Professor Checkett’s ENG 096 class. Contrast small towns and large towns. Oct. 2003
In Which we Live
When speaking to a person of experience, perhaps a traveler or an elder, one may be told certain things about the way people from different towns behave. Such as, ‘citizens of a small town are friendlier’, or ‘people from big cities are always in a hurry’. But, for an individual born, raised and living in a single town, these differences may seem simply opinion, and perhaps some distinctions are. So why, then do so many prefer one type of life to the other? Such characteristics as crime rates, economics, populations, traffic, city planning and architecture, differentiate one region from the next. In order to form an opinion, one must compare two towns on opposing ends of the spectrum. By comparing two towns: the small town of Quincy, Illinois and the busy suburb, St. Peters, Missouri, the differences in the characteristics of citizens, the city, and daily life, make it seem as though big cities and small towns are almost from different countries.
Quincy Illinois, a small, yet growing river town with heavy farming ties can serve as an excellent subject to compare against the bustling suburbia of St. Peters Missouri. The citizens are made up of the same biological material and ribonucleic acids, however; there exist fundamental differences. At first, one might notice appearance. It is not altogether unusual to see a motley crew of dirty young boys come running into the local supermarket without shoes or shirts and buy gum or candy. The cashier, instead of ushering the improperly clad youngsters out the door, asks them how their mother has been, she just so happens to live next door. This sort of occurrence would not go over as well in St. Peters. The same young boys would’ve been asked to leave and later reprimanded by their mothers for going out in public looking so disheveled. Hats, overalls and dirty jeans are not uncommon attire for citizens out running errands and are almost a requisite for the distinguished elderly man. Aside from readily notable differences, residents of the small town seem to have differing personality traits as well. Take the scene of a crowded store during the holidays, for instance. In a busy, crowded suburban jungle, one shopper with a cart brimming with items in the checkout lane would simply be focused on check writing and the planning of the next few stops. However, in sleepy Quincy, the same shopper might check to see if the woman just behind them, with only a few items, would care to go ahead. Then, perhaps even strike up a conversation with the total stranger. Such behavior is unheard of in the busy rush of larger towns. Another strange anomaly happens to be a relative disregard for the locking of doors at night or even at all. Neighbors have a tendency to look out for the good of the neighborhood, and are always wary, but with such low crime occurrences, such precautions as door-locking are unnecessary.
The appearance of a small town is also radically different when contrasted against a larger city. St. Peters, while at one time was an organized, small town itself, nowadays seems like a massive tangled knot of highways, service roads, drives, avenues, and parking lots. Expanding businesses and budding neighborhoods all connect and intersperse within the maze of asphalt, making it very difficult for an unfamiliar traveler to get from one destination to the next without help. Small, soapbox buildings snap together like Tinker toys to house businesses for a year or so and then are left empty, only to be refilled by another business soon thereafter. Massive, lighted signs tower over any building, coupled with billboards outlining the busiest roadways all advertising to the highest bidder. While tiny, puny trees limp around uniform, lifeless houses in an attempt to re-beatify a deforested city. The small town of Quincy, in contrast, is a large grid work, nearly the whole town divided into blocks with only a few outer roads and two highways entering and exiting the city limits. Each of said city blocks is cut down the middle by at least one alleyway, perhaps two. These alleyways serve such purposes as garbage pickup and parking for residences, garage access, and the most prestigious job of all, a simple playground for neighborhood children. Most of town is housing, each house unique, some ranging from hundred year old, family-built houses to Victorian-style mansions. In the housing district, trees tower over all, stretching ancient branches across the street to form an arboreal canopy across brick and asphalt streets alike. Small, family owned businesses, restaurants, taverns, etc. all share the same space and are built into old houses. The only busy thoroughfare is a section of highway that cuts directly through town, here is where one will find the mall, fast food chains, hardware stores, and department stores, all sharing the same small parking lots and modest signs.
A typical day in the small town is very much relaxed, especially when compared to the bustle of city life in suburbia. In the town of Quincy, since most of the town businesses are in the same vicinity, morning and noon rush are not the horrifying, complicated games of bumper cars that is the rush hour of St. Peters. After work, most families go home and spend time together, perhaps going to a movie or dinner or milling about in the back yard. Most children come home and run about the neighborhood until dark, without fear of kidnapping or a run-in with a car. During the weekend, it is not uncommon to see many families or even large groups of neighbors barbecuing in the back yard and drinking alcohol in plain sight. Some might even have a bonfire in a backyard, though such fires are technically illegal, local law enforcement rarely, if ever, interferes unless a fire gets out of hand. Fishing and boating is also wildly popular, even during the cold season, as the town of Quincy is situated on the Mississippi river. However, the most popular activity of all amongst the citizens of Quincy is to spend a nice day at one of the beautiful parks around town. After all, the town of Quincy houses nine parks, all are public property and open from sunrise to sunset.
For some individuals, the speed and stress of big city life is a trip into madness. Others cannot stand the slow, inactivity of a small town. “To each, his own” it is said, and such a statement applies well to the choice between living large and living modestly. Small towns unfortunately may be a gradually dying species at the currant rate of human expansion. Perhaps someday, cities will all merge together and memories of simple, small rural areas will fade. But for now, it is nice to sit back and notice the sometimes-staggering incongruence between two different life styles.
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