ipl-logo

Walter Van Tilburg Clark's The Portable Phonograph

427 Words2 Pages

Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s “The Portable Phonograph” analyses how easily peace can be disrupted by greed. In the blink of an eye, peace can turn into destruction, war and chaos. It can all change because of one person's resistance to share with others. Everyone is greedy in some way, but some are more than others. It is in our blood to be greedy, we are wired to try to be better than one another and it is hard to resist. Greed can lead to bad things and a couple of them showed up in the short story. The doctor was greedy because he wanted to keep the phonograph to himself. He did share a song with them, but it was obvious that he did not want to. The doctor’s greed caused the musician’s life to perish. Since the doctor was selfish it lead to the musician wanting to steal the phonograph from him which basically ended with the doctor ready with a lead pipe to protect the phonograph. Like in the story two men’s greed lead to one man's death, and ruined the peace. A musician had come to listen to the phonograph, as he listened it was like everything was ok and peaceful, and it was like there was no war going on. Once the musician came to …show more content…

The time is set in a middle of a war where there are tank tracks frozen in the mud, and meteor looking holes in the ground caused by bombs. Greed wasThe story is based around a theme of what greed can cause, and this is one thing. People cause war because they want more for themselves (more territory) or they can do it to prove that they are better/right. The war’s energy is greed, take away that greed and there is no war, no deaths and no destruction. In Conclusion, Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s “The Portable Phonograph” is a great example of how greed can change things in an instant. The greed of the doctor and the musician lead to death and the greed of civilizations lead to thousands of

Show More
Related
835 Words | 4 Pages

Another sort of greed is how abbey was emotionally greedy she didn’t want the money she wanted john Procter. Due to her wanting john Procter she tried to kill his wife Elizabeth by saying she a witch. This also shoes that in the play how greed is a major theme because not only was their money greed there was emotional greed. Overall the play was full of greed because everyone was trying to take something out of the Salem witch trials which then led to more people being killed. This shows how the play was full of greed which led to a whole lot of people being

Read More
637 Words | 3 Pages

Financial power is alluring in more that one way; ignorance and love - the two extremes, in this case it caused the suitcase lady to loose the only person she had. It is up to others to change the perspective of people in need, rather than listening to what society says. This is seen in both Of Mice and Men with Curly’s wife and Candy and in the “Suitcase Lady”. To get power, people take it from others, this creates

Read More
1145 Words | 5 Pages

The novel is set in the year of 2025, where the world is overrun by corruption, greed, criminals, violence, famine, thirst, slavery and division. The main character, Lauren Olamina, narrates her life and journey in the novel. Lauren describes the horrendous and corrupt world around her and notes of the population’s response to the violent acts. Lauren views the world around her when she

Read More
431 Words | 2 Pages

As a French Proverb states, “greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth”. People are consumed with wanting more and more rather than knowing what they need in life. The human race constantly carries on this pattern of greed. A theme of greed is shown in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

“There is a sufficiency in the world for man 's need but not for man 's greed.” This quote was spoken from a wise Indian activist, what he says is a correlation towards the rising greed aspect of the character Macbeth. This play Macbeth was about a soldier who became greedy with power. It is about Macbeth’s Tyrant display when he kills Duncan and orders Banquo to be killed and other violent acts.

Read More
877 Words | 4 Pages

Greed can be a good thing if it is used for the right reasons. For example, greed can be the key that leads to success. If a person wants to achieve recognition, they’ll go extreme measures to make it happen such as inventing something, excelling in their studies, or even being the best. However, in most cases, greed can lead to disaster. Having the desire to obtain something a person already possesses is selfish.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

Three examples of greed and its effects are shown in the stories of “The Necklace”, “Civil Peace”, and “The Golden Touch”. The short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant tells the story of a woman, named Mathilde, who borrows a very expensive necklace, ends up losing it, and spends 10 years of her life repaying the debt it took to buy a new one, only to find out the original was fake and not expensive at all. This alone states the extent at which we will go to replace materialistic items. The lady had been part of the middle class, living comfortably, and even had a maid and a cook.

Read More
576 Words | 3 Pages

Singer attempts to close this gap with the age old question of ‘why don’t we give the riches’ money to the poor’. The essence of Singer’s argument is obviously end world poverty. Probably the strongest point made in Singer’s argument is the involvement of the whole world. By taking this money from those across the world eliminates the opportunity for indifference. To stand with indifference is to stand with the oppressor.

Read More
916 Words | 4 Pages

The world stereotypes rich people as rude, stuck up and selfish. Ever wonder why? Studies from Yale, The New York Times, TED and more have concluded, money changes everything. Whether it’s attitude, morals or values, money can affect and change all aspects of someone’s life. The play, A Raisin in the Sun, has a theme showing this claim clearly.

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

Claudius is a perfect example of greed. He killed the king in order to obtain the throne. As it said in the book ¨murder most foul, as in the best it is, but this most foul, strange, and unnatural.¨ Claudius was greedy and wanted what his brother had. Instead of

Read More
1439 Words | 6 Pages

His story warns that the pursuit of wealth—even as a means to an end—causes loss, despite the seeming gain. In order to achieve fulfillment, we must abandon that pursuit in favour of the direct pursuit of the things that would do

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

In one circumstance, we may feel the need to give to those who are poor to keep them from getting in our personal space; and in other circumstances we feel that we give to others out of the kindness of our heart. I completely agree with Ascher and her views on compassion, because I have been in similar situation where I have questioned why people give money, and whether they give with a whole heart or out of necessity. Furthermore, this essay can teach us plenty of lessons that can be utilized throughout our lives so we can teach others and make them aware of the need to be more

Read More
938 Words | 4 Pages

American novel deals in depth with the theme of Greed as an aspect of human conscience crisis which leads to dilemma, problems, and predicament for human being. Novels such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, Henry James’s Washington Square , Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Michael Crichton’s The Great Train Robbery, and others expose clear image for the theme of Greed and its implications. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the human predicament of Americans in 1920s, through his best novel The Great Gatsby . In this novel Fitzgerald deals with the theme of a lust for money and greed .

Read More
1530 Words | 7 Pages

The conflict standpoint is based on the idea that the society is comprised of various different groups who are in constant friction with one another for the access of scarce and valuable resources; these may include wealth, fame, power, or the authority to apply one’s own value system onto the general society. The conflict theorists argue that a conflict exists in the society when a group of people who believe that their interests are not being met, or that they are not getting a fair share of the society’s resources, work to counter what they perceive as a handicap or a

Read More
1366 Words | 6 Pages

This greed drives humans to overlook the unthinkable in order to satisfy their lust for power and money. The attempted help of the Englishmen becomes the disease that slowly starts to cripple the host to gain the power they desire. Conrad utilizes ideas of greed, imperialism, and the symbolism of darkness to show that humans are inherently selfish. Conrad lays out the instances where greed takes over a main character and changes him into one of the “Savages” (109).

Read More

More about Walter Van Tilburg Clark's The Portable Phonograph

Related Topics

Open Document