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Income and wealth inequality sociology
Income and wealth inequality sociology
Income and wealth inequality sociology
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Zora Hurston's “The Gilded Six Bits” is a short story that focuses on the theme of a lust for power. The story tells of a young couple, Joe and Missie May, who are happily married. Each Saturday after work, Joe throws silver dollars through the door and enters with other indulgent goodies he may have brought home to Missie May. The couple does not have a rich home or a lot of money, but it seems as if they are happy with what they have until a seemingly rich man named Otis Slemmons comes into town. After meeting Mr. Slemmons, Joe and Missie May’s marriage is put in jeopardy due to their lust for power. In addition to this theme, the author uses money as a metaphor to highlight the characters’ desire for such empowerment.
Despite the fact that
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Slemmons is popular, rich, well-dressed, and envied by the young couple. Slemmons is portrayed to be on a higher maturity level than Joe only until he is found pleading for his life after being caught with Missie May. Knowing he had done wrong, he begged Joe not to kill him. Joe stood "barring him from escape, from sunrise, from life" (417). Joe took the money from Slemmons and ordered him out of the house. At this point, Joe is pictured standing over Slemmons, which shows that Slemmons had lost his power when his money was taken and his life was put at stake. Joe and Missie May stay together, however, their relationship becomes a struggle for Joe, who keeps himself distant from his wife for several weeks and does not give his pay to Missie May on Saturday afternoons. Joe withholds his money and love until he eventually is able to let go of his disappointment. One morning, Joe leaves behind Mr. Slemmons’ coin for Missie May, and she “took it into her hands with trembling and saw first thing that it was no gold piece. It was a gilded half dollar” (419). This was a mere realization that the money was practically useless, and not worth risking their marriage over. The gilded coin was deceptive to the eye, just like Slemmons’
The Gilded Age marked a period of industrial growth in America. Mark Twain termed the period of 1865 to 1896 as the “Gilded Age” to {indicate} the widespread corruption lying underneath the glittering surface of the era. Known as either “captains of industry” or “robber barons,” several prominent figures shaped this time period; these capitalists gained great wealth and success with their industries. Corrupt and greedy are two words associated with the term “robber barons,” which referred to the capitalists who acquired their great wealth in less than admirable and ethical ways. On the other hand, many referred to the capitalists as the “captains of industry” that were celebrated as admirable philanthropists; their way of acquiring extreme
Joe is considered an average man with big dreams before arriving at the town. After taking control as mayor his whole demeanor changed. Using a banker as inspiration Joe becomes someone solely focused on image and being above the other people in the town. The life he claims as is own is nothing but a façade with Janie as an ornament. Joes view on what Janies role was going to be was clear from the beginning he believed that a “pretty baby-doll lak you is made to sit on de front porch” making it clear that Janie is a valuable thing not a person (Hurston 29). Joe’s continues the show he is giving the town until Janie tires of them and embarrasses him on the stage he has built in front of his entire audience. The destruction of the façade that has been created over the years causes him to self-destruct, literally. His image is everything to him and once it is ruined he has nothing to live for anymore. The people he believed were below him now laugh at and no longer take him seriously. His life solely depended on keeping him self above the other people in his community without that ability he no longer had anything to live for. As shown in Larsen’s novel living with this idea of classism sometimes goes hand in hand with a struggle with
The popular culture on the Gilded age became a very important subject due to the increase of recreations and leisure. “Most Americans knew no more about the lives of the very rich than what they read in their newspapers and magazines, and these media were developing as never before.” Readers enjoyed romantic, sentimental and love stories such as Horatio Alger, Jr. and his successful “rags to riches” young heroes; and Lew Wallace and his sensational epic success, Ben Hur.” These novels frequently offered the reader to escape from the real world.
The Great Gatsby set in the glistening and glittering world of wealth and glamour of 1920s Jazz Age in America. However, the story of the poor boy who tried to fulfill the American Dream of living a richer and fuller life ends in Gatsby’s demise. One of the reasons for the tragedy is the corrupting influence of greed on Gatsby. As soon as Gatsby starts to see money as means of transforming his fantasy of winning Daisy’s love into reality, his dream turns into illusion. However, other characters of the novel are also affected by greed. On closer inspection it turns out that almost every individual in the novel is covetous of something other people have. In this view, the meaning of greed in the novel may be varied The greed is universally seen as desire for material things. However, in recent studies the definition of “greed” has come to include sexual greed and greed as idolatry, understood as fascination with a deity or a certain image (Rosner 2007, p. 7). The extended definition of greed provides valuable framework for research on The Great Gatsby because the objects of characters’ desires can be material, such as money and possessions, or less tangible, such as love or relationship.
Three works Cited Materialism started to become a main theme of literature in the modernist era. During this time the economy was good causing jazz to be popular, bootlegging common, and an affair meaning nothing (Gevaert). This negative view of money and the gross materialism in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby serves to be a modern theme in the novel. Throughout the novel, the rich possess a sense of carelessness and believe that money yields happiness.
Alice Walker says "without money of one's own in a capitalist society, there is no such thing as independence.” She writes this about Zora Hurston the author of “Gilded Six Bits” she wrote in 1933. Walker makes her “Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View several years later in 1979. The main outcome that Walker points out is that we need money in order to gain independence. She explains this by saying "Without money, an illness, even a simple one, can undermine the will. Without money, getting into a hospital is problematic and getting out without money to pay for treatment is nearly impossible. Without money one becomes dependent on other people"(962). She then adds that people are willing to help you but they want something in return.
Love is something not easily or even completely understood, it is an always too hard to but it 's only to look but not touch. But how far can temptation go before it turns into desire? In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “The Gilded Six-Bits”, marriage and betrayal are something that is wired in the heart of many people. Marriage creates a bond within the institution of any relationship that can make it more emotionally connected to the spouse. Betrayal can tear the most delicate flower into dust; it violates any type of trust in the relationship. Hurston gives an example of three stages in a relationship which consist of Love, Admiration, Betrayal and Forgiveness in this story. The character Joe Banks love his wife Missie May, but her infidelity
... grab more power in make her more dependent on him. Missy May thought by sleeping with Otis Slemmons that she could get more money for the house. Missy May seem to never have the thought of actually just learning how to make her own money to make them more wealthy but rather she views sleeping with Slemmons as the only option to please her husband.
A husband is thought to be a money maker, a powerhouse, and a leader while a wife is thought to be a cook, a cleaner, and a follower in Gilded Six Bits. The reader recognizes Hurston's representation of gender stereotypes through the typical southern dialect between Missy and Joe, and joe's reaction to Missy after she is caught cheating. Hurston demands the reader to question power inequality in marriages during the 1900s. The Gilded six bits illuminates the haunting idea that female stereotypes to this day may not have completely
These standards are turned upside down in "The Gilded Six-Bits.” At first, Missie and Joe seem to have it all. The couple has a house, good food, and even a playful way of interacting with one another that seems to form rituals within their relationship. Yet, Missie's idea of being a good wife is making her husband happy and she truly believes what he desires is money. Her ignorance tests their marriage, and Hurston forces readers like me to question how one must handle both the ups and downs in a marriage. When a problem arises, do you forgive and grow, or do you give up everything that you had worked so hard to
Wealth has both a good and a bad side. It can change the life of a person for the better or worse, and that is clearly shown in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Wealth affects the lives of the characters of Their Eyes Were Watching God very differently than the characters of The Great Gatsby. Janie’s wealth came about, mainly, from her failed relationships.
“Money is the root of all evil”(Levit). Man and his love of money has destroyed lives since the beginning of time. Men have fought in wars over money, given up family relationships for money and done things they would have never thought that they would be capable of doing because of money. In the movie, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the author demonstrates how the love and worship of money and all of the trappings that come with it can destroy lives. In the novel Jay Gatsby has lavish parties, wears expensive gaudy clothes, drives fancy cars and tries to show his former love how important and wealthy he has become. He believes a lie, that by achieving the status that most Americans, in th...
Otis Slemmons came along. Joe and Missie May have enough for them to be satisfied, until Mr. Slemmons appears into their household and Joe begins to admire the things he has. Joe begins talking to Missie about how “[Slemmons] is up-to-date. He got de finest clothes Ah ever seen on a colored man 's back."77 Joe admires the materialistic things Otis has because he is a black man with the finest clothes. Joe feels like the clothes on his back makes him who he is, however materialistic things do not signify wealth or happiness and Joes comes to realize that later on in the story. But until that point Joe continues to esteem everything about the rich man. Joe tells his wife that "He ain 't puzzlegutted, honey. He jes ' got a corperation. Dat make 'm look lak a rich white man. All rich mens is got some belly on 'em "(Hurston, 77). Joe is trying to reveal to his wife that because Otis has a belly that portrays his wealth to others. This proposes that a slimmer stature was not relevant back then, as it is in the modern day. A belly depicts that you are able to spend a good chunk of money for you to acquire a belly. Otis seemed to be very rich and can provide for Missie and her husband. The way Joe talked about Otis, made Missie cultivate an idea to go sleep with Otis for his gold piece. Missie did just that, however “She took it into her hands with trembling and saw first thing that it was no gold piece. It was a gilded
Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby." P. 51
When greediness and a want of money become more important than the feeling of love, so many problems arises in the lives of those people that there might not be any possible solution for them. Certainly, things that look fascinating may not be the right choice every time. Money has a lot of attractive power; and this makes it have a much larger influence on people’s mind than it should. As said by Garth Brooks, the famous American Country singer, “You aren’t wealthy until you have something money can’t buy.” The main character of “The Bloody Chamber” was a seventeen year old girl when she decided to marry a guy named Marquis. She was fascinated by his lifestyle, his property, and his wealth; but she did not feel anything for Marquis. When asked by her mother whether she is sure that she loves Marquis, she replies back that “I’m sure that I want to marry him” (Carter 13). She even ignored the fact that he was considerably older than her and was married thrice before. Her desire to become rich and to have a financially secure life made her marry Marquis even though she did not love him. She never thought that this decision could get her into many kinds of problems. She never thought about what kind of husband she wanted. Undoubtedly, money can make people so blind that they lose their decisive power, and make poor decisions. Relationships that rely on such poor decisions and extreme greed can never be