I chose “Impostors” by James D. McCabe for this presentation reading. As I was going through the table of contents, the title caught my eye. It also reminded me of the first paper I wrote for this class. “Attention seeking New Yorkers,” clicked with the title of impostors in my mind as I was reading through it. And as I read on, more movies and thoughts that related back to this story was hovering over my head.
The theme and mindset of people wanting to succeed in New York specifically never seems to leave this book. People are always coming up with new ideas to succeed, whether it means to be famous, rich or just happy. In the story, Lord X imposes of being an England Lord with a lot of money in his inheritance. He is tailed by many women in 5th Ave. When they found about his marriage with a belle they were all disappointed and envied the bride. While women were falling head over heels for Lord X, the men didn’t seem to care and even believed it was fake. A few days later, the newspaper carried a story saying Lord X was not true, that there was no such name in the legacy in England. However the bride didn’t want to break up the marriage and father agreed to let him stay in his wealthy being but while laughing at him.
The second story is about a woman in her thirties who attempted to get a real estate property free of charge. She went from door to door for free shelter stating that she had a lot of money coming in but it’s taking some times. The hosts believe her story letting her stay. She promises to pay them back and leaves. She borrows money from the next host repaying the previous host and etc. Then she finally comes across a real estate property. She manages to convince a man to buy it for her in her name, but the realtor and the owner denies this and she runs away to another place. The information the business partners had of her was carried on the newspaper locating her, which led to suicide of the thirty year old woman.
The story also mentions homeless people not actually being homeless. They put on an act for money and food. In NYC we see a lot of “hobos” and it’s really hard to distinguish between the real homeless and the frauds. Either way, I don’t know if I should hand them a dollar bill because “they’re going to use it on drugs and alcohol.” But who knows?
Over all, people shouldn’t waste their time trying to someone they’re not. It might be cliche but we were all created differently, so why try to blend in, rather than standing out? Being yourself is what presents the best. Trying to be someone else might not last your whole life. Someone is ought to find out. And trying to keep this secret might be the hardest thing to do. Telling yourself to not be yourself.