An effective way of illustrating a society’s moral values and views towards a particular group within that society is to describe events and tell stories from the perspective and point of view of a person within the specific societal group. In the case of John Steinbeck’s, The Grapes of Wrath, which is set in California, society at large is represented by the rich California landowners as their wealth and influence allows them to shape and dominate events and determine what is considered normal, acceptable behavior. However, the landowners’ attitudes and actions alienated another group of California society, the migrant workers, and this alienation from society at large of the migrant workers, essentially establishing them as a distinct lower caste is a central theme of Steinbeck’s novel. This alienated group is represented by Tom Joad, and it is Tom who tells the story and gives us an insight into the differences in values, views, and attitudes between the migrant class and the landowners that is the foundation of the alienation and resentment that is so prevalent throughout the novel. Tom Joad represents society’s poor, whose main priority is just surviving and working towards a better life; this is in contrast to the rich landowners of California who most value wealth and land.
Throughout his essay, he provides numerous examples about the paradoxes that have led to new ideas in our society. One of the major paradoxes is the paradox of expectation. The California Dream promises so many different things: the promise of opportunity and success, warmth and sunshine, romance and freedom. It is considered to be the “quintessential Promised Land,” people are so enthusiastic and excited about this place that they often overlook the reality of the situation. This is where trouble happens.
Politics can ruin even the best of men. We have hit the campaign trail for governor of California. His speeches are just outstanding as he points out how the government is for the people and not vice-versa.
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the characters to demonstrate the corruption and degradation of the American Dream. He even uses the characters, namely Tom and Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, to demonstrate the demise of those who are brave enough to attempt to attain its illusionary goals. There are different types of wealth represented in this novel. The Buchanans are wealthy people. Jay Gatsby is also wealthy but would rather simply be affluent.
The constitution has led Americans to success, but Pierce informs his audience that there are “three Great Premises of Idiot America” that are controlling Americans today. The first great premise is that “any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units.” Money has been the focal point for Americans for a long time and base success off of it. This idea of money has put things on pedestals because of the money they have been able to produce. This premise might seem a little absurd, but there are many examples that make it valid. Many examples come from the entertainment side where if a movie makes a lot in the box office then it is a good movie, if a book gets off the shelves quickly then it is a good book, or if an album gets sales then it is a good album.
Things such as a nice house, a well developed family that gets along great, money, and other minor things that can make a big difference on your lifestyle. Many of the sitcoms were even shot in California; therefore, it showed an atmosphere that you could only imagine in your head. People say that the American dream is a unreachable goal, it is set on such high standards that make it impossible to achieve. The reason people say this is because it is supposed to make you try harder on reaching the goal, causing you too make your life the best it possibly can
Income is an important area of budgeting, this because without income there is no money to work within. It is necessary to raise the amount of income that is available for the budget. To do this the business could sell more products or raising prices. If costs are higher but income is not increased then this means that the profits will be affected. A business with a proper budget should be able to pay its expenses and keep
Drug Trafficking in the United States from Mexico Drug trafficking in the United States and Mexico is a huge problem for the United States because it has a negative impact on other areas in society such as crime rates. The government needs to find a solution to better control drug trafficking because it claims lives and destroys families. Research shows Marijuana and Cocaine are the top two most illegally abused drugs in the United States. James Gray (2001) points out: Not only is this drug-money corruption problem of enormous concern in its own right, but additional lawless behavior often is derived from it as well. For example, the entire southern California area was shocked in September 1999 when a former officer of the Rampart Division
Then what should we do with the American popular culture? Firstly, we need to make our own judgment. Don’t just go with the crowd. Keep ourselves from the negative things in it. Secondly, while we enjoy the amusement that American popular culture brings us, we should also pay special attention to those things which motivate it to develop.
The culture of celebrity is an increasingly pervasive phenomenon that is made even more treacherous in the fact that it touches almost every American’s life. While many hold the conventional belief that celebrity dogma and vicarious living are mere entertainment and thus harmless, the public’s rising propensity towards celebrity worship and mindless ingestion of manipulated and often inaccurate information set forth by the media and popular public figures greatly contributes to the rising anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism, and overall incompetence in detecting our willful consumption of junk thought. If society is unable to recognize the repercussions celebrity culture will have on our collective ability to distinguish legitimate news from the erroneous and furthermore continues to advocate a general reluctance to transpose our rapturous enthusiasm from Britney Spears to issues far more worthy of our attention, such as war in Afghanistan, the climbing rates of foreclosure and unemployment, and global warming, the consequences will become progressively severe. The current and future implications of this seemingly innocuous movement include debased public discourse and politics, the proliferation of misinformation and erroneous reports relating to health issues and more, a diversion from intellectual endeavors, and an overall rejection of rationality. Celebrity culture and our nation’s infatuation with it is playing a significant role in producing a generation that is increasingly devoid of a defined criterion to assess the precariousness in conforming to the credo of a dumbed-down society where intellectualism and rationalism have far less value than the recklessly enticing ideas set forth by the mouthpieces of junk thought.