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Cody Bui
Professor Valerie Fong
ENGL 1S
January 15, 2015
How We View Ordinary Objects
When it comes to the subject of ordinary objects, most of us would agree that we give
those objects sentimental value. In the article The Uncommon Life of Common Objects by
Akiko Busch. She suggests that plain objects can have more meaning behind them through the
perspectives of us, what we feel towards an inanimate object, how we value them. Busch talks
about how these objects can mean more to others. I agree with Busch that behind every ordinary
object has a bigger meaning to it through our point of view. I feel that simple things can have a
greater significance because they can when we give it a value. Things can speak so much through
design literacy the arrangement of how it is made. Ordinary things can carry a piece of history to
it, describing the past through the design and structure of it. Common things can mean so much
to people their views and feels creates the value of the object. Whats important to consider when
discussing the topic of how we value objects is why people give these ordinary objects these
values.
Ordinary objects can represent love to some people. For example the significance behind
the gift from my girlfriend Jamie. She bought me a brand new watch for Christmas and for our
five months of being together. Most people would look at it and see just a watch to tell the time,
but to me it means more than that. It is a part of our relationship. To me I feel her presence next
to me as she is at school at UCSB. I wear this watch every day to remind of how much I love her
and it allows me to feel that she is there with me. Busch believes that a tablecloth is worth five

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hundred words; an umbrella stand is worth a thousand words; a martini pitcher, two thousand
(115). Busch describes these ordinary objects to be valued to how someone would describe it
with their words in such great detail. I feel the same way about this gift that Jamie gave to me. I
value it this way because it is our relationship together, our bond, and our love for each other.
Given that it is an inanimate object I give a human characteristic such as love; the value of her
love on the wrist of my body. This gift signifies the things Ive been through with her and why I
care so much about her.
Objects can also represent the way we take care of our health. Akiko Busch observes that
medicine cabinets are a common domestic object that has been growing in recent years, and the
shape and size they take reflect values about home security, healthcare, and how we take care of
ourselves (118). The design of our health care being placed in our homes personally and to our
liking. They are becoming miniature versions of the pharmacy at home. These can describe so
much how we value our health and the structure of it relating to a pharmacy. In my own personal
bathroom, my medicine cabinet reminds me of a pharmacy. It has all my personal vitamins and
supplements I take every day to keep up with my health. This medicine cabinet represents my
health and how I am going to take care of myself. An ordinary object as the medicine cabinet can
mean more than a place to put your health.
An object can also represent history. Other things that have a significance in my life is a
baseball cap my father gave as I was a child. This hat carries my fathers history, when he first
came to the United States. He came after the Vietnam War when there was a communist
government. To not knowing any English at all and having to work in the fields to help support
his family. The challenges and achievements that he has been through follow him with this hat.
This was his legacy he wore that hat as he lived his life in the US and he handed it down to me. I

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cherish this baseball cap a lot because I get a piece of history from my dad. I get to tell his stories
he told my older brothers with his hat. This simple object can describe and tell his life in
America. According to Mark Schaming, director of exhibitions and programs at that the New
York State Museum the staff at Fresh Kills began to see museums as a way to preserve not only
the objects, but this story as well (qtd. 119). The significance of all the debris being preserved is
to tell the history of our country, to remind us the day of infamy that our country faced that day.
Such as the 9/11 debris my fathers hat carries out the history of his past and has great value to
me. Ordinary objects carry a narrative of our past.
Common objects can mean so much to someone and how they value it in their own
perspective. As for myself I value the watch as my love for my girlfriend. My medicine cabinet
as it represents my health and how I take care of myself. Also the hat my father gave me recalls
the history telling a story, and also the 9/11 debris that will tell the gruesome day our country
went through. These objects can mean more than words. Ordinary objects are not just simple
things they have more value than other perceive them to have. They all have a meaning and
value that we put on them. I conclude that we value these things because of its sentimental value
it has for us and I believe thats why we give value.

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Work Cited
Busch, Akiko. The Uncommon Life of Common Objects. McQuade 114-121
McQuade, Donald and Christine McQuade, eds. Seeing & Writing 4. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Print. 2010

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