Paradise

Paradise
– By Mathew Kneale
When it comes to societies and cultures it is important to point out the huge differences there is between them, depending on there in the world you are. Some people live in a wealthy society and others live in a poor society and this has a high influence on how people think and act. People living in the western society often live their day stressed, selfish and always searching for materialistic things like money and popularity. They often in the hurry forget about real human values like friendship and love for other people. There are though some primitive cultures there money isn’t the most important thing, they try to live like we did many years ago, without the stress and materialism. They have made their own society and live by their own rules. Then again, there are other cultures there people live like we do I the western world. They have the same desires as us and they have forgotten all about the basic human values. They are looking for the paradise. They are looking for the western life. This is described in a short story be Mathew Kneale called “Paradise”
“Paradise” is about a British writer called Neville Ewan. He is travelling through Nepal, trying to make a tourist guide to foreigners so they will know which places to visit. When we first hear about him, he’s living in a village called Drughat. The people in the village are very friendly, and he can’t help seeing the place as a paradise. Because of this he decides not to put the village in his tourist guide. He won’t let the materialistic tourists spoil this perfect place. The people in the village are not happy with this decision and it makes them very angry. Neville doesn’t understand why the villagers are so upset, he thought that he had done them a favor, but finally in the end he realizes that the people are just like everybody else - greedy and shallow. Everything was a lie. Their hospitality and friendliness was just a mask, so they could get him to write good stories about the people and the beauty of the village so they could get tourists to came and profit on that. Neville realizes that everything is not what it seems. This place is certainly not the paradise that he thought it was. And so he leaves the village. Neville Ewan thinks of himself as a good and kindhearted man. But unfortunately this is why the people of Drughat throw him out. He believes that tourists have a negative effect on everything and he doesn’t like them. Even though they don’t mean to they will ruin everything there’s special about these peaceful societies. He is deeply tired of the western world and the way people are greedy and obsessed with money. He wants to find people who have not yet been affected by the western world, people with substance so to speech. And this is the reasons why he is travelling through Nepal. But not only because of that , the main reason for this sudden change of living is that his wife left him without a warning, and that it have been very hard for him to deal with. He was left all alone with no idea what to do. This is probably what triggered his hatred for everything else in the society and what made him leave Britain. Even though Neville thinks he is helping the people of Drughat, they see his actions as a huge insult. He left Britain in the pursuit of a life where money had no importance, the ultimate paradise. But instead he finds out that there is no such place. The people in the village are just as obsessed with money as everybody else. The story shall be looked at from a neutral point of view. Of course it is understandable why Neville don’t want to put their village in the tourist guide. He knows that tourists can destroy an entire village and he knows how people change in a bad direction when money becomes an object. But it is clear that this is highly irritating for the natives’. They do not have a lot of money. And they have taken really good care of him and still he refuses to help them even though he easily can. This must be very frustrating for them. The earth in the village is harsh and it is hard to grow any vegetables and therefor the village is also one of the poorest in the area. They try to explain that to him. They even tell him that people are dying and they cannot afford medical supplies, but still Neville refuses. Then a man from the village offers to change live with Neville he refuses, properly because he after all doesn’t want the live of a villager. So in the end, he is also a selfish man. He lets his emotion towards his wife dead and the western world, out on the village and that is not fair. This story shows us how big the difference is between living in a western culture and living in a primitive culture. We have a hard time understanding each other because we are brought up in two different ways, in two complete different environments. But no matter how we turn and twist it, we must accept that money has a big importance for almost everybody in this world. Money is something we all need to get by. And though money sometimes has a tendency of making people crazy and eccentric we need them for essential things like food, drink and medical attention.
In the 50’s and 60’s, the middleclass of USA moved out of the cities to fulfil the dream of life in the suburbs. The idyllic picture of the nuclear family’s peaceful life with house, garden and car is for many today transformed into a nightmare of petrol fumes, asphalt and shopping malls. The majority of the suburbs actually struggle with the old town centers traditional problems: poverty, violence and buildings falling into decay. The worst is however that this development is destroying the Americans fellow-feeling in the community. Long has there been a dissatisfaction with this, but it is not until now in the 90’s that a debate about the problem on a nation level has been created. n the Bank of America’s latest annual report it says, that the society no longer can afford paying the rapid growing expenses for the extension of the road network, the fight against pollution, crime etc. And architects and town planners recommend that America returns to its cities before they are completely destroyed.