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{\LARGE The Twentieth Century:
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Obsession with Money}
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{\Large 21.006 Paper IV}
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{\large Juliet C. Bourne 
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May 11, 1989}
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If every period of writers could be said to have a common underlying
theme that spoke of the state of the world at that time, then surely
there is a common theme of twentieth-century writers.  Emerson,
Thoreau, and their contemporaries wrote of the philosophy of the self;
Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and others of the middle
nineteenth-century were concerned with slavery and the equality of all
people.  So, what is the common theme of the ``modern''
twentieth-century writers?  We know that most of the modern writers
are realists; they write about reality, portraying what they see
happening in the world.  Certainly, all of a period's writers' works
cannot boil down to the same theme as I've tried to suggest.  However,
common sub-themes or underlying themes in many different works could
be similar.  I will try to show that the most noticeable underlying
theme in twentieth-century writing is materialism, or the obsession
with money.  I will examine three stories by three different authors,
looking for underlying themes and trying to show their similarities.

The first story, ``Spotted Horses'' by William Faulkner, takes place
in a small country town.  The preoccupation with money might seem out
of place in this setting.   However, the very fact that it invades
this innocent  setting shows how the twentieth-century is changing
people's values.  The narrator has an unabashed admiration of Flem
Snopes' ability to con people and cheat them out of their money.  In
the beginning of the story the narrator says:

{\narrower\sspace\noindent Why, that fellow could make a nickel where
it wasn't but four cents to begin with.  He skun me in two trades,
myself, and the fellow that can do that, I just hope he'll get rich
before I do; that's all (2025).\par}

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Even the narrator is concerned with keeping his money; he hopes that
Flem will get rich and quit conning people before he gets rich, so
Flem won't con him out of his money when he's rich.  The obsession
with money prevades nearly everyone in the town.  For the poor people,
like Mrs. Armstid, the obsession with money is just one of survival.
Her husband is a bit more obsessed; he is willing to try anything,
even buying a wild horse with the last of his family's money to get
rich.  The rest of the townsfolk, in their admiration of Flem, show
how highly they hold money, or at least the pursuit of money, and care
nothing for how unscrupulously the money is obtained.  Flem is a
greedy, insensitive, and clever con man.  In order to get Varner's
store, Flem marries Varner's daughter Eula.  We are told nothing as to
whether he even cares about Eula.  Flem certainly doesn't mind
stepping all over someone like Mrs. Armstid, who is already poor, to
make more money.  Thus, since the people of the town do not raise
their voices against behavior such as this, or at least the narrator
doesn't, and instead admire Flem, they are advocating Flem's attitude
about money: money is the end-all and it doesn't matter who you have
to hurt to get it.  The final sentences of the story show the
admiration of the Flem and his conning:

{\narrower\sspace\noindent 'You boys might just as well quit trying,'
I.O. says. 'You can't git ahead of Flem. You can't touch him. Ain't he
a sight, now?'
I be dog if he ain't.  If I had brung a herd of wild cattymounts into
town and sold them to my neighbors and kinfolks, they would have
lynched me.  Yes, sir.  (2039)\par }

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\noindent Seemingly, it is Flem's grasping greed that everyone admires
and suspends his sense of fairness for.  Thus, the obsession with
wealth or money emerges and reveals how people are changing to define
money as the end-all of life.

Another story, ``The Petrified Man'' by Eudora Welty, also reveals
this betrayal of what is right or fair for money.  This story takes
place in a town that is a bit more modern than the one in  the
previous story.  However, the tale of the obsession with money doesn't
change much.  Besides portraying the insensitivity and
self-centeredness of people, this story also shows an underlying
obsession with money and how it can turn outright admiration to
hatred.  Leota adores Mrs. Pike at first.  She cannot say enough good
things about her.  She even goes so far as to say that she's going to
try to hire her as a beautician in her parlor.  However, this
admiration and friendship go sour when money becomes involved.  Once
Mrs. Pike recognizes Mr. Petrie, the ``Petrified Man,'' who is wanted
for the rape of four women, Leota's attitude towards Mrs. Pike quickly
changes.  Now Leota does nothing but criticize Mrs. Pike.  For
example, she says, ``And Mrs. Pike, she goes around acting like she
thinks she was Mrs. God'' (2206).  The only reason Leota gives for the
sudden change in attitude is the fact that she feels that Mrs. Pike
``cheated'' her out of the five-hundred-dollar reward money for Mr.
Petrie.  She says,

{\narrower\sspace\noindent 'So Mrs. Pike gits five hundred dollars.
And my magazine, and right next door to my beauty parlor.  I cried all
night' (2206).\par}

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\noindent All that Leota can think about is the money that Mrs. Pike
``cheated'' her out of.  She even becomes insensitive to the issue of
rape and only considers the money: ``Four women. I guess those women
didn't have the faintest notion at the time that they'd be worth a
hundred an' twenty-five bucks apiece some day to Mrs. Pike'' (2206).
Even the children seem to be affected by this preoccupation with
money, for, as Mrs. Pike's little boy runs out of the parlor, he yells
at Leota, ``If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?'' (2207)  This
story just provides another good example of how the obsession with
money has become a common theme in twentieth-century writing.

Probably the most famous story of how materialism has dominated the
twentieth century is F. Scott Fitzgerald's \underline{The Great
Gatsby}.  Each of the characters is in some way consumed by money: the
possession, the pursuit, or the lack thereof.  Mrs. Wilson's obsession
with money is the fact that she doesn't have any, but she is truly
preoccupied with it.  When she goes into the city with Tom to their
apartment, her manner quickly changes as she tries to appear that she
belongs in the world of the rich:

{\narrower\sspace\noindent With the influence of the dress her
personality had also undergone a change.  The intense vitality that
had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive
hauteur. (31)\par}

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\noindent
Her desire to be rich is so great that she is willing to be unfaithful
to her husband for a chance to appear and act rich.  Daisy, on the
other hand, is rich, but she, too, is obsessed with money.  The very
reason that she married Tom and not Gatsby was money.  She didn't
marry the man she loved, Gatsby, because he didn't have any money.
Instead, she married Tom, but is thoroughly unhappy with him.  Being
rejected by Daisy because he didn't have money, Gatsby became
obsessed with acquiring ``enough'' money, an obsession only surpassed
by his obsession with Daisy.  Although Gatsby himself doesn't care
much about money, he gives in to Daisy's obsession with money and
pursues money to the point of betraying who he really is.  Nick, the
narrator, seems to be the only good character of the bunch.  However,
even he, who works for a living, shows his obsession, although not as
intense, with money.  He enters the bond business in hope of becoming
rich. He says:

{\narrower\sspace\noindent I bought a dozen volumes on banking and
credit and investment securities, and they stood on my shelf in red
and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining
secrets that only Midas and Morgan and M\ae{}cenas knew. (4)\par}

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\noindent Another statement that gives away Nick's obsession with
money is that he enjoys ``the consoling proximity of millionaires''
(5).  Thus, even the most honest people are obsessed with money.
Fitzgerald is commenting on the sad state of affairs in the twentieth
century, how America is becoming a ``wasteland'' of greed and
materialism.  Every one of the characters in \underline{The Great
Gatsby} is in some way obsessed with money, wealth, or being one of
the elite.  Fitzgerald offers what is probably ther most condemning
statement about America's growing obsession with money.

It is too much of a coincidence that these stories, and many others of
the twentieth century, have many similarities, especially where money
is concerned.  Twentieth-century writers have all recognized the
changing attitude of America towards money and wealth.  Where once
writers were more concerned with higher moral issues such as slavery
and the self, writers of this century have focused on the state of
America's obsession with money.  Thus, a common underlying theme can
be seen in most the writing of the twentieth century.  It is one of a
growing materialism and obsession with money that overrides the morals
of the nation.

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