The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez describes the adventures of Ramírez, a poor Spanish American carpenter from Puerto Rico, who was taken captive by British pirates and was supposedly forced to work with them for two years. The book portrays Ramírez as a victim in the hands of pirates while emphasizing the graphic depictions of English pirate cruelty in order to serve Ramírez and the Mexican Viceroy’s purposes. However, through careful examination of the story, I believe that he indeed was a pirate, and will explain so in this essay by arguing four points: first, that Ramírez headed towards familiar territory due to the lack of paperwork for his belongings, second, his lack of explanation of why he did not escape whenever possible, third, his ownership of special weapons, and lastly, the use of words in his storytelling. To begin, Ramírez sailed to Spanish territory because he had no papers that certified that the ship and its cargo were his, as seen through Zepherino de Castro’s many attempts to restrain and seize Ramírez’s property (149). This meant, that he needed to find Spanish soil and subjects, where he knew the laws will be more lenient (rather than somewhere like Madagascar, where he could be denounced as a pirate to Spanish authorities in exchange
Humans do not share the traits of empathy or hostility, but the trait of greed instead. Greed is at the core of all humans on earth. Greed is the reason behind the acts of evil that are shown in the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Before launching the boulder at piggy, Golding describes him as, Roger with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (Golding 181). Roger isn’t evil to please others or to follow orders.
Several instances in Tom Walker’s life suggest that became a corrupt and immoral human because of his overbearing trait of greed. Irving uses these instances and Tom’s life on the whole to caution readers of the results of greed. By making Walker’s personality rotten and full of greedy intentions, Walker’s life can be viewed as shameful and unappealing. This perspective makes an impression on readers and enhances Irving’s message explained in the last paragraph of the story. Using Tom Walker’s life as an example of what life choices not to make, Irving warns reader to steer away from their personal greed in order to remain good people.
The Moral Decay of the Materialistic Although F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby debuted in 1925– before the Great Depression– it serves as a prophetic exemplification of the the material excess of the 1920s that drowned out signs of the coming Great Depression. The book’s plot follows the bootlegger Jay Gatsby as he pursues his old love Daisy Buchanan through flaunting his new extravagant lifestyle, mainly by throwing ostentatious parties. Yet, in the end, Daisy chooses her unfaithful husband Tom over Gatsby. Through Fitzgerald’s use of wealthy, materialistic characters, he comments on the effect of the material excess of the roaring twenties: moral corruption.
The businessmen of the Gilded Age focused solely on their ascension to power, disregarding those who they left behind or damaged economically. Henry George stated in Progress and Poverty in 1879, “the wealthy class is becoming more wealthy; but the poorer class is becoming more dependent” (Doc 1). George discussed the polarity between the wealthy and poorer classes, and how it has grown into two separate entities over time and as the Golden Age had continued on. The drawing, “The Robber Barons of Today” satirized the growing power of the capitalists through the usage of their tactics (taxes, trusts, etc.) (Doc 4).
Thesis: F. Scott Fitzgerald accurately depicts dishonestly and hypocrisy within the upper class in his characterization of the West Eggers within “The Great Gatsby”. In the 1920’s American morality changed drastically as a result of World War I. Many young men and women were forced to leave their comforts zones, and as a result, experienced a freedom they had never experienced. Men experienced women and drinking at a young age, and women finally had a chance to enter the workforce, and as a result the mind-set shifted from family and other orientated to focusing on one the self. Many people became hypocritical, unfaithful, and dishonest, especially in the upper class.
Many people were disillusioned, but believed that there was good in the Negotiable Legal Tender, which consisted of profits of American Industry and American salesmanship. “There was an epidemic of outlines of knowledge and books of etiquette for those who had got rich quick and become socially at ease” (Doc C). People felt that they had to become wealthy to be accepted into the society of the superior class. However, in the Great Gatsby, the new rich and the old rich were both separate classes even if they had the same amount of money. “My house looks well doesn’t it?...
People pursue wealth as a means to gain power and influence, viewing it as a symbol of success. However, the relentless pursuit of wealth can lead to moral decay and corruption, causing people to sacrifice their moral principles in order to obtain material possessions. The character of Tom Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel exemplifies this phenomenon. Tom's relentless pursuit of an idealized lifestyle defined by wealth causes him to abandon his moral compass, how wealth can have a corrosive effect on an individual's character and drive them to behave in ways that destroy themselves and those around them. Tom Buchanan views physical objects as tools to assert his superiority and dominance over others.
During the time period of the 1570s to the 1750s, Spain and Asia dominated the silver trading network. Most of the silver distributed across the world came from their ports or ports in other countries controlled by them. Silver was beginning to be used across all aspects of life; silver was used as currency, traded for foreign luxuries such as Asian porcelain and silks, and was considered to be one of the most valuable traded goods. The silver trade that commenced among Spain and Asia affected the globe by enabling the wealthy to obtain and become accustomed to many luxury exports, yet not allowing the poor to have enough silver to fulfill necessary domestic affairs, and the trade made the silver supply very scarce and inflated the value of
In “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald presents editorial on an assortment of topics, — equity, control, insatiability, treachery, the American dream. Of the considerable number of subjects, maybe none is more all around created than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is viewed as a splendid bit of social discourse, offering a clear look into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald deliberately sets up his novel into particular gatherings in any case, at last, each gathering has its own issues to battle with, leaving an effective indication of what a problematic place the world truly is. By making unmistakable social classes — old cash, new cash, and no cash — Fitzgerald sends solid messages about the elitism running all through each stratum of society.
He considers money is capable of corrupting even the most innocent of people, who were living in peace and tranquility. Fitzgerald paints a picture of the greed that infects our world to this day. He addresses the problem with the rich which is still a relevant problem today. Fitzgerald represents the social elite as
On one hand, Joyce executes his political beliefs as an anti-English imperialist of the alienated labor force, as we see the boy ultimately buys nothing from the bazaar. This is extrapolated from the material reckoning between the buyer and seller as well as the result of failed capitalism – which Marx viewed as a catastrophe from its incapability to stabilize social and economic qualities by the lower classes. Moreover, the protagonist alienates himself from the normative, religiously induced way of thinking from euphoria for the fantasy created by the bazaar to defeat- reflective of defeated Ireland at the time. On the other hand, Joyce incorporates the boy’s desire to escape from the hegemony of Irish Catholicism. The characters like the protagonist, Mangan’s sister, are tropes of the societal tension between Irish and England, but in this context is suggestive of the incompatibility of capitalism in Joyce’s time.
He admitted that his first critical success Treasure Island was inspired by the works of other literary contributors such as Edgar Allan Poe’s MS Found in a Bottle, (a manuscript telling the adventures of an unknown sea-man) and The Gold-Bug (a fascinating tale of buried treasure). In his letter to Sir Sidney Colvin, an English curator and literary critic, Stevenson acknowledged that the idea of the dead man’s chest was drawn from Kingsley’s At Last. Also, the history of a drunkard and suspicious pirate Billy Bones was constructed from the writings of his favorite writer Washington Irving.
Then, we will see Daisy Buchanan’s moral corruption due to her wealthy upbringing. Lastly, Nick Carraway’s conversation with Tom will show how wealth has corrupted Tom’s morals in such a way that it leads him to rationalize his decisions and actions, believing that what he did was right. Wealth is the source of moral corruption within the characters in The Great Gatsby, wealth is the source of their actions and decisions, it is the reason for their warped sense of what is right and wrong. The first example of wealth
The carelessness that money creates allows those in power to bypass and disobey the laws because they believe their money will bail them out of trouble. Many wealthy people use their money as a reason to not take responsibility for their actions. Wealth causes the characters in The Great Gatsby to be out of touch with reality and the world beyond wealth. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's
