Rich vs. Poor Essay

“An obsession with possessions enslaves us to the demon of worry. Jesus invites us to change our priorities, focus on the kingdom, and share with the needy” (Kraybill, 2011, p.101). A man’s wealth will be measured by the love, kindness and empathy he has for the poor and the hungry in Gods kingdom. For this matter Jesus wants the wealthy to humble themselves and receive their blessing by offering opportunities to the poor instead of being greedy and celebrating their own wealth.

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn all explore the effects of wealth and class on society. On closer inspection, a common strand seems to form between these three classic novels. The idea that wealth (and the social class that comes with it) determines a person is refuted via the use of deep characterization. In the end, it seems, wealth and class don’t determine a person’s moral integrity and value, but rather how they interact those two things. Ultimately, Twain makes a case for the lower-classes, that even the poor (and enslaved) can be truly good, setting a better example than the wealthy. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, shows that rich aren’t entirely superficial, rather, that they can be great men. Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a bit more of an oddball than the other two novels, focusing instead on a protagonist that leaps from riches (under the supervision of a cruel aunt), to rags, then back to riches once again. Still, this common strand holds true between the three books: no class, poor or rich, is entirely exempt from moral bankruptcy. A poor person like Pap Finn can be morally corrupt, while a rich man like Jay Gatsby can be good. All character-based judgments in these books lay solely on the person they are judging, blind of the class and wealth that surrounds them.

That was always my experience—a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton.... However, I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works."

Carnegie was a wealthy man himself, but he practiced exactly what he preached. He notices how American society has revolutionized and created the divide between the rich and the poor as it changed. Carnegie compares the American past equality to the equality experienced among the Sioux Indians. Carnegie does not disapprove of the change, but recognizes it as “highly beneficial” (Foner 29). According to Carnegie, the evidence of the changing society is present in the “contrast between the palace of the millionaire and the cottage of the laborer” (Foner 29). Although Carnegie recognizes the divided between rich and poor, he does not see it as a bad thing, nor does he believe that people should stop obtaining wealth. Carnegie believes that the wealthy should use their money to provide for good instead of “hoarding great sums all their lives” (Foner 29). Carnegie approves of the implementation

Rich, the word itself implies an abundance of one thing or another, the question is an abundance of what. Many think of the sufficient amount of money one may have: elegant houses, luxurious cars, etc…; however, the word rich takes on a new meaning when reading the short story “The Rich Brother" by Tobias Wolff. In this short story it becomes evident that the definition of rich apparent in the story is being content with who he is and to look out for the ones around him more than looking out for himself. At first reading, readers believe that Pete is the rich brother due to his plentiful amount of money; however, with further analysis Donald is the rich brother with his generosity, willingness, and fulfillment in life.

Wealth gives not as fortunate people the allusion that the wealthy are happy because they are able to do whatever they want to. It imprisons a person because people do have that mindset and don’t always think that they can use their money for good.

Worthy poor are the people who have worked, but no longer can because they are “aged or disabled”, the people who “can work if they want to, or can support their families if they work hard enough” (Day & Schiele, 2013, p. 10). Unworthy poor is anyone else who has never worked and will not work. “It is assumed that these people are poor because of some kind of willfulness, laziness, or refusal to be productive and support themselves” (Longmore, 1997).

Every person can be identified as rich or poor regardless of their other status be it in terms of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or age. The author explained even in the most predominant White race, there were class divisions and the least fortunate were the so

I always believed that you are considered wealthy when you make a high income. According to the authors, most high income earners are not rich, which surprised me. Most people with high incomes fail to accumulate any lasting wealth. They live hyper-consumer lifestyles, they spend their money as fast as they earn it. I always perceived millionaires as living the lavish life with their big sport utility vehicles and huge mansions. Well I was wrong, in

    Wealth and it’s relationship to poverty figures in heavily in two of the plays we have read thus far in class. In both Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest we are treated to characters and situations that deal with wealth and poverty. Specifically however, both plays have visions of an abundance of wealth that seems at times both corruptible and foolish. In Antony and Cleopatra we have their excessive behavior and flaunting, which proves to be a vice that grips them much to tightly. In The Tempest, characters stranded on a deserted island have their own unique versions of achieving that said abundance. Shakespeare treats the topic similarly in both plays, and

Last of all, if you follow Buddhism you can't be rich or poor you have to be in the middle according to the 4 noble of truth.According to the 4 noble truth it states that “This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering it is the noble eightfold path : that is right view,right intention, right speech ,right action,right livelihood, right effort, right mindful”.This shows that you have to follow these commands to be in the middle path and to stop suffering.These things can be hard to do maybe if you didn't do something right but you thought you did it

The word rich is thrown around like a rock on the lake shore. Very similar to the work love, people use it like it has no meaning. Many seem to ignore the fact that there are hundreds of different ways to become rich. Of course, some are handed the money due to deaths in a family, retirement, rich ancestry, and lots of other ways as well. In my case, that is not how it worked. But for some reason, often times, close to about five times a day, I would get called rich. I was not a kid who had all the newly released hockey gear or electronics. As a matter of fact, I did not get a cell phone until I was thirteen years old. Out of my friend group, I was the very last one to get a cell phone. Growing up playing hockey, my dad had a rule that I could not purchase a stick over the price of one hundred dollars. My dad would gladly like to be the first one to tell you, hockey sticks are not cheap. Still, I would get called rich by my friends. I had a bigger house but nothing breath taking. I had four siblings and a dog, we needed a bigger house to fit all of us. Luckily growing up, I did not take much offense to the criticism. As a matter of fact, I did not really take it as criticism when I was younger. The term never really hit deep until I reached high school. The slurs continued as I attended a public high school after graduating from a private grade and middle school. Perhaps that was why kids called me rich. Shortly after my freshman year, after I took a personal finance class, the way money worked was clearer to

In the book Money and Class in America written by Lewis Lapham, the way Americans look at money is exposed. It compares other nations view on monetary value against that of the Americans. It is a fact that we place more value on money than anything else. This book illustrates the corruptness of the “American Dream” as it focuses money as the “currency of the soul” and through the dream, men remain free to rise or fall. Their life is the product of the effort and the decisions put forth by them.

Poor people are generally regarded as having a lack of worth in society, playing no

One is considered rich or wealthy depending on his/her financial ability. Affluence in rich people can be measured by annual income or consumption, lifetime expenditure or income, and wealth. Consistent with how the taxation system works, affluence should be measured annually. This might mean that those who are rich in a particular year may not fall in the same class the