Monday, March 22, 2010
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
After reading "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg", I realized that this was yet another one of Twain's "short" stories that leaves the reader with a sense of self-examination and it left me wondering about society's and my ethics. Clearly this story suggests that money can make people do crazy and ridiculous things and essentially brings out the worst in people: deception, greed, and lying. The Richards seem like a honest older couple who could really use the money for themselves and are clearly tempted many times to take the money. Eventually,they do the same as the other 18 and submit a letter with the words to the mystery man. In the end, when they receive the checks they feel so guilty that they burn them and eventually their health deteriorates and they die. When I put myself in their shoes, I wonder what I would have done. I surely would have been tempted to take the money for a new car, many shoes, or a new house, but in the end I think I would take the honest road and do what is right. The mystery man played the people in town like a bunch of puppets. Money really can make people do crazy things and there is no doubt that money can change a person. I remember my freshman year I had more cash than I ever had in my life and before I knew it I had unopened CD's and boxes of new Nike sneakers in my closet. I had new sunglasses and new polo shirts. Money is a dangerous tool that can overtake a person. This is why we see so many professional athletes who end up bankrupt with nothing after their careers. One must have a strong mind to not be manipulated. Unfortunately, it would seem that most people would easily succumb to it.
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4 comments:
I agree that money makes people behave strangely, but what about all of the emotions involved in this story. Do you think that because the town had no real idea of temptation that they were ill prepared to deal with it.
I think that the town acted admirably given the circumstances...nowadays, therewould have been a lot of dead or injured people over that amount of money!
True, the town had no true sense of temptation, however, I don't think nowadays there would be dead people over that amount of money. Probably severely injured, but not dead. There are hopes that in this day and age, there is a town that would resist the temptation, but coming from the poor state of California, I don't think this town would exist anywhere close to the West Coast or Las Vegas.
Ha I found myself in that same position freshmen year. I learned money management the hard way for sure!
Money has always made people do crazy things. At the end of class when we had to respond to the question "Is money the root of all evil?" I answered yes. Personally money makes me sick, but it is a necessary evil. Money makes the world go round and everyone is obsessed over, myself included. I think about paying bills, supporting my lifestyle, savings, etc. What makes me sick is how much time I spend thinking about money. Especially when I am as blessed as I am and there are others with nothing, it really makes me cringe to think about how much money dominates my life.
I agree with y'all that money is a bad thing but if you switch it around, money is a driving force. It is what gets things done around here. If you have a bust in your pipe, it is not going to get fixed unless you pay someone to do it, or you know how to fix it yourself with a lot of duct tape.
Money brings out the best in people sometimes too when it comes to charities and gift giving and occasions like that. We all need money to make this happen.
I do agree though that money is a powerful piece of paper, in fact it is the most powerful piece of paper in the world. Anything can be done for the right amount of money, well almost anything.
As far as athletes go, I fully agree that today, athletes mismanage their money tremendously because I think their life cycle is the complete opposite than that of a businessman. What I am trying to say is that athletes get paid quick when they're 21 and have no appreciation for it. Bradford is guaranteed $52 million if he never plays a down of football again. He will get paid. He gets all of this money now. The businessman, who works his entire life might save up and eventually have $1 or $2 million by the time they retire if they are that succesful but the retired businessman has a better chance of living comfortably after retirement than the athlete because he can enjoy his "fruits of labor" whereas Bradford was given all this money to start off with and then told to conserve it. It's like water, if you're given a bottle of water in a desert, you'll drink it all soon, but if you have a dripping faucet, that will last you much longer.
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