turn one has more access to resources. Morris emphasizes this consistently throughout the
article by describing visual signals that relate to his three categorized terms of territory.
He mentions the need for us to have our own personal space, and states
boldly that if we are without it, we feel threatened. ‘A portable territory called a Personal
Space…. threatened’. In other words, the message he’s trying to portray to the reader
is that, territorial symbols help us to establish our place in society and give us a
comfortable sense of security.
I can comprehend on a personal level when Morris states ‘when people are too far
outside our personal space, we feel rejected’, due to an unexpected situation which I
encountered last summer whilst sitting on a congested public bus in London. I began to
question myself, as to what was wrong with me that no one was sitting next to me. A
daunting sense of rejection and consequently frustration came over me, but what I
couldn’t comprehend was, why? After reading Morris’s article, I felt a sense of calm and
relief after realizing that this is simply part of human nature.
I agree with Morris’s outlook, whereby he states ‘It’s hard to feel a sense of
belonging with a tribe of fifty million or more’. I believe that as species, we are social
beings who live our lives in the company of other humans. We establish ourselves into
various types of social groupings, such as towns, villages, cities and countries, in which
we work, trade and interact in a multitude of different ways. Unlike any other species, we
incorporate socialization with deliberate changes in social behavior and organization over
time. As a result the patterns of human society differ from place to place, era to era and
across cultures, making the social world an immensely complex and dynamic
environment.
Living in a multicultural nation like America and it being the superpower that it is
today, it’s impossible to create one large social group that will cater to the needs of
every individual. My personal observations on society has lead me to believe that society
today has a reluctant attitude towards social groups and gatherings. I speculate that the
reasons as to why these occur are principally centered around time and effort. Most
Americans today revolve their lives around their chaotic, busy schedules, which in turn
makes it impossible for them to prioritize their time regarding social activities, and the
spare time that they do have is most often spent with their families.
In Morris’s article he writes of an uncomfortable situation between diplomats of
three different countries. He does this to accentuate ‘Personal Space’ and to make the
reader aware of how easily people of different cultures and backgrounds can misinterpret
one anothers body language. Every culture includes a somewhat different spectrum of
patterns and meanings, for example, the ways of earning a living, systems of trade and
government, social roles, religions, traditions in clothing and arts, expectations of
behavior and attitudes towards other cultures and beliefs. Within a large society, there
are many groups with distinctly different subcultures associated with region, ethnic
origin, or social class. What we need to put into practice as a whole is to appreciate one
another for who we are and what we believe in.
From my personal point of view, I found Morris’s article to be both intriguing as
well as educational, in the sense that he made me put into perspective circumstances that
I normally wouldn’t have even considered thinking twice about. He refreshed my outlook
on the world we live in today and in turn gave me a more in-depth understanding of
people of different creeds and backgrounds. It’s through reading his article that I have
created an interest in educating myself on how us humans have evolved and developed
over time to have established a powerful and successful nation such as America.
