and constraints connected to the situations and places within
which they occur (McClellan, 4). People that live in rich areas tend to have better opportunities
and fewer constraints than the ones that arent so privileged. Because of the income per capita,
richer neighborhoods have better schools and lower dropout rates. In Pasadena, 84.5% of the
population has a high school diploma compared to the 54.9% in El Monte. However
opportunities are in the reach of those that seek it. Because El Monte isnt one of the best
neighborhoods, people should seek to leave it behind, and although Pasadena is a nice and quiet
place, there are still crimes that occur. People shouldnt shape themselves into the city; they
should seek opportunities to shape themselves into what they wish to become.
Each and every individual is different. We have different ways of thinking and different
perspectives. In the space of our room we would decorate it so that it would show how it
represents us. We put up posters of stars that we admire and hope to become, or we have shelves
of books that we explored. Some people are neat and everything has a place in the room, while
others just throw everything on the ground without care. There are so many traits that can be
extracted from just looking at ones room. A persons room not only can be used to identify the
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person, but it allows others to learn and understand what the person is like. We set up our rooms
to give out a certain vibe. This allows us to show others our uniqueness; however, sometimes the
vibe we want to give out contradicts with the vibe others are receiving. Although others might
not understand us, we should always strive for diversity because it shows our individualism.
In our own private space, we can be whatever we want to be. We want others to
understand what we are into and hope they would learn a little more about us. We can exercise
our diversity by doing what we love in the privacy of our own space. Musicians would have a lot
of instruments in their room, while an artist would have a lot of paintings. Although many do
enjoy their privacy, others would publicize their work through means of social media and other
ways of communication. We do this in order to be accepted by society and to obtain the fame
that the stars that we idolize have. However, most people are too shy to share their talents with
the outside world because they are afraid that society would judge them for being different. With
the advancement in technology, the means of communication has also evolved. People no long
need to go out to socialize with others. They can text people with their phones or chat with others
via internet. But that might not be the real them, because they want to be appreciated by their
peers. To be likeable by others many have to conform to societys standards, they have to wear a
mask to cover their true identity. However in the space of their room, there is no one watching,
no one judging them, and most importantly they can let their imaginations run wild. This is why
we need a sanctuary where we can escape from the real world.
A sanctuary is where one can be safe from anything. Most people can say that their room
is the place where they escape from their problems. In Anzalduas Borderlands, she states
Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them
(Anzaldua, 25). What she means is that people set up boundaries to protect themselves, to protect
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themselves from what they dont want to become. Once a person cross the door into their room,
they escape from reality. They are living in solitary; they are the one in power. Ones room is an
alternate universe where the outside world doesnt matter. But in a persons room they will
constantly doubt themselves; they will punish themselves for every wrong they committed and
reward themselves for every act of kindness that they indulged. In this private space we have the
ability to reason with our actions. We can plan out what we should do and review what we have
done. In this little private space we have grown to become the person we are. We have faced
every emotion we could encounter in this space. Our room is where we laugh, cry, smile and
lived through our entire lives. We need this private space to grow, be ourselves and exercise our
diversity.
Ultimately, space is a more than just an area with height, width, and depth. It gives a
deeper meaning to the area. Many people would see a house as just a place where people use as
shelter, but others could see it as a home where people grew up, and experience the world. We
cant just see a place just as it is. We need to see for its spatial and palatial meaning, because it
helps give others a better understanding of the area. A house can be good and bad. If someone
has a large house, it means they have more cleaning to do. Someones room isnt just a solitary
confinement; it is an escape from reality. We need to establish our own private space. A place
where there are no boundaries, no limits, and we can be whoever we want to be. Although not
everyone has their own room to decorate or thinking out loud, but they should find an area to
establish themselves. This way they can grow up with diversity and not be fooled by society into
becoming one of its puppets.


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Work Cited
Anzalda, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1987.
25+. Print
"El Monte (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." El Monte (city) QuickFacts from the
US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 March 2014.
McCllean, Erin Daina. Making Sense of the City: Place, Space, and Rhetoric in Portlands
Pioneer Courthouse Square. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies. 2008. Print
"Pasadena (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." Pasadena (city) QuickFacts from the
US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 March 2014.