"Walking and Suburban Psyche"

Rebecca Solnit the author of “Walking and the Suburbanized Psyche” argues that the relationship between mind, body, and imagination will be lost if walking continues to be devalued by society. According to Solnit suburbanization is the cause of the decrease in walking in American society. Suburbs limit walking because of the same scenery that suburbs have which makes people unwilling to walk through the same repetitive, dull streets. Moreover, walking in society is seen as the lowest status of the social ladder.

Therefore, the imagination does not grow and develop when people don’t participate in walking. Although, Solnit believes walking stimulates the imagination outside a dull suburban area. I however, disagree with Solnit because the American suburbanized mentality and the boring suburbs motivates the imagination to grow creatively when people participate in walking.

Moving to the High Desert, was my first time living in the suburbs. It was a few years ago during winter break when it snowed constantly for three days.

As a result, the snow reached my knees. The snow however, didn’t stop my brother, cousins, and I went from walking through the snow. While walking in the snow I imagined that we stranded in a strange place and it was our job to reach our destination which was a hill that was located behind my street. As we reached the hill not it only made our imaginations wonder, it made us feel accomplished. As a result, the walk was not just a great family bonding moment it was a time that my imagination stimulated just by walking.

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When we reached the hill we slid down on it all day with a buggy board. Walking to the hill stimulated my imagination even before we began to have fun on the hill in the snow. It was because we had nothing to do, but walk in the suburbs and try to find a way to have fun that our imaginations eventually began to grow.

Our imagination continued to grow as we continued to walk around to find something new to do in the snow once we got bored from buggy boarding in the snow. Just like a chain reaction, our imagination continued to react all day. As a result, my imagination still continues to grow when I walk from class to class at school. Although, it is necessary for me to walk in order to get to my class it is not as fun as it once was when I was younger because of my suburbanized mentality. Towards the end of September, the first week that school started it was hot and humid and going from building to building to get to my classes in a big campus was not enjoyable. I got overheated, and all I could think of was imagining myself inside my home enjoying the cool air conditioning, laying down eating ice cream while watching television. Although I have the suburbanized mentality it still gave me a reason for my imagination to grow because walking stimulated the imagination.

Everyday I go to school and have to walk across campus I always imagine myself being in a different situation or go over several scenarios on how can my day become better or worse depending on how may day looks. No matter what occurs at the moment my imagination is constantly working. mo Another example, that further illustrates how the suburbs and the suburbanized mentality encourages motivation for imagination to grow is the movie Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat. In the movie Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, starring Mike Myers, tells the story of two siblings living in the suburbs when one day their mom left them alone in the house when she had to leave for work. As they both found the suburbs and their babysitter boring they encounter the Cat in the Hat. Throughout the movie the Cat in the Hat encourages them to learn how to have fun with their imagination. In process of accomplishing this all three of them walk from their house to a birthday party, to town’s shopping center, through a club, and then back home all in one day.

In each place that they found themselves in they imagined a whole different world that no one else saw, but them. Even within their home they saw another world that Cat in the Hat brought with him in a box with characters such as Thing 1 and Thing 2. At the end of the movie, both the sister and the brother learned how to have fun, including their mother who shows up towards the end of the plot, but most of all they learned how to grow their imagination by walking through their suburbs in search for fun. All things considered, no matter where you walk the imagination exists everywhere you go whether it be in suburbs or in urban areas because we have the American suburbanized mentality that motivates our imagination to grow creatively. Once we begin to walk on our own it allows our imagination to thrive because we create a world of our own. A world in which we get to either experience or relive moments.