DEJA’ VU
The trip was to the West Edmonton Mall on the West side of the city and my Professor had thought it a perfect choice for a field trip given the limited options and the convenience of saving a buck. Most of my classmates had thought it tacky, admittedly I was excited at the prospect of being at the “biggest mall in the world”, and I personal didn’t see what all the fuss was about. This trip would be a first to the mall and definitely not the last.
I come from a remote village at the foot of Mount Kenya where I had been raised and received my education. A field trip in my part of the world would be a visit to the next village across the river, where the journey would have been made on foot or by means of black Chinese-made bicycles, having to ring bells and hurl warnings as you navigated to avoid the human obstacles that lined the dirt roads of remote Africa on their way to the village market.
We got paired into twos before we left for the mall that evening. On arrival, there was something familiar and magical about the place, people seemed removed from themselves: Lovers walked hand in hand, sellers were busy in their stores, buyers haggled for discounts; teenagers cut loose from school, shrieked their way around the mall, some walked around aimlessly, in this parts called hanging out or “just chilling”, people everywhere streaming through mall alleys and around each other over a thousand tongues that make the noise of the mall. For the hungry, the food courts provided a variety of dishes to pick from. At the mall’s ice rink a figure skating team, all dressed in black uniform practices a routine as a crowd of curious onlookers take a break form their shopping to catch a glimpse.
The Term Paper on Shopping Mall Family Consumerism Jack
... and his family begin to shop at the Mid-Village Mall. Throughout White Noise, shopping is seen as being a ... the company of one or more family members, makes trips to the supermarket. The supermarket has come to ... runs into a group of friends during one shopping trip. They all gather together to look at books ... bulk. Jack describes this in one of his many trips to the supermarket: There were six kinds of ...
The trip, my first to the mall was as I had expected, busy with activity. My friend had described it in a way that made me look forward to a visit. Being there felt like an curious youngster left alone in an amusement park, I wanted to explore all the corners of this jungle, they call “West Ed”.
But there was something else about the scenes at the mall that seemed awe fully familiar, scenes I’d seen before, poetic images that had taken place not in the distant past; Maasai warriors at the market place had stood posse on one leg just like the flamingos, buyers negotiating for discounts with sellers on wares displayed on spread out mats, the youth walking aimlessly in the market place around mobile vending shops oblivious of life’s heavy burden weighing on their shoulders, the village dancers practicing in unison to the beat of the drum entertaining the village crowd that had come to shop at the market with their latest dance.
