What does the incident with the shoeshine man reveal about Peter Hessler's identity? What does it reveal about the identity of the shoeshine man? How does your own identity affect the way you respond to these questions? Please answer in 250-350 words.
I think Peter Hessler's incident with the shoeshine man reveals that Hessler was fed up and was not going to take anyones crap no matter if he was wrong or right. The shoeshine man was completely out of hand and needed to be put in his place. I know that if I was in that situation, I would have done exactly what Peter Hessler did. The fact that the shoeshine man was shoving food in Hessler's face and heckling him just made it seem like the shoeshine man wanted to be messed with. The shoeshine man was looking for a fight or confrontation because he was either really bored or has major issues. Although you could look at it from other directions and see that Hessler was wrong for stooping to the level of the shoeshine man and insulting him right back, but if you're asking my opinion, Hessler did exactly what needed to be done.
When answering these questions, I realized that I do not enjoy taking crap from anyone. In the end, I am a lot of talk and not much action, so I probably would have brushed the shoeshine man right off my shoulder, unless it was the straw that broke the camels back. I clearly was not in this situation, but I have been in "similar" situations and usually I do not ridicule the person who is ridiculing me. Because that is just stooping right down to their level, so I just choose to either make them understand how much of an asshole they look like right now or something. I like to make the heckler feel as though they are nothing because they are the one stooping very low. That way they realize it early on and apologize and then you do not have extra problems.
Mackenzie Ogden
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