English Essay – Paradise People from the industrialized countries tend

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English Essay - Paradise People from the industrialized countries tend to have a romantic idea of less "civilized" countries, and believe that the people that live in these countries live an unspoiled living without factors such as stress, greed etc. But what the people from the industrialized countries are forgetting, is that even though, e.g., the life of a Nepalese may seem perfect in the eyes of the beholder, and may seem to solve all of the problems of the Western civilisation's everyday life, they are forgetting the downside, and why the less fortunate people are able to live as they do. And that's because of the poverty of the people in these countries. Now, as the technology and economy of the industrial countries are raging ever faster, the "poor" countries find it difficult to keep up; but during the last part of the 20th century a new shortcut has been found, which has made it easier for the "poor" countries to keep up: Tourism.

The text below is an interpretation of a piece taken from the short story "Paradise" written by Matthew Kneale.

The short story "Paradise" is about the romantic ideas of an English guidebook writer that clash with the more realistic and pragmatic thoughts of the Nepalese villagers. At the start of the short story the main character has romantic ideas of the localities in the mountains, which can be seen in the text piece: "The group of people were gathered about the fire, their faces lit by the warm orange glow of the flames. Like a painting. A painting, yes (Ã¢ÂÂ¦)" (p.1, ll. 10-13) The reason why the main character, Neville, uses the word "painting" is to point out that he mentally isn't there and that gives him the "right" to use this romantic word; you can almost picture him smiling, being very happy about that he isn't in some mass-raping and murdering city. These thoughts of his can especially be seen in the lines 39-44. But the main character isn't just having romantic ideas about the country and its landscape, but also about the people. Neville has got the idea that all Nepalese people are kind and have some sort of positive energy which is why they are so kind and giving, and because the village is so desolate and "unspoilt", to a further extend than the other villages, it's kinder and more giving.

Neville automatically equates ignorance with naivety, which is another sign of him romanticising the people; making them more child-like and underdeveloped; happier, because, after all: technology equals depravation. A perfectly suitable text piece can be selected from the lines 89-93.

Even though Neville means well and romanticises the people of the village, the blindfold of his romantic ideas backfire in the end of the story. This is where the opposites, the idealistic romantic ideas and reality, clash. This clash comes as a surprise for Neville, and through a process of explaining from the villagers, Neville realises that even though a people are underdeveloped, they aren't necessarily naÃÂ¯ve, and this destroys the romantic idea that he had in his mind, which can be seen in the end of the text: "He could see no figures at all, only the walls of the building, linked together, closed. Up ahead were the white peaks he had noticed before. But now they were different. The shimmering mystery had gone. Now they looked only cold and sharp" (ll. 247-251) Throughout the text, Neville gets an increasing feeling of guilt. At the start of the story, he feels guilty because he had to lie to the old man about his identity, because he doesn't want people to change their behaviour because of his identity, later on he feels even more guilty because he feels like he eating all their food, and getting treated specially, and at his departure the villagers give him a large silver medallion, in return for his stay. But this is too much for Neville and this is where he confesses. The villagers have used Neville's own romantic ideas against himself, and it would have succeeded if it weren't for his confession. The villagers' plan was all along to make him feel guilty so that he had to put their town in his book, but as the villagers suddenly turn almost aggressive, Neville realizes that his romantic ideas didn't quite fit the real world, and that people all over the world are the same.