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Short essay on ways of increasing financial literacy
Short essay on ways of increasing financial literacy
Chapter 17 financial literacy
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In his short story, “The Semplica-Girl Diaries”, the author George Saunders crafts an all too human tale as he shows the journal entries of the narrator, a husband and father of three who faces financial insecurity, and displays the effect money, whether in lack or excess, has on our actions and thoughts. The social setting of the story is almost identical to our current society, however there is a distinct divergence in the Semplica Girls, which are girls from impoverished backgrounds that hang by a wire in their heads as an odd, inhumane, and yet expensive, lawn ornament. In the pursuit of the “good life” for both his family and himself, the father places great importance on wealth in order to secure happiness, joy, and status through material …show more content…
means, and in this he makes a series of fiscally irresponsible purchases, such as the lawn renovation, as well as inhumane transactions in the purchase of the Semplica Girls.
The narrative criticizes the narrator’s actions and his views on the importance of money by the presence of Eva, his youngest daughter who detests the concept of the Semplica Girls, and by use of ambiguity and doubt in the journal entries, which casts a spotlight on the flaws of the narrator. Clearly, the work displays that the narrator is a flawed man, and he is not cast as a role-model for one to follow, however, the father is ultimately one I can relate to and understand, as while his actions deserve criticism, his motives do not. The father faces a confrontation with financial issues throughout the story, and in this we get exposure to his consumerist perception of material items, as well as his familial motives for why he pursues them. He wants to buy items of both prestige and comfort, not for the sake of pure ownership, but rather for his family, and specifically their self-perception. In the story, there are several confrontations with this as the father must manage his precarious position with the wishes of his daughters, and though it is near impossible for him to fulfill their wishes he …show more content…
excruciatingly tries anyway as to not “break their [Lilly’s] heart or harshly remind them [her] of our limitations.” (9) In the narrative, the father rarely has a sense of self-indulgence and sacrifices personal comfort for that of his loved ones. He will avoid buying clothes for himself so his children are able to have new clothes, and thus are not to seem impoverished and have his family face societal criticism. (20) The text clearly displays the father as a man who puts the needs of his family above all, however, in this he makes missteps and causes a disastrous financial pitfall. His spending is close to erratic, but he shows love to be the reason for this. When the father wins the ten-thousand dollars off the scratch-off, he discusses with his wife what to with it, and in this he turns down a possibility to pay off debts and allow a more secure financial position to give Lilly a splendid birthday. (15) All in all, this irrational fiscal behavior is the unfortunate side-effect of his drive to achieve a life of comfort and luxury for his family, and this is most clearly displayed in the Semplica Girls. The father purchases the Semplica Girls not out of interest for himself, but to help his daughter Lilly’s social perception, as they want her to “enter high school as confident young woman, feeling her family as good/affluent as any other family”. (24) He glances over the morality and frivolousness nature of the purchase to aid his daughter’s self-development. Unfortunately for the father, he does not escape criticism for his decisions, and he faces it not only from his youngest daughter Eva, but also from the text itself. Eva, who is only eight years old, represents the moralist voice in the story, and directly criticizes the purchase of the Semplica Girls.
To her, its simply “not nice” and she doesn’t understand why it is accepted. (18) This ultimately leads to her freeing the Semplica Girls, which inadvertently cause her family to be in dire financial straits. This action is in direct contrast to the actions of the dad, and shows a juxtaposition of Eva and the father, as Eva does a morally righteous deed in freeing the Semplica Girls, however causes incidental personal hardship to her family, while the father makes an immoral purchase in the case of the Semplica Girls, but this brings joy to Lilly. However, the harshest critic to the father is himself, specifically in how the journal entries are written. The ambiguity in the text introduces doubt and casts a shadow of uncertainty on what the narrator says. He will explain the financial hardships that his family is facing, and after a long tirade of explaining his debt, he simply says that they are just “stretched a bit thin these days.” (11) The narrator is presented as being in denial, and this causes his actions to be scrutinized by the reader. This style shows both his internal contradictions, but it also reveals some of the dark inner thoughts of the father. Most noticeably, this is on display when after the hardships of the escape of the Semplica Girls reveal themselves, the father wonders “if humans would not be better off living alone, individually in
woods, minding own beeswax, not loving anyone.” (31) The criticism of the father isn’t in place to condemn the father, but rather to accurately portray that he is a flawed individual, and thus calls into doubt his point of view.
The book “Dead Girls Don’t Lie” written by Jennifer Shaw Wolf focuses on a variety of different ideas and topics, mostly fixating the murder of the main character’s best friend Rachel. With this also comes gang violence, lost and found relationships, and the fact that some people will go to great extents in order to keep a lethal secret from the public eye. Rachel and Jaycee were best friends up until 6 months before where the book started. But, an altercation between them caused the breakup of their long lasted friendship. It is soon found out that Rachel was shot through her bedroom window, which is at first suspected to be gang violence. When Jaycee doesn’t answer her phone on the night Rachel was murdered, she received a text that circulates
Alexander Stowe is a twin, his brother is Aaron Stowe. Alex is an Unwanted, Aaron is a Wanted, and their parents are Necessaries. Alex is creative in a world where you can’t even see the entire sky, and military is the dream job for everyone and anyone. He should have been eliminated, just like all the unwanteds should have been. He instead comes upon Artimè, where he trains as a magical warrior- after a while. When he was still in basic training, and his friends were not, he got upset, he wants to be the leader, the one everyone looks up to.
The mother gave birth to six daughters. The daughters all got jobs at a seafood restaurant ran by a man from Boston. All of the sisters “made good money on tips” (MacLeod 268) but even though they made a respectable income the mother “was angry [her daughters] should even conceive of working in such a place” (MacLeod 267). The mother does not judge the restaurant on their food or the service but simply that he is an outsider. She didn’t accept their daughter’s gifts because they get their money from that restaurant. If the mother were to accept financial help from the daughters they would have a better lifestyle. The six daughters of the mother later became wives to six young men in big cities such as New York or Montreal. There they are wealthy and “drove expensive cars” (MacLeod271), yet the mother “never accepted the young men” (MacLeod 271) because “They were not of her sea” (MacLeod271). The daughters becoming so wealthy could have been a blessing for the family. They could have had help from the d...
She’s just so weak. If she would stand up for herself, no one would bother her. It’s her own fault that people pick on her, she needs to toughen up. “Shape of a Girl” by Joan MacLeod, introduces us to a group of girls trying to “fit in” in their own culture, “school.” This story goes into detail about what girls will do to feel accepted and powerful, and the way they deal with everyday occurrences in their “world.” Most of the story is through the eyes of one particular character, we learn about her inner struggles and how she deals with her own morals. This story uses verisimilitude, and irony to help us understand the strife of children just wanting to fit in and feel normal in schools today.
Perhaps no other event in modern history has left us so perplexed and dumbfounded than the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, an entire population was simply robbed of their existence. In “Our Secret,” Susan Griffin tries to explain what could possibly lead an individual to execute such inhumane acts to a large group of people. She delves into Heinrich Himmler’s life and investigates all the events leading up to him joining the Nazi party. In“Panopticism,” Michel Foucault argues that modern society has been shaped by disciplinary mechanisms deriving from the plague as well as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a structure with a tower in the middle meant for surveillance. Susan Griffin tries to explain what happened in Germany through Himmler’s childhood while Foucault better explains these events by describing how society as a whole operates.
By educating herself she was able to form her own opinion and no longer be ignorant to the problem of how women are judge by their appearance in Western cultures. By posing the rhetorical question “what is more liberating” (Ridley 448), she is able to get her readers to see what she has discovered. Cisneros also learned that despite the fact that she did not take the path that her father desired, he was still proud of all of her accomplishments. After reading her work for the first time her father asked “where can I get more copies” (Cisneros 369), showing her that he wanted to show others and brag about his only daughters accomplishments. Tan shifts tones throughout the paper but ends with a straightforward tone saying “there are still plenty of other books on the shelf. Choose what you like” (Tan 4), she explains that as a reader an individual has the right to form their own opinion of her writing but if they do not like it they do not have to read it because she writes for her own pleasure and no one else’s. All of the women took separate approaches to dealing with their issues but all of these resolutions allowed them to see the positive side of the
In "Our Secret" by Susan Griffin, the essay uses fragments throughout the essay to symbolize all the topics and people that are involved. The fragments in the essay tie together insides and outsides, human nature, everything affected by past, secrets, cause and effect, and development with the content. These subjects and the fragments are also similar with her life stories and her interviewees that all go together. The author also uses her own memories mixed in with what she heard from the interviewees. Her recollection of her memory is not fully told, but with missing parts and added feelings. Her interviewee's words are told to her and brought to the paper with added information. She tells throughout the book about these recollections.
Elena Poniatowska escrita durante una epoca de cambio en Mexico. Antes de sus obras las mujeres mexicanas eran sometidos, docil, y pasivo. En la tiempo de sus obras las mujeres estaba tratando salir de los estereotipos de antes. Esta problema social tomo un afecto en Elena. Aunque ella no viene de un movimiento literatura directamente, ella escrita con el concepto de compremetido. En su narrative El Recado ella crea un mujer estereotipical que no puede controlar sus emociones. La titula es eso porque ella viene a ver su amante, pero el no esta, asi ella escribe las cosas que sentia. La perspectiva es de un personaje y ella nunca interacta con otros personajes. En facto la unica descripcion de un personaje otro de la protagonista es de su amante Martin. Habla de otros personajes, pero solamente de sus acciones. Porque ellas es la unica perspectiva que tenemos es sencillo a sentar compasion para una protagonista de quien nombre no aun sabemos. Ella da la descripcion de toda que vea, y mas importante todo que se sienta. Tambien tropos y figuras retoricas dan un tono significante al poema. Estos sentimientos de la portagonista y el tono emocional de la narrativa transporta una tema de una mujer estereotipical y debil quien quiere ser reconocido.
Family is one of the most important institutions in society. Family influences different aspects of a person’s life, such as their religion, values, morals and behavior. Unfortunately, problems may arise when an individual’s belief system or behavior does not coincide with that of family standards. Consequently, individuals may be forced to repress their emotions or avoid acting in ways that that are not acceptable to the family. In the novel The Rain God, written by Arturo Islas, we are presented with a story about a matriarchal family that deals with various conflicts. One major internal conflict is repression. Throughout the novel the characters act in strange ways and many of the family members have internal “monsters” that represent the past that they are repressing. In his article, “The Historical Imagination in Arturo Islas’s The Rain God and Migrant Souls”, Antonio C. Marquez’s implicitly asserts a true idea that The Rain God is a story about repression. Marquez’s idea can be supported from an analysis of secondary sources and a reading of the primary text.
Eva is a single mother of three children. The father of these children left her to raise them by herself. This proves to be an extremely difficult task for her to complete. Eva is a very poor woman, and does not have much to provide for her children with. Her, “children needed her;
“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...
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.
From dreams deferred to identity affirmed Lorraine Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun,” presents readers with many differing themes. The most prevalent and reoccurring theme is the effect money plays on society’s views of manhood and happiness. Readers are shown multiple characters with a diverse view on manhood. From Walter Lee with his matching societal views that a man should be able to provide whatever his family needs or wants to Lena whose views are a biased compilation of her late husband’s behavior and her own ideals, that a man should maintain his honor and protect his children’s dreams.
The father here might also appeal as a role model. He is both attractive and well dressed, implying a successful life. He also has a son who is presumably not an unruly problem child. Therefore the father acts as a well-dressed, wealthy man with a bond between himself and his son. By purchasing the watch others might also perceive themselves to have this success.
In Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder teaches philosophy and it explains basic philosophical ideas better than any other reading book or textbook that I have ever read. The many philosophical lessons of the diversified thinkers of their own time were dexterously understood. The author has a wonderful knack for finding the heart of a concept and placing it on display. For example, he metamorphoses Democritus' atoms into Lego bricks and in a stroke makes the classical conception of the atom dexterously attainable. He relates all the abstract concepts about the world and what is real with straightforward everyday things that everyone can relate to which makes this whole philosophy course manageable. ''The best way of approaching philosophy is to ask a few philosophical questions: How was the world created? Is there any will or meaning behind what happens? Is there a life after death? How can we answer these questions? And most important, how ought we to live?'' (Gaarder, Jostein 15).