Urinetown Argumentative Essay

When one thinks of using the restroom, the words “public” and “community” are rarely mentioned. The act of which someone does in the bathroom feels like a tremendously private action. Even in home restrooms, one goes out of their way to hide the actions done in the space. In the bigger, community scale many people’s interactions with public restrooms are anxiety-inducing— restaurants, malls, and offices all provide more anonymity, but still invokes nervousness and fear. On a much larger scale, many third world countries don’t have the access to toilets (either public or private.) According to UNICEF in India, about half the population defecates in public open roads and land. Public restrooms in cities have become less and less common, for the …show more content…
A highly satirical piece, the premise involves a near distant future, in which because of a water drought and subsequent water shortages, private restrooms have been outlawed. A corporation titled the Urine Good Company takes over and manages the water supply through charging people for urinating in public restrooms. An important piece to include, the musical addresses the use of privatizing common spaces that definitely need to be public. In our global economy, land, resources, and property can all be bought. Water, while a basic human necessity for survival, is still on the chopping block for all sorts of regulations and control over distributing water. Restrictions around restrooms have appeared in a variety of instances. In some places, one such example is Iceland national parks, restrooms are locked until a person pays a certain fee. Many cafes and coffee shops have signs on their door signaling that their restrooms are for paying customers only. One can justify these instances as paying for the maintenance of the restroom, similar to paying taxes. However, this still creates a boundary to those who can afford to buy something not needed and those who don’t have the money on