Analysis Of Rural Vs. Urban By Reyhan Harmanci

Noor Alsirafi
Gail Vagnola
EL 111
18 September 2014
Rural Vs. Urban
After reading Reyhan Harmanci’s essay “Giving up my small-town fantasy” that was published in 3rd September 2014 in NY times, opinions section, I do agree her when she told us about her experience in living in two different places (rural and urban). and when she pointed out how big cities differ from small towns.. However, I disagree in others thoughts.
In the beginning, she started by complaining from urban life style and how it is very hard to make enough money there, she also considered it a waste of time and effort. “We could not buy, we could not move, we were stuck. And we were getting older. There was nowhere to grow”. That’s why she moved from San Francisco to Hudson (a small town in New Jersey) with her boyfriend to have a better life after getting bored from the city life.
Harmanci and her boyfriend life started well, their financial situation was great there; they bought a house, she started a new work at a media start-up called modern farmer and Patrick (her boyfriend) also was very happy with his new work especially because he had the relaxation and
the peaceful life that he was deprived from due to the hustle and bustle of the urban. However Harmanci could not stay there because she was feeling depressed and lonely with no social life, and that’s why she went back to Manhattan.
The article contains a picture of a lonely woman that couldn’t find a friend to be with so she preferred to gather her things in boxes to travel far away without having any hope to stay, which means It was obvious that Harmanci could not find a real solution for her problem, because she had to choose between making money with a lonely life or interesting life without enough money.
The author words were clear and she transferred her opinion in a direct way. Harmanci earns the readers’ respect by the way of writing and by choosing social life instead of money. The author mentioned a study was published in 2010 by the journal of economic geography that reports the reasons of the continually growing of some rural areas instead of being disintegrated also she mention a research by the University of Minnesota confirms this
information.
The article warned to a very important point of why people usually think about traveling from one place to another that might be to meet their personal needs and individual interests because big cities is characterized by high building, malls, shopping centers, restaurants, a lot of activities, Hassle and bustle, and good services. While small towns are more comfortable and peaceful also housing and living expenses there are cheaper than big cities.
Harmanci writing way convinced me because it comes from personal experience and reasonable arguments and i think that she did a great job. However, I think Harmanci could do something more to adapt the new life style, like if she was more patient she might make new friends there. In addition, I think it’s easier to make true friends in small town especially I have come to Evansville recently after living in two capital cities in two different countries and I do really find people here friendly and generous.
Finally, I would say that every person has his special needs, interests, and situation that decide which place is better for him to live in, big cities or small towns.

Work Cited
Reyhan Harmanci.” Giving up my small-town fantasy”, published in 3rd September 2014 in NY times, opinions section.