[YB-2]7月17日作业 by sunxcint

sunxcintUID: 2654472

The best way to understand the character of a society is always controversial. Yet it is significant and desirable to analyze it comprehensively. Undeniably, heroes and heroines are eminent representatives of spirit and character of a society. However, it is questionable that to what extent the groups of heroes and heroines can reflect the whole society and whether there are other better ways to understand a society.

To begin with, it is true that  most of times, the heroes and heroines should and do reflect mainstream spirits of a society. Heroes and heroines are the needs of a society. The complication and sophistication of a society  and  the abstraction of the character embedded in it require that concrete and visual images emerging as idols and models for persons to admire and learn from. Consider , for example, Michael Jordan, the best basket ball stars in NBA history and a hero in organized sports, whose hard work and physical courage are just a reflection of the basic values, that is equality of opportunity and the idea of competitive , of society in United States. President Barack Obama, the new political stars, is just the representative of a group of American who “call for a new kind of politics- a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together a Americans.”

Beyond this concession , however, I still cannot totally agree on the speaker because it seems to recommend that the heroes and heroines are omipotent in understanding the characters of the whole society. Careful observations can reveal that it is not all the cases. Heroes tend to be “elected” as heroes for the sake that they , or to say the spirit they are on behalf of , usually can present the glorious part of a society and inspire persons to contribution more to the  society. It is obvious that all the societies are composed of not only glorious part but also gloomy part. The American spirits and characters of individual freedom, self-reliance, equality of opportunity will not conceal the existing social problems such as poverty, high divorce rate, violate crime, gun control, the problems in the education system, both of which, after all, are a part of modern American cultures. If either is ignored , how can we expect to get a comprehensive understanding of  American society?

From the analysis made above, a better way should be presented to help understand a society. In this point,Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political thinker and historian, the author of Democracy of America, may give us some tips.  Many scholar believes that  he had a deeper understanding of character of American society than anyone else who have written this topic. It is not easy for him, as a foreigner, to get this horner. However, his way to study the Americans and American culture is surprisingly simple and direct. After arriving at New York, he and his assistants spent nine months traveling the United States, taking notes on all aspects of American society. It is this nine months visit that has help generate his great book, which is a “classic study of the American way of life”. Thus my suggestion to the solution is to learn the basic knowledge about it through reading and research; travel outside, exchange with the people living in it deeply, think and make notes.

In sum, I concede that to examine the heroes and heroines might be a shortcut to understand the whole society. Nevertheless, the society is composed of common people , rather than just heroes and heroines. The best way to understand it is to travel around to scrutinize it and exchange with persons living in it to obtain your own unique perspective about it.