The Story of Lost in the Mall by Franzen Free Essay Example, 1000 words

The story of Lost in the Mall was written during a very chaotic and turbulent period, as its author showcases the bureaucratic kind of working and the downright corruption that takes place in the Chicago post office. While giving us an insider s view, he weighs the pros and cons of its inefficiency to cater to the consumer, in an appropriate and truthful manner, but yet argues that there is an Andersonian national imaginary that lies behind the working of the post office. According to Anderson, in the journal of Rhetoric and Public Affairs, he states that Nations are imagined political communities .inherently limited and sovereign. He explains that these imagined communities rose historically after a series of events and incidents. In the case of the Chicago Post Office, that was found to be of very poor service and was replaced with the modern one. All these ideas are brought out with such clarity and realism really makes it very interesting. The central theme that Franzen t ries to bring into the foreground is the breakdown that takes place in the Chicago postal service. Franzen gives his readers an eye-opening account of the shabby way the post office operated by displaying a number of excuses put forward by the postal workers who make the public as scapegoats by trying to pin the blame on to them. We will write a custom essay sample on The Story of Lost in the Mall by Franzen or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Franzen also deftly portrays the huge list of mistakes created by the public and thereby nails down the message he wishes to get across to his audiences. Franzen uses his simple narrative style to bring home many important points in a forthright manner thus shocking the reader from their estrangement with the reality of things that they so easily accept as part and parcel of their lives without raising any questions or finding relevant solutions to the problems they come across in life. In his communication of facts, he gets his message across by pointing out and assessing the gray areas that exist. By exposing the mishandling of things in the U. S. postal office in Chicago, Franzen exhibits a great deal of his wisdom through the frustration and anger he displays while laying out the facts of the sorry state of affairs that prevailed.