Small Details- Big picture

Wharton focuses his attention in this novel on many minute details. Every detail that a character does or thinks is meant to be scrutinized. This may be to show how people are truly scrutinized and analyzed to the highest extreme at all times by the upper echelon of society. One example of the attentive nature of Wharton is seen through the facial expressions of Lily. They hold serious importance in conveying her emotions. The two major expressions that Lily shows are blushes and smiles, which are regularly repeated throughout the novel, taking on very different meaning, and always providing good clues tot he current emotional state of Lily.

Success

"My idea of success," he said, "is personal freedom."
Freedom "from everything- from money from poverty, from ease and anxiety, from all the material accidents. To keep a kind of republic of the spirit- that's what i call success." (70)


Seldon's idea of success is one that I believe all people are able to relate to. It is miraculous to think of how much pressure society puts on people that revolve around the material aspects of the world. All of this pressure by society certainly affects everyone. And because of this pressure, how many times do you, as an individual want to escape it all? This is the idea of success that Seldon has. He thinks success is some way of escaping it all. Escaping from the pressures that surround people every day of their life.

Class Struggle

Marx tends to portray the struggle amongst classes as a negative concept. We did disprove some this by saying that he disagrees with the exploitation of the proletariat not class struggle, yet I still believe that he perceives this struggle as unnecessary. I however believe that it is this class struggle that keeps our society strong. Without the struggle and competition, people in society would not be nearly as motivated and therefore would be far less productive. Although some people receive the short end, it is almost a necessary evil. This class struggle is the driving force behind progress and the betterment of society as a whole.

Greed

"The only wheels which political economy puts in motion are greed and the war of the greedy, competition" (59).
I believe that this is the driving factor behind many if not all of Marx's policies. He tries to alleviate any competition among individuals by equalling out every persons status. If everyone receives the same, then people won't be motivated by their greedy desires to advance beyond others. In policy, Marx's visions and communism eliminate any type of competition in the economy.

class discussion

Today in class, my group and I presented the the idea that people work in order to survive. This reminds me directly of what Darwin would be saying. We are all driven by forces to survive and Marx is trying to persaude us that work is the means of survivng and therefore without work, we would not be able to produce and or support for yourself and family.

capitalism

Marx's hatred of capitalism seems to spawn from what he coins the "exploitation of the proletariat". I believe that Marx exagerates the exchange between capitalist and proletariat in an attempt to sway the reader into believing the "real truth". Page 215 states his opposition towards capitalism, but this is a point that I would strongly contest. Profit and accumulations of wealth seem to be the underlying entities that Marx opposes. I, unlike Marx, do not see wealth as a negative quality. This does not mean that the exploitation of the lower class is wrong, however the proletariat is not always exploited in order to gain wealth.

Means of production

Something in Marx's writing that intrigued me was his position on what separated humans from animals. The idea that resided within most is that it is our intellect, or our soul that truly distinguishes man from beast. Marx clearly takes his stand, opposing this theory by stating that it is actually man's ability to produce for himself rather than intellect or consciousness. What I find most intriguing about this is that he almost totally rejects the importance of consciousness altogether. In my mind, there is no way to reject thought entirely. I do not rule out Marx's theory of what separates man, none the less, I can not accept his rejection of thought.