Word: normalized
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...characters in Night-Side, Oates' latest collection of stories, lie on the boundary between existential despair and actual insanity. They are too sick to be tragic, but they are normal enough for us to recognize ourselves in them. The heroine of "The Snowstorm," for example, is a young woman named Claire who despises all personal attachments. When her car gets stuck in a blizzard, she chooses to walk home through the storm rather than appeal to anyone for help. Such isolation is intrinsically neither sick nor ugly. If Claire were a real person, we might guess that she had been...
...inextinguishable American optimism-the belief that the country will somehow solve every problem. Together, skepticism and optimism thwart all efforts to move the public. The skeptical citizen, finally, cannot possibly see anything to be gained or any self-interest to be served by cutting down on the normal use of energy...
...after all, it is only normal American behavior that now seems profligate. Self-interest in the U.S. is more than the norm; it is the hallowed root of a society that has thrived on the notion that the common good results when individuals strive to get and enjoy as much as they can in a competition umpired only by the marketplace. It is that notion in action that accounts for the stunning fact that the U.S. burns up such a disproportionate 32% share of the entire world's energy (while also turning out, it is fair to remember...
...pressures for the continuation and constant acceleration of the normal American life are immense. There is not only the stubborn impulse of national habits; in numerous ways the American is stimulated to get more, go more, buy more, use more and enjoy more-all of which usually burns more energy. Peer pressure and advertising also help to inspire countless energy-using activities. Status seeking has not ended in the U.S. simply because books about it are no longer popular. To many, the big car remains an object of envious ad oration, and everywhere Americans still keep up with the Joneses...
...days when the Ted Turners of the world would hop into their boats, still tuxedo-clad, after an evening of nightclub-hopping; sailing is now a down-to-earth, serious sport. Unfortunately hot everyone realizes that, and the fall crop of freshmen can't compare to the turnout for "normal" sports such as football and basketball...