Where is the best place to live, in the city or in the countryside? Some would say the countryside because of the nature, the silence and the small society. Others would like the busy life in the city, surrounded by lots of people and high buildings every day. There is pros and cons of both, it would therefore be impossible to conclude the best place to live. In the essay My little bit of country by Susan Cheever posted in Central Park, is Susan Cheever telling her viewpoint on these two places to live. She makes it very clear that she prefers the city-life, maybe because of the industrialization in western society where most people moved from the country to the cities. Susan Cheever seems happy for this development…
In the essay is the writer, Susan Cheever, telling about Central Park and the city-life by using her own memories. She has therefor made herself first person narrator, and all the statements and opinions is from her point of view. She is starting chronologically with her first memory from Central Park, where she mentions her father’s homecoming from World War II. She is from there, in steps, going through her life and memories from Central Park until the release of the essay in 2012. This indicates a timeline from about 1945 until 2012. The narrator is using many adjectives and metaphors to describe the park and her connection to it, which gives the text an almost lyric and romantic style. “Unfortunately for me and my already full-blown love affair with Central Park…” (p.8, ll.69-70).
In this essay Susan Cheever is using a lot of contrast, one og the biggest is the contrast between city-life and country-life.
Contrast: City - Country
Theme: Identity
Structure: Cronologycal