Impossible, Perverse & Strange: The Selfishness of Greed

Throughout the course and the topics we have discussed in class. I found there to be a small but quite big connection within the blogs and stories. I felt Greed, or the idea of wanting something played a big part in the aspect of authors writings throughout time. Although it may not seem to stick out like a sore thumb at first, when you start to dig a little deeper you can find the connection hidden in the words and meaning. Merriam-Webster describes Greed as: selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed. We see this displayed in several of the stories we discussed. In “The Negro’s Complain”, “Romance of the Forest”, “The Cry for Children”, “My last duchess” and “Alice in Wonderland”. These all derived from the idea of selfishness and want. “To greed, all nature is insufficient.” -Seneca

I want to briefly talk about “The Castle of Otrantro”, in retrospect to what I am writing about. I want to show how one of the first stories we read placed the first stepping stone for the trail I am writing about. I believe Manfred is embodies Greed by showing his eagerness for an Heir. Instead of mourning for the loss of his son, he pursues Isabella in hopes to have someone take his throne and not lose power. We see this in many cases during this time set. Many people of higher power and statuses would actually marry a relative in order to not lose the family thrown. Rather than hand off power to some nobody they interbred to keep the wealth. This is the first example of how the deadly sin of Greed has been present throughout history.

I liked the “The Negros Compliant” because it lead by example. It showcased the right for people of lower statuses and color to fight for their rights. Although it was written by Cowper, her wrote in the style and view point of a slave. We also gather the same meaning and text from “Pity for poor Africans”. We see the graphic images and struggles that slaves endured all for the sake of the British greed cheap labor. This is an important part of history. We finally get to hear about what slaves go through, and could help start a movement. It was not only important for Britain but for other areas of the globe as well. During presentations, the group that spoke about Cowper stated he was a religious man fighting for the voices unheard. I too got a religious meaning from the text. Religion should teach that God created all, and we are all the same. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28) During this time many people were “said” to be christians. So why are they greedy with their ways. They knew it is considered a sin, but turned the other cheek in order to cheapen their means of business. They looked out for one thing and one thing only, themselves. “All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.” -Edgar Allan Poe

Another text that I wanted to look at was “Romance of the Forest”. The idea of greed is seen in the light of selfishness throughout the book of one character, La Motte. Right away the story starts off with La Motte running away from his debts and troubles and dragging his family with him. Instead of looking for their well being, we see a man looking out for himself and his family second. When he gets caught, the men who are about to kill him offer him Adeline in order to save his life. He agrees to this “Trade” as you can call it and take her with him. She sees him as a hero, a savor of sort. In reality he still only helped himself out. I highly doubt he cared for Adeline at the beginning but slowly we start to see the family take a liking to her. Still La Motte send his butler to the town for food, in fears he would get caught and taken to prison. Then we are introduced to La Mottes son who was not even told of their fleeing. This was just ridiculous. La Motte didn’t even have the decency to tell his son, who is his only kin, where they were going. Throughout the book you hear how La Motte paces around the room, cant sleep and thinks about always being caught. When he goes searching in the castle to see if it is ok to live in, the thing on his mind was the possibility of finding gold or treasure. Instead of caring for his family and finding a safe haven, trying to get a job and look for food, he wants it all done for him. This is Greed is the form of men/women who to this day care for no one else.

We go back to Greed in the form of cheap labor and business deals in “The Cry of the Children”. I believe that this poem was a great reflection in the time of what was happening and revealing the true nature of it; Child Labor. We get to hear the unheard voices once again but from children, not adults. Elizabeth Barret Browning was able to give limelight to children, and Mill to women in “The subjection of Women” who worked in factories all day and night in order to produce products at a cheaper cost. It was simply a new form of slavery. In the poem, we hear the voices of children and how they tire of the world they live in and their surroundings. They are innocent, young and require shaping for the world to come. Instead they are locked up, starving and dreading the days. “We looked into the pit prepared to take her — Was no room for any work in the close clay :From the sleep wherein she lieth none will wake her, Crying, 'Get up, little Alice ! it is day.'” It is bad when you know that children beg to be like Alice, forever asleep and not having to work any longer. Businessmen could have easily found adults to work full price, regular shifts, but they want to keep the extra income for themselves.

I also wanted to quickly reference “My Last Duchess”, where we see the character of the duke portray greed. The dukes form of Greed comes in the bout of Jealousy, which therefore leads to selfishness. He hides the picture of the duchess in behind the curtain and tells his guest about her flirtatious ways. The real question is, was she really flirtatious or simply being herself? You can gather from this that the duke wants everything for himself. He did not like the idea of his wife being seen by other men or anyone who took a liking to her. Why should he share her? She was after all his Duchess and no on else's. He furthers portrays his selfishness by hiding her portrait from anyone and everyone. Instead of displaying the painting along with all the other art of his house, he keeps her to himself. Only he can stare upon her beauty forevermore. I feel sorry for the next duchess in line.

Finally I wanted to talk about “Alice in Wonderland” and the many characters of the book. I liked Alice and enjoyed the read. During the reading though, you get a sense of Alice being somewhat of a brat. She along with several other characters portray greed in their own right. Alice never asks to drink the potion, she simply takes it upon herself to drink it and do as she pleases. She later on eats how much of the cake that she desires. Her brattiness is displayed in the way she views Wonderland. It is known that Wonderland is a big crazy illusion of insanity. There are no rules. Alice wants wonderland to be the way she wants it, it should accommodate her and her needs. She somewhat in a way demands twiddle dee and twiddle dum to give her directions and the mad hatter to hep on her way. The Queen of Hearts also embodies Greed in the form of her demands. Everyone in the castle must abide by her rules, no if, ands or buts. She demands the roses painted red, the people who play against her to lose and is always demanding “off with their head”. In my presentation I talked about the Walrus and the Carpenter poem within the book. We see the walrus and carpenter in a desert, tricking the oysters to eat them. Instead of caring for their friends, they eat them to survive. They looked out only for themselves.

You can see form the examples given how some form of Greed is always present, lying beneath the text and meaning. It may not be a main character or side character portraying greed, but Greed could be the motivation for the poem or story being written. I believe that it is just one of the seven so called deadly sins that always motivates us into doing what we do. We can never really escape it, but we can use it for good. Just as Cowper and Elizabeth Barrett Browning did. All we have to do is justify our reason against it. “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” -Erich Fromm

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Impossible, Perverse & Strange

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The Selfishness of Greed

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