Tabitha Amspacher
Foundations of College Writing
M. Perakovich
February 20, 2013
What do your things say about you?
Do you find yourself being buried by all of your possessions? In the popular television
show “Hoarders” being buried by possessions is just an everyday thing. Compulsive hoarding is
defined as “a pattern of behavior that is characterized by the excessive acquisition of and
inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of objects that cover the living areas of the
home and cause significant distress or impairment.” If this definition alone does not make you
realize how important possessions are to certain people then I don’t know what will. Possessions
are who we are. Whether you are a hoarder or not, our possessions have a way of showing who
we are as a person and the interests we have. Without possessions we lose our freedom of
expression.
In Joan Kron’s “The Semiotics of Home Décor” she believes that, “our possessions give
us a sense of security and stability” (130). That statement definitely holds true in society today.
I, being a semi-hoarder myself, tend to keep everything and anything that has a little bit of a
meaning behind it. So most of my possessions are there as a security tool. I use them as
reminders of memories I have had. I do not have a great memory to start with so I do not get rid
of things that other people give me because I feel like if I were to get rid of one of these
possessions, I would lose the memory that went with it.
Kron also states that our possessions “make us feel in control. And the more we control
an object, the more it is a part of us” (130). We not only control the objects we own but we also
have control on what objects we actually have in our possession. We control what we spend
money on, what we decide to keep and what we decide to get rid of. We, as human beings, seem
to never be able to get enough of something. We always want more. I fall into this stereotype as
well because I have more than enough clothes in my closet but I always feel the need to buy
more. I need to be sure to stay up to date on what everyone else is wearing so I buy more clothes
hoping to not look stupid in school. The more things we own, the more in control we feel. This
goes with anything that we own, it is not only limited to clothing.
Our possessions also help us to express ourselves. The clothes we buy, the way we
decorate our house or room, the types of food we eat or the things we collect all share something
about ourselves, and these things give us a sense of security, which makes us feel stable and
comfortable. Most people don’t just buy things to buy them; they buy them for necessity or
interest. For example, if you looked in my room you would notice a lot of possessions affiliated
with basketball because it is a sport that is very important to me, and is what I played in high
school. Our possessions are also a means of entertainment. Most of my possessions are
something that keeps me busy and entertained. The possessions that I use the most are my laptop
and iPhone which both keep me entertained throughout the entire day. I watch things on them
and play games when I’m bored.
Another thing that Kron points out is, “besides control, we use things to compete” (130).
Out of all the things that Kron brings up, competition is the most relevant and true. We buy
things to impress our peers. In high school, the popular girls always needed to have the up to date
fashions so that they could stay on top of the so-called “food chain”. I definitely bought things to
compete with other people. When the iPhone came out I wanted to be one of the first people to
have it so I could show it off to my friends. Adults compete by buying rare and expensive things
that not everyone can get to show off what they have. It’s not always a good thing that we do this
but it is human nature.
In conclusion, our possessions are very important to us as a culture. They help us have a
sense of stability, feel in control, express ourselves and help us compete. Every person has their
own possessions, some have more than others, but everyone has them and they are defined by the
possessions they have. Without possessions we wouldn’t be the people that we are.
Word count: 786
Works Cited
Maasik, Sonia, and J. Fisher Solomon. "The Semiotics of Home Decor." Signs of Life in the
U.S.A.: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins,
2012. N. pag. Print.