The Allegory of New York City Essays

The Allegory of New York City Essays The Allegory of New York City Essay The Allegory of New York City Essay I want you to go on to picture the enlightenment or ignorance of our human condition somewhat as follows. Imagine you are in the confusion of New York, people rushing past you, pushing you, taxis beeping at you, pollution glooming around you. The buzz of city life. One man stands out from the crowd. He is off to work carrying his nice and warm coffee. He is tall, handsome, the boss of a large textiles company. His name is Stephen.  Not far away, in a near by apartment there is a woman, an author typing away in her typewriter and occasionally starring into space. Imagine the concentration in her eyes. Her name is Helen and shes in the middle of writing a novel. Her novel is about the life of a man in New York. Suddenly her eyes turn and fix on Stephen walking to work. Its not that hard to imagine, is it? It just seems like every day life in a city.  She types away into her typewriter, He lives a life of solitude. He walks to work alone, He walks home alone, and he eats alone.  Stephen is almost at his office. Hes waiting to cross the road,  Hey! Im not a loner! He shouts randomly. He glances around him and sees the disturbed look on peoples faces. He walks across the road and pretends that nothing had happened.  He eventually arrives at work. He couldnt concentrate. He had too much on his mind. He starts to worry about himself and goes to see a psychiatrist. He is in there talking to the man for quite a long time,  So, Stephen. What is wrong with you this time? The psychiatrist asks sarcastically. I have a voice in my head  Ah, come one everybody does. Some people call it their conscious, others their inner self, or God or maybe even their soul. Its perfectly normal.  No, its not. Its a womans voice. A womans voice is following me around!  So, you have a womans voice in your head speaking to you?  Not to me, about me, accurately and with a better vocabulary.  At this point, the psychiatrist talks to him a bit more to calm him down. Dismisses him and tells him to come back next week. Stephen makes his way back to work, walking along the busy streets of New York.  Helen writes away in here typewriter, He found himself exasperated. SHUT UP! Shouts Stephen in the middle of the street. Helen carries on typing,  Cursing the heavens in futility  No Im not! Im cursing YOU, you stupid voice so shut up and leave me alone! Stephen shouts starring into the sky.  Yet again people give him strange looks and try to keep their distance from him. Imagine a crazy man in the middle of the street having a random outburst. What would you do if you saw him cursing into the sky Imagine further that he tries to ignore his outburst and carries on making his way to work. He walks slowly and effortlessly gazing at everything around him. He walks into an electrical store for no reason and starts to watch the televisions. He sits down in one of the arm chairs and hears a familiar voice,  My latest novel will be sold nationwide and will be in a book shop near you! Stephen jumps from the chair and puts his face right up to the television. The voice, he recognises it. Its the voice from his head, the womans voice. She carries on speaking,  Yes David, I will be available for book signing. I will be at Sallys Book Store the whole of tomorrow, the 23rd June.  Sallys book store, Sallys book store, 23rd June, Sallys book store, 23rd June, 23rd June. Stephen mutters to himself as his sits down again looking extremely pale. Imagine that you had just heard and seen what you thought was your conscience. Im sure that you would feel baffled and unsure of what to do. This opportunity was the only way to sort out this voice in his head and tell her to leave him alone. Dont you think that it would be a loss for Stephen if he didnt grasp this opportunity?  He went for it. He couldnt stop thinking about meeting the voice in his head. It puzzled him; he felt extremely agitated the whole night and didnt get any sleep.