The Big Money
Technology plays such an important part in "The Big Money" becauserapidly changing technology played such an important part in Americanculture in the early 20th century. Suddenly, people were surrounded by newand dizzying technologies such as the airplane, the automobile, widespreadphone and electrical service, and fast-moving assembly lines to get thesenew products to market more quickly. It was a time of tremendous growthand change in America and in American business, but it was also a time oftremendous growth in wealth across the nation. Some of these inventionswere making some people incredibly wealthy - at the expense of many others. Two of the characters in "The Big Money" typify these brash youngentrepreneurs, who make wads of money in the stock market, and are thefoundation for corporate and personal greed and excess in our country.Charley Anderson is an alcoholic aviation engineer who makes a killing inthe stock market. He is quite successful in his business, but miserable inhis personal life. "Charley wouldn't eat anything. Bill ate up both theirsteaks. Charley kept on drinking whiskey out of a bottle he had under thetable and beer for chasers. 'But tell me
Thesepeople are caught up in the trappings of modern life, and unfortunately,these trappings almost always include extreme wealth and excess. He turned it into a publishing empire, andcreated the phrase "yellow journalism," which referred to his ability tomake quite stimulating headlines out of next to nothing. This was a common theme in the 1930s,after the Stock Market Crash in 1929, but sadly, this book could have beenwritten today, for greed seems to have permeated every facet of Americanlife. But that five dollars a day paid togood, clean American workmen who didn't drink or smoke cigarettes or reador think" (Dos Passos 51). These technologies made many of ourlives better and more efficient, but the money they generated only createdloneliness, unhappiness, and desperation in these characters lives. He turned the men who created his machines intomachines, and he did it for his own profit, and at their expense. It seems the more money one has, the more money one wants, nomatter how much it is, and that is the theme at the heart of "The BigMoney. Technologies create wealth, but they do not createhappiness. your wife, does she let youhave it any time you want it''" (Dos Passos 310). Families who covet bigger houses and cars work two and three jobsand never have time for the children they are trying to raise. These people may be rich, but they aremorally poor, and the technologies of the day all helped build upon thisfoundation of greed and need that plagued the wealthy of the day. Ultimately, Passos shows how greed has corrupted thesemen and the businesses they head. We are still a generation bent on more money, and morepossessions, and in the end, we alienate our families, our peers, and ourfriends in the endless pursuit of more "stuff.
Common topics in this essay:
Henry Ford,
Randolph Hearst,
Margo Dowling,
Margo Charley,
Charley Anderson,
Money Technology,
Market Crash,
America American,
Dos Passos,
American Plan,
stock market,
william randolph hearst,
tremendous growth,
publishing empire,
assembly lines,
technologies day,
hearst born,
american plan,
dos passos,
randolph hearst,
henry ford,
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Acceptance Essays
