We run into a lot of challenges through an ordinary day, and the challenges can be so frustrating to face. An example is when you have to smile to a stranger, what a transcendent experience. But are we aware of the masks we take on before leaving the house or is it a matter of course in these days?
Siri Hustvedt opens up about some episodes in her life that gave her some kind of culture shock in the essay Living with strangers.
Hustvedt moved from Minnesota to New York in 1978 and she writes about the differences between the society of a small city and a big city as New York. Her focuses are on how people in New York ignore everyone else and pretend like they are non-existing.
An example from the essay is when a man entered the same train as her. He informed people a few verses from Revelation and told that God has punished their sins. Not even one person turned and looked at him, which seemed strange for Hustvedt.
She explains this situation as pretend-it-isn’t-happening-rule, which is very popular in our time as well. It is just easier to pretend that everyone else is a ghost because then you don’t have to consider him or her.
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