The beach embodies picnics, bonfires, play dates, family get-togethers, and a lot more fun in the sun. But when I went to the beach this time I realized the beach doesn’t only demonstrate the communal desire in people but also the competitive side. I saw a short fit man with marinecharacteristics jogging on the strip with his ears covered by the ear set of his iPod. This man was not aware that there were people walking in his path because they moved out of the way as they neared him. I also saw an older woman reading on her front lawn, by her front lawn I mean in the sand, she was reading what seemed like a romance novel. She had her sun glasses on her face and a sun hat on her head for protection and privacy. There was also a couple sitting on a rock the woman looked out into the oceans and to the people surrounding her while the man sat next to her holding her in his arms and scoping his surroundings. These people were all in their own "personalized lifestyle cocoons" living their private life in a public place (Solomon and Maasik 485). When we lay on our stomachs while we tan or take a nap, bathe in the water, and walk mindlessly around the beach with tiny bikinis and disregard for the people around us, we are "effectively denying the existence of all those other people who occupy the same public sphere" in this case the beach (485). Therefore we embrace the elitist side of our personality and undermine our egalitarian side.
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