The Smiths

The effect of materialism on the main characters In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses wealth and the process of gaining it as an important theme. This process of acquiring material wealth is known as materialism. Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are both strongly materialistic and put a lot of value to possessions and wealth, while Nick Carraway doesn’t show any materialistic desires and therefore highlights the contrast between these characters. Gatsby’s main desire and aim…

The Story of an Hour is a short story by author Kate Chopin, that was published in 1984. The story was originally published in Vogue, on December 6th, titled "The Dream of an Hour”. Louise Mallard, the main character, has heart problems. Therefore, at the beginning of the text we are told that she must be informed of her husband’s death in a careful manner. Her sister Josephine delivers the news. The reader is also told that Louise’s husband’s friend, named Richards, had learned about his…

Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel “The Bell Jar”, briefs the story of an amazing, gifted poet, Esther Greenwood, whose falling apart piece by piece due to the pressure of society. Throughout the novel Esther gave many signs on how she's slowly falling apart. When working for the Ladies’ Day magazine in New York, Esther develops a mental illness. An illness that makes her unable to sleep then leads to her not being able to read and write. She then tries to commit suicide multiple times due to the lack of…

Karl Marx, a theorist who examined the societal values and orders, ultimately came to the conclusion that human history was composed of a level of struggles between different classes. The main motivator for humans is “historical materialism” which is associated with wealth, gain, and resources. Marx believed that when factories were created with no progress and investment, the workers just ended up getting poorer and poorer until there was no incentive to work. To fix this problem, Marx came up…

The Industrial Revolution by T. S. Ashton is a story of the emergence of industrial civilization. Ashton was an English economic historian. He was professor of economic history at the London School of Economics at the University of London, and Emeritus Professor until his death in 1968. The Industrial Revolution (1760–1830) is his best known work, and put forth a positive view of the benefits of this era. The industrial revolution has been attacked and opinioned by many. Some say it the cause…

President John F. Kennedy once said “conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” The concept of conformity and individuality is clearly illustrated in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Like most dystopian societies, Fahrenheit 451 contains a damaged society in which the people watch excessive amounts of television on wall size sets, listen to music on seashell radio sets, and drive extremely fast, not afraid to hit animals or people. The masses never think…

Solow-Swan model The Solow-Swan model was named after Robert (Bob) Solow and Trevor Swan, or simply after the more famous of the two economists as Solow model. This model is remarkably simple and has also shaped the way we approach economic growth as well as the field of macroeconomics. Before the advent of the Solow Growth Model, one may fail to appreciate the intellectual breakthrough that it was; as then, the most common approach to economic growth was with reference to the Harrod-Domar model…

The great Reverend William Lawrence of Massachusetts once said, “there is a certain distrust on the part of our people as to the effect of material prosperity on their morality.” In Mohandas Gandhi’s speech, “Economic and Moral Progress,” Gandhi’s focal point is differentiating between the monetary growth of society and the chastity that one embodies. Throughout the course of time, mankind has proceeded to tie itself to the concept that our progression and prosperity as human beings in the field…

The Eleventh Doctor from Doctor Who, said, “Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it’s a plan!” Before, I started my master I had a plan already on how to successfully finish. I know theirs four ways to distinguish my accomplishment on succeeding on masters. I want to accomplish my masters in these four areas that are intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, time management, and academic preparedness. They all have a significant plan in place, but they all reach for the same goal in achieving my…

Everyone fears something. Our fears control our every decision, whether we know it or not. Fear is a common trait that authors use for inspiration when writing their books, and it is just one of the many good qualities that connects many dystopian novels together. Authors George Orwell and Lois Lowry took full advantage of this knowledge when writing 1984 and The Giver.By using fear to control the societies in both 1984 and The Giver, Orwell and Lowry are getting at the idea that society has to…