Joe Veix Sarcasm

Sarcasm in Joe Veix’s “Why I Quit My Job to Travel the World”

Joe Veix’s “Why I Quit My Job to Travel the World” argues that the road to becoming “a free spirit” (par. 2) is ironic for those individuals who are tied to wealth. The author emphasizes satire by writing from the perspective of a young, naïve, self-absorbed man. While Veix’s satire focuses on the decision of a rich white male, the essay’s narrator also reflects on a broader social problem that affects most people in the age of social media.
The essay’s opening paragraph reveals how grand the character’s lifestyle is. The character decides to travel the world because he cannot bear being chained to a “stuffy office any longer” (par. 1). Veix intentionally describes the character’s “enormous trust fund” (par. 1) to point out that the traveller can afford to quit his job. Throughout the essay, Veix carefully chooses specific closing sentences for each paragraph to emphasize how the character’s privileges allow him to travel without financial burden. When the author mentions how

This is shown when the character talks about pictures of “scoops of glistening gelato” (par. 5) among other things, it is the social commentary that people on social media will often choose mediocre photos to display their lives traveling despite being in a whole new country or continent. When Veix mentions “On the Road” (par. 5), he is implying that the character alludes himself to the protagonist of “On the Road”. This is a reflection that people will often see themselves as something higher than they actually are. Just like the character is unaware how privileged he is with his inheritance. Conclusion, these two points ties into Veix’s thesis that tourist seeks self-validation rather than immerse themselves in the culture. People are so fixated on how they look on social media, consequently, people start to believe it