Greed

“The Pearl” by John Steinbeck is said to have many themes or lessons to it, but which was the main/most important one? I think the main theme in the book is greed. Kino defended his pearl from those who wanted it, killed people just so he can keep it safe, he also started thinking/acting differently because of the pearl. Lastly Kino’s greed led him to kill his son, the one who he had many hopes and dreams for because of the pearls. An example of greed in the story is when people desire for the pearl was too great that they attempted to steal Kino‘s pearl but Kino defended it with his life. “But Juana’s hand came creeping over to him in warning, and then the sound came again! The whisper of a foot on dry earth and the scratch of fingers in the soil”.

He also killed just to keep the pearl safe even though all of those around him told him it has brought evil, “He heard the rush, got his knife out and lunged at one dark figure and felt his knife go home, and then he was swept to his knees and swept again to the ground” (Steinbeck 59). Kino also stated how he has become every single man‘s enemy, “Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, and Kino’s pearl went into the dreams, the spectacles, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers, of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously every man‘s enemy“ (Steinbeck 23). This mainly shows people were greedy and tried to steal from him just to satisfy their own lust. Also, greed caused Kino to act and think differently than he normally would, “Kino was you could say ”paranoid” the he would constantly think someone would be trying to steal his pearl.

He also changed when he would hit his wife for trying to get rid of the pearl, something he would never do, “Her arm was up to thrown when he leaped at her and caught her arm and wrenched the pearl from her. He struck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side” (Steinbeck 59). He also acted differently and that his senses were like that of an animals, “Some ancient thing stirred in Kino, Through his fear of dark and the devils that haunt the night, there came a rush of exhilaration; some animal thing was moving in him so that he was cautious and wary and dangerous“ (Steinbeck ). The pearl has caused Kino to do things that he normally wouldn‘t do, and when Kino had the pearl he was a “changed” man The most important reason why I thought the theme was greed, was when Kino was running away from the trackers and thought the only way to get rid of them was kill them.

He took one of their guns and shot at a tracker that was running and hit his son, “In the moonlight he could see the frantic frightened eyes, and Kino aimed and fired between the eyes. And then Kino stood uncertainly Something was wrong, some signal was trying to get through to his brain. Tree frogs and cicadas were silent now And then Kino’s brain cleared from its red concentration and he knew the sound the keening, moaning, rising hysterical cry from the little cave in the side of the strong mountain, the cry of death”. This is the most important reason because he endured all the trials the pearl has brought unto him all for his son, so his son could become educated Instead the greed led him to kill his son his sole reason for keeping the pearl safe. In conclusion, the main theme is definitely greed because Kino has been through so many things that no man should go through. He killed people over the pearl, he was paranoid in a way that he thought everyone was evil and wanted his pearl, and last, of all, the pearl has caused his sun which he cared for so much and even had many goals for him once he sold the pearl, all of it gone because of the pearl.

To what extent would you go to satisfy your deepest and darkest desires?

William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, encapsulates Macbeth’s rise to power and subsequently shows his downfall as a result of inordinate greed and ambition. While the play uses various techniques to centralize the play around ideas of greed/ambition to show how the lust for power can bring ruin, it progressively helps the reader to deepen their understanding of human nature. Through Shakespeare’s choices of changing the tenacious character Macbeth to a more tenuous person throughout the play, it helps us to attain the sort of idea on the effect of greed on human nature; greed can viciously change a person’s identity if they succumb to it.

At the beginning of the play ( act 1, ascene 2 ), Macbeth is portrayed to be the epitome of a loyal subject, who valiantly fights against the rebel forces that march upon him to protect the king and preserve his power. He is described as an ideal warrior on the battlefield, plowing through enemy forces to behead the rebel Macdonwald. Yet through the introduction of the witch’s revelations/prophecies about his ‘promising’ future as a king, this part of Macbeth begins to waver.

The selfish desire he has to become king incites great change within the appearance of him, as he “yields to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature?” where he finds himself contemplating killing King Duncan, something that terrifies him because it is such an unnatural thing to do. Therefore this points towards the way in which Macbeth is already contemplating committing regicide to gain the crown for himself.

This change is perhaps due to the nature of greed, as typically the imaginations that are associated with the influence of greed, like the envisions Macbeth faces, are crazy and lack the control of reality. Macbeth is unable to recognize his shift in personality as he questions himself, “if chance will have me, king, why, why chance may crown me / Without my stir,” showing the witches prophecies have consumed him, and therefore succumbs to kill his dearest friend and King, Duncan, and accomplish his ravenous fate. At this point, we realize that the glorious Macbeth we witnessed in act 1 is replaced by a much more ruthless soul.

Thus, through the characterization of Macbeth and his transition, it helps us deepen our understanding of greediness that is associated with humans and shows no matter who you are, greed can impact us. In society today, many of us have goals that we want to accomplish in life, and our decisions determine how we want to fulfill it. If we choose to be too greedy for it like Macbeth, we jeopardize our identity to someone who is insatiable therefore Shakespeare is trying to make us aware of this.

Capitalism Is defined as being an economic system based on private ownership of capital. With this definition It Is easier to proceed to the definitions of Laissez-Faller and Modified Market capitalism. Laissez-fairer is defined as being an economic doctrine that opposes governmental regulation of or interference in commerce beyond the minimum necessary for a free- enterprise system to operate according to Its own economic laws. A true believer In Laissez-fairer capitalism would believe In the separation of economy and state.

The lace where complete Laissez-Fairer capitalism fails, however, is in mankind’s own greed and desire for riches. This often results in those who are stronger repressing those who are weaker. One could say this shows evidence of an influence of Darwinism in the formation of Laissez-fairer capitalism. The process of natural selection or “survival of the fittest” can be applied to business to Justify immoral and illegal business practices, and this was done In America in the sass’s and early 1 ass’s. In Christianity, however. We bear responsibility to our fellow man and not Just ourselves.

Modified Market capitalism, by contrast, controls the human desire for riches and greed through more regulation than the “let alone” philosophy of Laissez-fairer capitalism. By taking into account the fact that those who are stronger will try to oppress those who are weaker, Modified Market capitalism controls the economy and thus, society, with stronger regulation. In fact, there Is no country In the world that practices Laissez-Fairer capitalism. All governments regulate the merges and monopolies of companies. Darwinism has run rampant in business throughout history. Robber baron” fatalists such as John D. Rockefeller have often either forsaken Christianity or adjusted It to contain their evolutionist Ideas of “survival of the fittest”. Rockefeller once even said “growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest… The working out of a law of nature… ” Even today, Darwinism persists in business. In 1996 Corporate Darwinism by Robert Blake and Robert Rogers attempted to apply Darwinism to business by saying that the larger will swallow the smaller in the corporate world and all corporations evolve according to very specific patterns.

Greed is the Root of All Evil Greed exists at the centre of evil on not only an individual level, but also that of a communal and global level. Contextually there is a superficial alteration in the stimulus (Ivory vs. diamond) for greed and of global awareness towards the issue, although in the century that separates Joseph Conrad’s exploration of colonial regime in his novella Heart of Darkness and Edward Zwick’s post-colonial film Blood Diamond, the values driving the major characters and factions from the different texts are comparably similar.

In both texts, there are individuals showcasing major facets motivated by greed, obsessed with the stimulus that is presented in either century. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the character ‘Kurtz’ is primarily stimulated by greed. His obsession with ivory was at an extreme where main character ‘Marlow’ refers to his physical appearance as “like a ball- an ivory ball” and as having an “ivory face. ” These respective simile and metaphors encapsulate how Kurtz had become gripped by ivory to the point where it was taking over his very being.

This description that Kurtz is placed in is carried through to his dying moments where “The brown current ran swiftly out of the Heart of Darkness-Kurtz’s life was running swiftly, too…” This indirect juxtaposition links the ideas of Kurtz’s life with the Heart of Darkness, not being a physical location, but an internalised nature representing Kurtz. These links of the rapacious Kurtz to a being of pure immorality is an insight into the overtaken existence of greed within individuals of evil.

In similarity, is ‘Colonel Coetzee’ from Zwick’s Blood Diamond. This individual has a lust for wealth, one so overbearing that it blinds him from the fact that he destroys masses of lives to achieve his personal benefit. A scene that best represents this mindless mass murder for a cause that results in selfish profit is the Colonel’s order from the helicopter, “I don’t give a damn who’s down there, kill them all! ” A low angle close up shot of the centre framed helicopter is used, presenting it as an overpowering, menacing presence.

The line itself poses an emphasis on the Colonel’s voracious motives, suggesting he would kill his friend, and main character ‘Danny Archer’, if it means his war is won and his seldom benefits are received. There is considered intertextuality between this quote and that of Kurtz from Heart of Darkness. At the complete loss of morality from Kurtz, a quote marks this points “Exterminate all the brutes. ” These quotes juxtapose the two characters from the individual texts together and with it, their greedy purposes and malevolent natures, proving that the greed of an individual is the root of their co-existing evil.

Greed driven corruption is also existential on a communal level, both in Heart of Darkness and Blood Diamond. In Heart of Darkness, the Company is the centre of trade in the Congo, a seemingly legitimate industry, although with hidden voracious motives. “She talked about weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways-I ventured to hint that the Company was run for profit. ” This understatement made by Marlow expresses the Company’s care, or lack of, for the natives of the Congo, but in fact they only care to exploit the natural resources.

We are consistently hinted that their work isn’t “out there in the luminous estuary” but “within the brooding gloom. ” These binary opposites are repeatedly used in the novella to separate the ideas of light and dark with good and evil respectively, an extreme use of irony that Conrad persists with throughout the book. This mindless exploitation is an example of how greed can negatively affect a community. The communal effects of evil driven by rapacity in Blood Diamond, is displayed through the actions of the R. U.

F, the Revolutionary United Front. Their turning of native children into child soldiers and other locals into slave labourers, marks their negligence to human life so that they can gain wealth from the diamond trade. A heavily symbolistic scene in the film is the celebration following the overtake of Freetown in Sierra Leonne by the R. U. F. The loud, scratchy music accompanying the low key lighting in contrast to the bright blurred flames creates a sense of chaos and lack of morality, emphasised by the fast cuts and camera movement.

The chiaroscuro lighting on the character’s faces and the silhouettes juxtaposed to the bright fiery background symbolises their consummation by darkness. Several presentations of immoral acts are shown, dead bodies being strung, children consuming alcohol and drugs and the destruction of property, linking to the classical allusion of Dante’s Inferno, exemplifying pointless suffering and destruction. This, among other scenes, symbolises the complete carelessness for human life in the voracious scramble for Africa’s resources.

Although in the century that separates the two texts, awareness has grown dramatically, the global scale of corruption due to acts of greed are present in both texts. In Heart of Darkness, the novella ends back aboard the boat with Marlow and his crew as they are “lead into the heart of an immense darkness. ” The physical connotations of this quote is that the effects can be seen on the other side of the world in England, although ironically the Heart of Darkness doesn’t lie in both the Congo and the Thames but man himself, whose actions have a global effect; the actions of Kurtz. Upon the whole, the trade will suffer. I don’t deny there is a remarkable quantity of ivory-mostly fossil…” This quote demonstrates the global effect that Kurtz’s actions undertake, making a historical allusion to the fossil ivory that ended up in Siberia. This demonstrates the global effects that branches out from the corrupt actions of a greedy soul. In contrast, the global awareness to the situation in Blood Diamond was comparably increased to that of the nineteenth century, although the global effects of gluttony driven evil were evidently more severe. The third world is not a world apart” is an ironic statement represented by the heavily juxtaposed scenes between a G8 conference and the diamond fields of Sierra Leonne. The high key lighting of the conference opposed to the overcast lighting of the diamond fields along with the respective modern colour scheme and the dirty, unappealing colour scheme is contrasted with quick scene cuts to juxtapose the sheer difference between the two ‘separate worlds. ’ Although these two locations seem so distant, the effects are carried through from one to the other.

The conflict diamonds reach the stores of the first world but “are not ours to steal in the name of comfort, corporations, and consumerism. ” This captures the global effects that man’s greed enfolds, taking advantage of the actions of corruption for our own consumerism, or greed. So in the century that separates Joseph Conrad’s exploration of colonial regime in his novella Heart of Darkness and Edward Zwick’s post-colonial film Blood Diamond, there is sufficient evidence to remark that greed is the root of all evil in man, the effects pning not only the heart of man but within its community and on a global scale.

They were. But the number of people consumed by this disease is many times more this century. Also the variety and intensity of greed is unparalled. We have many more opportunities to feed our greed on. See the amount of consumer goods available nowadays. How many of these goods can be genuinely said to benefit the user , or at the least satisfy him ? Precious few , I would think.

All too often we read in the newspapers and consumer magazines about the underhand tactics used by giant corporations to sell their products. We hear about poisonous materials in foodstuffs. There are also innumerable amount of products that re shoddily made , yet passed off as up-to-standard products Then into this vast consumer market comes the pirates. These are people who make imitations. They have no scruples. So we are deluged with pirated tapes , records , books , clothes and other products. We even have pirated medicine.

The misuse of public enterprise is rooted in nothing but greed. The greed for money, for more and more profit, regardless of what happens or who suffers. Look at the advertisement section of any newspaper and you will see companies advertising for “aggressive” personnel. They must sell as much as they can, even if it is like forcing the product down the consumer’s throat. The worsening drug situation in the world now is also a result of greed. Drug-trafficking and relatable offences are punishable, some even by death. Yet the drug trade is not bating.

On the contrary, it is booming. Why is this so? Again we have people greedy enough to take risks in exchange for great returns. Their only aim is money. Drugs is one way of getting money, big money. So they go in it regardless the fact that drugs destroy people and society. They do not care who gets hurt as long as they get the money. They pretend not to see the evils of drug-addiction while their pockets are being lined with illgotten gains. Only when they get caught or are themselves addicted to drugs may they regret their greed. By then it may be too late.

To see greed in action, all one has to do is to peep into a stock exchange or commodity trading centre. In smoke-filled rooms we can witness the behavior of people consumed by greed. Not all the traders are greedy, but there are some who sweat, haggle and shout themselves hoarse so as to reap as much profit as possible from the frantic buying and selling of invisible things. There are few people who purposely manipulate the market for their own ends. The smell of greed emanates from their bodies despite what they proclaim otherwise.

In addition to the greed for money is also the greed for power. The more power a person has, the more power he seems to want. Considering the unceasing bickering, backstabbing, and fighting among leaders and politicians it is no wonder the modern world is in such a chaotic state. One leader holds on to power by getting rid of his enemies, whatever the means. His opponents plot and scheme to replace him Coup-de-tats, uprisings, revolutions, assassinations and other political maneuvers are all aimed at the seizure for power. The one in power holds on tightly.

In time he is dislodged by another or by his own mortality. Thus the procession goes on. Individuals come and go, but the greed of power remains to infect all who choose to follow its path. What does all these power struggles contrlDute to tne welTare 0T our Traglle planet:’ Notnlng, out a alv10ea world with multitudes of nations fearfully isolating themselves from one another. In the name of religion, ideology and belief, the leaders of the world blindly leads the rest, but behind these excuses all we can see is greed and hunger for more power. So the greed persists.

1. Sloth-Patrick Sloth is the sin of laziness, or unwillingess to act. Obviously this is Patrick. He lays under a rock all the time and doesn’t really do anything. In fact in the episode “Big Pink Loser” he got an award for doing nothing the longest. 2. Wrath-Squidward Wrath involves feelings of hatred and anger. Squidward hates his life, usually hates SpongeBob, and is pretty much angry most of the time. 3. Greed-Mr. Krabs Obviously Mr. Krabs is greedy and desires money. How could Greed not be Krabs? He actually sang about the power of greed in “Selling Out”. 4. Envy-Plankton Plankton is envious of Mr.

Krabs because The Krusty Krab is a success while The Chum Bucket is a failure. His envy drives him to try to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. 5. Glutony-Gary I actually think this one is pretty funny. Did you ever notice the running gag in Spongebob where they say “don’t forget to feed Gary” or Sponge says “I gotta go feed Gary”. Gary even ran away that time when SpongeBob forgot to feed him. Glutony usually refers to the overindulgence of food so I’m guessing this one fits him pretty well. 6. Pride-Sandy Sandy takes a lot of pride in who she is and where she comes from.

She takes pride in the fact that she is from Texas and likes to let everyone know it. She also takes pride in the fact that she is a mammal and a land creature, like in the episode “Pressure” where she tried to prove land critters were better than sea critters. 7. Lust-SpongeBob Ok, I know what your thinking. It does seem a little weird and curious at first but I have given it a lot of thought. Lust in one definition is “excessive love of others”. I think this one works best for Spongebob. He shows his love of others with his overeagerness to do good and help people.

If anything is true about SpongeBob its that he loves everyone around him, even if they don’t exactly love him back. 1. Greed (Mr. Krabs) – this is by far the most obvious comparison that can be made. The avarice of Eugene Krabs is made painfully clear throughout the series. He is constantly thinking of ways to turn a profit, even if it involves taking advantage of his friends or putting them in harmful situations! In one episode, he sings a song called “If I Could Talk to Money”… and there’s even a wiki page devoted to compiling all of his greedy plans! 2. Envy (Plankton) – another no brainer.

With all of Krabs’ wealth and good fortune, there has been an equal amount of hard luck and failure for his archrival, Sheldon Plankton. Plankton owns a struggling restaurant called “The Chum Bucket” and is consumed with the desire to achieve the success of his adversary. His life’s goal is to steal the Krabby Patty formula from his Krabs and drive his primary competitor out of business. 3. Sloth (Patrick) – the guy lives under a rock for crying out loud! If that isn’t enough to convince you, in the episode “Big Pink Loser”Patrick is given an award for ‘doing absolutely nothing longer than anyone else’.

He then proceeds go back under his rock to protect his title. 4. Pride (Sandy) – the fact that Sandy Cheeks is from Texas alone should almost suffice for this one. She is a squirrel that is very proud of her heritage, so much so that in one episode she nearly moved back home! Sandy also takes a great deal of satisfaction in being the only land critter living down in Bikini Bottom among all the fishy folk. Though generally a good-natured individual, Sandy is quick to spout off about the greatness of the Lone Star state or to show off her athleticism in a karate match or a weightlifting contest. . Wrath (Squidward) – Squidward Tentacles has no qualms about expressing his negative outlook on life, whether it be by describing how much he hates his job at the Krusty Krab or through outward disdain for his two obnoxious neighbors. He is portrayed as a general failure who refuses to acknowledge his own personal flaws. This constant self-denial manifests itself in a sarcastic sense of humor and resentment toward the society that doesn’t ‘appreciate’ his creativity and clarinet… erm… ”skills”. 6. Gluttony (Gary) – now this one’s a bit trickier.

Those who have watched a great deal of the series will have noticed a number of jokes about Spongebob having to remember to feed his pet snail. To be honest, Gary doesn’t do a whole lot besides eating and meowing, and the meowing is often due to the fact that he is hungry. Once when Spongebob hadn’t fed his pet, Gary is shown eating parts of their couch! In another episode, Gary runs away from home because Spongebob forgot to feed him for a while. Another time when Spongebob had amnesia, Gary ate a year’s supply of snail food and became morbidly obese!

This proves beyond a doubt that when left to his own devices, Gary would rather do nothing but eat. 7. Lust (Spongebob) – our final analogy is probably the least apparent because we typically think of ‘lust’ in a sexual sense. However, the alternative definition for lust is simply “a passionate desire for something”. In this sense of the word, it cannot be denied that our absorbent yellow friend is an extremely lustful creature. Spongebob has a lust for life that is incomparable to most other cartoon characters – he yearns for the affections of both friend and foe alike, is eager to please, and will often stop at nothing to complete a task.

?The nature of greed is that it compels us to do dangerous things. It disregards the feelings and positions of others and instead replaces them with what we want out of the situation. Latin America, a beautiful part of the world rich with history and culture, knows exactly what greed can do, especially to hungry imperialists seeking to plunder the resources and vitality within its borders. An aggressive desire for wealth, riches, spices, and other material things have made Latin America an arena for violence against native Latin Americans.

In the film The Mission, director Roland Joffe shows us the power of faith in religion and God as well as the dangerous result of passion and greed coming together as one. ?In this film, a Jesuit priest named Father Gabriel goes into the deepest parts of the Latin American jungle and seeks to evangelize the local tribe living there. Although they are initially wary of him, the natives eventually begin to trust him and allow him to convert them.

Mendoza, played by Robert De Niro, is a former slave trader who after killing his brother in a fit of rage, decides to join Father Gabriel in his missionary work and spreads the values of the mission and religion. Their hard work and unity as a mission is threatened when the Portuguese attack and attempt to control the land and people the mission is founded on. Father Gabriel, a man full of faith in God and religion, seeks nonviolent means to fight the Portuguese. Mendoza, however, after vowing to also act nonviolently, breaks his promise and teaches the natives how to fight against the Portuguese.

The film, unlike most other films, does not have a happy ending. Eventually, almost everyone perishes and only a few are left to spread the values of love, faith, religion, and to rebuild the community that they grew to respect and cherish. ?Religion and the church play a huge role in the film. Despite the obvious fact that the premise of the film is about a priest evangelizing native Latin Americans, the religious aspect of the film emits a sense of love, benevolence, and goodwill. The filmmaker suggests that unlike many other “invaders” of Latin America, the Christian missionaries wanted to entirely devote themselves to the natives.

They devoted themselves faithfully and were willing to preserve the natives’ pure way of life, unlike many invaders who came into Latin America and attempted to halt all that was common and introduced new ways of living. The filmmaker tells us that in order to represent the values of Christianity, people must devote themselves fully and be willing to make sacrifices, just like Father Gabriel and Mendoza did for the natives and the mission. ?Another theme in the film is the union of greed and passion. It is no surprise, especially to Latin America, that the desire for worldly things can cause great destruction and tragedy.

The two main reasons the mission was threatened in the film boils down to imperialism and greed, which are essentially interchangeable. To imperialize a country is to be riddled with greed and hunger. Greed, desiring to possess more than one needs or even deserves to possess, is conveyed endlessly throughout the film. The Portuguese only wanted to gain the mission and land for profit. Even worse, after they would gain the land they so desperately desired, they would enslave the people and make them operate under Portuguese rules to further their profit and power.

In this film, greed and power undermine morals and the ethics of human kind. The filmmaker showcases the worst traits in man, in which the desire for mere things cause man to slaughter man and disregard the love and respect humans should have for one another. ?The film, although tragic and essentially very morbid, mirrors the historical realities of the time and illustrates Latin America’s struggle to keep itself a stable, prospering region despite the invading forces of greedy, insatiable imperialists.