The City and the Man

Answer the following questions using information from Background Information section.

1. What caused the growth of cities in the United States in late 19^th and early 20^th centuries? Find several reasons for the trend.

2. Why did the living conditions in big cities quickly deteriorated? How was the situation managed?

3. What factors facilitated the move to suburbia?

4. What problems do modern suburban communities experience?

5. What are the possible future tendencies in the lives of American cities?

DEVELOPING THE TOPIC

Rural America

Follow the link below and read the first three chapters (Introduction, Rural America and Rural Change) and the Conclusion of the information bulletin. As you read, find the answers to the questions asked in the Preface.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ricpubs/understd.htm

US Cities

Visit the following web site:

http://www.theusaonline.com/cities/index.htm

Scan the pages about US cities and fill in the table below:

Choose a city from the table and read the complete article about it. Be ready to share the information you learned with others!

The City and the Man

1. Read the lecture The Metropolis and Mental Life by a German sociologist Georg Simmel and

2. answer the questions that follow each section of the work.

This lecture was given by Simmel more than one hundred years ago. Is it as topical today as it was in 1903? Do you agree with Simmel’s conclusions about life in a big city and the city’s influence on a person?

3. The influence of cities has been a common theme in American literature. Read the two short stories attached here (one by O’Henry and one by John Cheever). Double-click on the tags below to open the documents.

1 O'Henry. Squaring the Circle

2 John Cheever. The Enormous Radio

What issues of city life are raised in the stories?

How are Georg Simmel’s ideas reflected in the fiction?

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1588