Synthèse : « Consumption ».

William McGuire "Bill" Bryson (born 8 December 1951) is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on scientific subjects. Born an American, he was a resident of North Yorkshire, England, for most of his professional life before moving back to the US in 1995. In 2003 Bryson moved back to the UK and currently he lives in Wramplingham near Wymondham in Norfolk. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America is a book by travel writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his 13,978 mile trip around the United States in the autumn of 1987 and spring 1988. This book is an overview of the United States from Bryson's point of view. There is less focus on factual insight into the history, geography and culture of the destinations in this book. In this extract, which is called "consumption" Bill Bryson criticizes the new American way of life. We'll see in a first time the U.S. consumer society, then the immediate self-gratification and finally Bill Bryson's biassed picture of the U.S. way of life.

Bill Bryson returns to America after a long absence and rediscovers the U.S. consumer society. For him the "typical American middle-class bed-room" (line 24) it seems superficial, superfluous. When he said "life was abundant" (line 8) means that the Americans would buy whatever they wanted because they had a wide range of choices. Bill Bryson found life "so easy" (line8) because it was not difficult for anyone in the U.S. to have a job, earn money and consume. Last but not least, he thought life was "so convenient" (line 8 to 9) because it was very pratical to communicate, to practice sport anywhere, to have comfort everywhere. Then Bill Bryson reproaches the Americans with overconsuming. He then blames for being irresponsible and for buying a lot of devices as "an electric orange juicer" (line 12), ionizing a room "(line 9) that uses negative ions to make the air of a room