"Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright" - Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin is clearly stating that money is the root to happiness in this quote. He believes living in poverty robs a man of a will to live. He goes on to use the imagery of an empty bag standing upright which does not work at all, unless the bag is full in order to enhance his first statement.
In terms of my novel, this statement by Ben Franklin would not hold up at all. Chris McCandless' valued the words of Tolstoy and Thoreau, who both believe money and material things clutter ones mind, and when you free yourself of these possessions you are free and happy. Neither of these three men, Tolstoy Thoreau or Chris, would agree with Franklin. When Chris McCandless first ventures into the wild he burns all his case "in a gesture that would have done Thoreau and Tolstoy proud" (Krakauer 29). He needs to free himself of everything before he can totally start fresh and make a new life for himself using himself as his only resource. In doing this he is experiencing a life very raw which is what he wants. In values the aesthetic beauty of nature, but not the over pleasure of possessions. Further on the narrator refers to a period of time Chris "entered Las Vegas with no money and no ID" (37), and excerpt of Chris' diary reads "it is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it's great to be alive. Thank you!" (37). This passage shows that ones does not need money to be happy or "spirited" like Ben Franklin states. Chris is perfectly content with out having anything, and this seems to be a time he is the happiest. He feels money is unnecessary and without it he can be a better person who does not take anything for granted. Another point is Chris did have money and knew how to work hard. Page 115 reads "...the teenage Tolstoyan, believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting, inherently evil--which is ironic because Chris was a natural-born capitalist with an uncanny knack for making a buck" (115). This shows that one can resist money and this does not mean they are not hard working, but to Chris he felt it should not be a priority. Chris McCandless aka Alex Supertramp, if alive, would have been one to debate this Ben Franklin quote.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree that Chris McCandless no longer felt that money was a priority, but I think that Ben Franklin meant something different with his quote. I think that the quote deals more with the emotional and psychological effects of poverty rather than money. Poverty makes a person loses faith in his or herself. I think this is where the bag reference becomes relevant. With out faith a persons becomes lonely and discouraged.
I have not researched bags of Franklin's time,so don't know what their design was. I suspect they generally were cloth bags. If paper with flat bottoms like those on our grocery bags, the quote would not work because one can open the grocery bag and it will stay upright.
You write that Tolstoy and Thoreau "believe money and material things clutter one's mind." Did they give up their money and material goods? Did Thoreau quit working while building his cabin at Walden?
Post a Comment