In every city and society, there are different rules, norms and values. In her 2002 essay "Living With Strangers," Siri Hustvedt describes these differences as a result of moving from rural Minnesota to the big city of New York in 1978. In the essay, she goes over some of the things she faced. she refers to later. as characteristics of the city. Early on, Siri Hustvedt is clearly challenged in her attempt to settle in and adapt to her new surroundings. She witnesses a lot of things she shouldn't have. To name just a few examples, she hears a couple arguing, and she also sees two boys walking around wearing only their underwear. These things are considered private and so Siri finds herself in an unusual position. The people around her, the New Yorkers, are initially just strangers to her, and once again she has to put up with them. Another thing that is quite new to Siri Hustvedt is the sheer number of people. In her hometown, she used to greet everyone she met as a sign of respect, but doing so in New York would simply be impractical due to the large number of people and strangers. To survive city life in New York, there is simply one rule or coping technique you must follow: the rule of “pretend nothing is happening.” How you follow this rule indicates whether you are a New Yorker or a foreigner. To begin with, Siri doesn't like this rule because it seems unethical to her. But over time, she learns that she should only mind her own business. This can be seen by the three examples, she mentions. The first example involves a woman who is not properly dressed in public. Wearing only a bathrobe, she makes a scene shouting that she forgot something. (P......middle of article......essay, I think New Yorkers are basically portrayed negatively as selfish, uncaring people, while Minnesotans are portrayed more positively as people friendly and kind So, because Siri and her family live in New York, they adapt to the new rules, norms and values. This causes them to somehow resemble New Yorkers, because we see them using the ". it doesn't happen." -rule" repeatedly That said, it's worth remembering that Siri, throughout the essay, is allowed to be subjective in her descriptions of New York and its citizens. of the city and its norms, values ​​and rules surely affects us as readers, so much so that we have the same opinion as her. Thus, through this essay, Siri proves to us that each city has its own characteristics and. it is up to us as individuals to judge whether these characteristics are good or bad..