Selfishness In French Realism

Throughout our discussion of French realism we see the concepts of materialism and selfishness prominently. Similarly we constantly see similar circumstances, values, and overall how society today has not differentiated from how it was in this period. While the means of these similarities have changed, you can still see the same fundamental principles in both times. One prime example of this is how material possessions dictate where we stand in society along with how we stand socially. In today's times, phones, clothes, cars, and other possessions have become as important, or even more so than personality and other intangible traits. When comparing these attributes of society to what was studied of the french realism period we see duplicate …show more content…
Although this is an individual issue, it reflects into society and becomes apparent through society's values, and actions. With little exception in society throughout history, self interest is dominant in decisions that are made and actions that are taken. You can see this everywhere like a plague in current society where everything is made to be about the consumer. Easily spotted examples of this are products such as the Ipod, Iphone, Ipad, and many as well as many more. Similarly things occurrences in society like selfies and social media also promote selfishness.Compare this to the past and many of the same images will appear which concurs with how the fortunate care little of everyone else's lives, no matter the size of the issue or conflict like the story of the man in his carriage that was discussed in class. Another example can be cited as the overall persona that Mademoiselle Loisel emits in “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant. In his story her selfishness causes her great misfortune when she refuses to humble herself or in the cases she refused to seek help out of her avoidable predicament all due to her own selfishness. So, selfishness is a timeless concept in society and between comparing these two time periods you can clear see how society has remained constant in this aspect fundamentally