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Personal Narrative: A Modern Day Diderot

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A Modern-Day Diderot Effect The Diderot effect originated from the life experiences and purchasing behavior of a man named Denis Diderot. Diderot was a French philosopher and prominent figure during the Enlightenment period. He was well known for writing and co-founding the Encyclopédie, arguably the best encyclopedia of the time. Despite Diderot’s contributions to the Encyclopéie, he lived most his life in poverty and survived without possessions considered to be “upper” class. The year Diderot turned 52, Diderot’s daughter was planning to get married. Unfortunately, he was unable to provide her with a dowry. “When Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia, heard of Diderot’s financial troubles she offered to buy his library from him for …show more content…

I fell in love with the whole scene right away. the people were the best part of it. Everyone was so friendly and I just felt comfortable with everyone even though I had just met them. I think the clothes just came around because it’s what I felt more comfortable in after I started wearing it. I’ve always thought that dressing like everyone else was boring and I have always tried to be different than the rest of the crowd, and I think raving is about as different from the norm as you can get. Now when I go to a party around campus, I try to see what I can do different to make people look at me and say, hmmm, she is kind of weird. I think it’s kind of sad when people can’t open their minds and try to see what someone else’s interests are all about. That’s why people make fun of other people because they aren’t open-minded. (Dieckmann, p.1, …show more content…

This shows that she has created an identity for herself and she wants it to be noticed by her peers. I: Do you buy these things at the rave? J: Usually. Most of the time they have big tables set up with tons of glowsticks, flashing lights, water. The problem is that most of the people that put on the rave need to make money on the venue and so you have to buy glowsticks for five bucks a pair! I probably have over a hundred glowsticks in a box in my closet from all the raves I’ve been to. (Dieckmann, p.6, [2001]). The informant continuously buys props to enhance her rave attire. The fact that she has over 100 glow sticks shows that it is a spiral of purchases that align with her open-minded identity. This shows that the Diderot effect is occurring in her life because her desire to show off her rave identity is heavily influencing the clothing and accessories she frequently

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