The Fisherman And His Wife, The Great Gatsby, And 8 Men Out

The book, Affluenza; All-Consuming Epidemic, De Graaf, Wann, and Naylor refer to comsumerism as a disease, affluenza. Affluenza, meaning placing a high value on obtaining material things in order to help us to feel more affluent, is contagious, which, in turn, has caused negative consequences with our health, families, communities and the environment. This book discusses the symptoms, diagnoses, and cure for the disease known as

What is true happiness? I have chosen four texts which relate to my topic of how money can’t buy happiness. Macbeth and The Great Gatsby show how being the most powerful and wealthiest person can’t make you happy. Macbeth is set in in Scotland during the 11th century while The Great Gatsby is set in 1925 on Long Island. These two texts have many similarities and comparisons that i will cover throughout my piece. My other two texts; Money doesn’t buy happiness, neither does poverty and The Pursuit of Happyness are set in more current time and show how money can’t buy happiness and that to be happy you don’t need to be rich and famous.

Not everyone is living the American dream. It consists of owning a car, house, having a stable income for a family, and the ability to have leisure time. Through a series of economic downturns, the world has experienced financial instability that has greatly affected the population; notably the Great Depression during the late 1920s. Hit after hit, money becomes an issue and plays a key role in developing a person’s character through financial hardships. Horace’s quote, “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant,” is very much true and can be demonstrated in society and by well-known personalities.

Affluenza is a term described by C.Hamilton as a “the bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses” (Hamilton, 2005). In other words it is the desire to be more wealthy and successful than you actually are. It usually occurs near rich people who always try to achieve financial success in society. Hamilton put emphasis on how greedy people can become even in wealth. Those people are never satisfied with what they actually possess and are in a pursuit of higher achievement. In our society it can be noticed how people compare themselves with peers which make them to never be happy with what they are or have. A ladder can here be used as metaphor to explain this concept. People on the top of the ladder are those with power and money whereas people below them are always in a fight to reach the one at the top. Richard Easterlin describes this phenomenon as a “hedonic treadmill” where mankind always have to run in order to keep with the others and never advance” (Hamilton, 2005). People are over consuming things they actually really they do not really need and this is because

Greed blinds and sacrifices. To what extent should we compromise our happiness? A clouded perception can pressure one to surrender their passion. That’s why focusing on dreams and ambitions instead of materialistic possessions can lead one to true happiness. In “Home Place”, Guy Vanderhaughe’s short story, contemplates the abandonment of happiness for material wealth along with misguided approval.

In relation to wealth, the upper class is surrounded by admirable treasures that deceive lower society into assuming they are happy. Seen in present-day celebrities, “The Great Gatsby”, and “Lottery Ticket”, wealth did not bring happiness, but rather sorrow and isolation.

Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.

" We are living in a material world." This famous line in one of Madonna's songs entitled "Material Girl" will never outgrow itself. Ever since the beginnings of monetary means, the main focus of living is getting more money and to be as successful as possible. This became a huge issue during the 1920's. In this era, people made money from the stock market, illegal bootlegging and so forth. With these people hitting the jackpot, this then created a new rank called `new money'. This rank, however, never overpowered `old money' the most wealthiest, well-known and respected class. The possession of material wealth however, can't bring true happiness. Love is an important factor in this equation; when you don't have love, it is hard to say

We have become captivated with gifts and assets, with the expectation of finding happiness, but we cannot forget the fact that money can only buy material things, it cannot replace people or life experiences. The more we buy the more affluenza digs deeper into our society and future and we need to put an end to this starting with

What makes people happy in most countries is when they gain more wealth. These values are still true today and as true in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which is held in the 1920’s. Most Americans think that wealth and happiness are synonymous with each other. This belief will continue to fuel an economy and marketplace that persuades consumers into buying products that will provide them “happiness”. Wealth and human happiness have reached an equilibrium in the view of an enormously capitalistic society, contrary to the beliefs of social progressives who believe happiness comes from the heart. Gatsby’s generation of the 20's were the age of a market that was primarily fueled off of the neediness of the average consumer. The same values are present today because our need for flashy products stem from the free market economy in this country. Consumers believe that they need all the things that businesses are attempting to sell to them.

Throughout the modern era, society’s views on money’s effect on a person’s emotions have drastically changed. Many people believed that the more money a person has, the more satisfied he or she will be. However, due to recent conclusions made by writers and case studies, money has proven to not be responsible for a person’s contentment. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Gatsby’s wealth ultimately shows the reader that money does not equal happiness.

Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once wrote, ‘'Money buys everything, except morality and citizens.'’ Many people, especially nowadays, have this notion that the more money they obtain, the happier they’ll be. Of course, that’s not always true. There have been several instances, in literature and this world, where that’s not always the case. There are some differences between F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Lauren Greenfield’s The Queen of Versailles. However, there are similarities in the way wealth was portrayed and how it won’t always lead to true happiness, but could end up causing unhappiness and pain.

Wealth, in American culture, is seen in a golden light, displaying it as not only necessary for survival, but also necessary for happiness. Many Americans lust for wealth, assuming it will solve their problems, rather than cause more. However, when wealth causes more problems for someone than it solves, destruction is bound to ensue. F. Scott Fitzgerald is an American author whose goals, life, and novels all revolve around wealth. His character’s seek but not need, receive but not earn, and flaunt but not appreciate wealth.

As Austrian writer Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach wrote,“To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible.” History and literature have established that the ideal goal every American has wanted is for his thirst for material possessions to be reached, but even then, the individual isn’t truly happy. Money, and the things it can get you, have long been a part of American culture and the materialist culture of society have been examined in numerous ways from novels to the art of those like Andy Warhol. A life free from the economic woes that plague almost everyone seems like the quintessential existence, but material wealth is not a way to mend issues.

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness? Today, the argument can be made that happiness and consumerism are directly linked. It is fair to say that happiness is a relative term for different people. However, the obtaining of new and shiny things has become such a part of everyday life, that it provides happiness when people are purchasing something new, and causes sadness when no buying is taking place. For many, it seems to be a protective coating against the harsh realities of everyday stresses from a job, or family life.