In the universe, humanity uses power selfishly and greedily with the desire to attain fulfilment. Selfishness and greed are connecting to each other inextricably. “One of These Days” is a narrative written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It talked about the conflicts between the middle class and the politician. Epitaph for the Race of Man is a sequence of eighteen sonnets which was written by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The whole series of sonnets tell from the beginning of the earth to the end of the humanity. Sonnet XVI “Alas for Man, So Stealthily Betrayed” talks about the problem of human selfishness and greed. Desire for power leads to greed and selfishness in both the story “One of These Days” and sonnet XVI in “Epitaph for the Race of Man”.
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In the sonnet XVI “Alas for Man, So Stealthily Betrayed”, Miller states that every man holds selfishness and greed to acquire power since the dawn of mankind. In addition, the “wild disorder” in human beings breaks their capacity to reason which is the guide to the truth. Instead, the chaos leads to mania which brings the power to human. Their desire of fighting for power distinguishes themselves from other animals. A person looks back to his past, and he realizes the excessive use of power leads him to lost his consciousness and cumulate bane in his life. In the story “One of These Days”, the Mayor owns massive power of controlling the whole town as an only leader. He abuses his power to Aurelio Escovar who is a poor dentist in the town. By emphasizing his power, he threatens the dentist’s son, that if the dentist does not take out his aching teeth, he will shoot him. As a mayor with a higher social status, he takes the advantages of his power in an inappropriate manner. As a person with a high social status, he is still not satisfied from his power as a mayor. His selfishness and greed lead him to attain more power endlessly. Moreover, he wants to show off his power to people in lower social classes which specifically aim at the dentist in the story. Escover also uses his dental skills to obtain temporary power. Overall, these characters reveal that human beings are selfish and greedy while using their power …show more content…
Inherited from their ancestors, living beings are born with greed. In “One of These Days”, greed appears on the mayor who is known for his excessive and greedy abuse of power in the town. His greed leads him to control everyone in the town with eagerness. After the dentinal treatment, the dentist asked him whether he should send the bill to the mayor or to the town, “The mayor didn’t look at him… ‘It’s the same damn thing.’” (Marquez 110) Without talking to the dentist face to face, the mayor shows the disrespect to him. In a broad sense, he is indifferent to the middle class. Moreover, his greed guides him to stress his authority again in the reality. Similar to the narrative, the sonnet XVI of “Epitaph for the Race of Man” also talks about the greed of power in humanity. First of all, the narrator states that tracing to the ancient time, the bane of humanity is the greed that within them. Humanity takes greed after finding ways to destroy the truth and utilize the greed to gain power. In addition, greed promotes humanity’s will to survive. Humanity is greedy not only because they have the power to do so, but also they are inherently greedy, and they are capable of acting on the greed. Nevertheless, with a power of greed, human being as the mayor becomes more unscrupulous. In the world of natural selection, people are greedy to keep and
In the sonnet XVI “Alas for Man, So Stealthily Betrayed”, Miller states that every man holds selfishness and greed to acquire power since the dawn of mankind. In addition, the “wild disorder” in human beings breaks their capacity to reason which is the guide to the truth. Instead, the chaos leads to mania which brings the power to human. Their desire of fighting for power distinguishes themselves from other animals. A person looks back to his past, and he realizes the excessive use of power leads him to lost his consciousness and cumulate bane in his life. In the story “One of These Days”, the Mayor owns massive power of controlling the whole town as an only leader. He abuses his power to Aurelio Escovar who is a poor dentist in the town. By emphasizing his power, he threatens the dentist’s son, that if the dentist does not take out his aching teeth, he will shoot him. As a mayor with a higher social status, he takes the advantages of his power in an inappropriate manner. As a person with a high social status, he is still not satisfied from his power as a mayor. His selfishness and greed lead him to attain more power endlessly. Moreover, he wants to show off his power to people in lower social classes which specifically aim at the dentist in the story. Escover also uses his dental skills to obtain temporary power. Overall, these characters reveal that human beings are selfish and greedy while using their power …show more content…
Inherited from their ancestors, living beings are born with greed. In “One of These Days”, greed appears on the mayor who is known for his excessive and greedy abuse of power in the town. His greed leads him to control everyone in the town with eagerness. After the dentinal treatment, the dentist asked him whether he should send the bill to the mayor or to the town, “The mayor didn’t look at him… ‘It’s the same damn thing.’” (Marquez 110) Without talking to the dentist face to face, the mayor shows the disrespect to him. In a broad sense, he is indifferent to the middle class. Moreover, his greed guides him to stress his authority again in the reality. Similar to the narrative, the sonnet XVI of “Epitaph for the Race of Man” also talks about the greed of power in humanity. First of all, the narrator states that tracing to the ancient time, the bane of humanity is the greed that within them. Humanity takes greed after finding ways to destroy the truth and utilize the greed to gain power. In addition, greed promotes humanity’s will to survive. Humanity is greedy not only because they have the power to do so, but also they are inherently greedy, and they are capable of acting on the greed. Nevertheless, with a power of greed, human being as the mayor becomes more unscrupulous. In the world of natural selection, people are greedy to keep and