What drives people in this modern age of ours? It is evident almost everywhere in our
world that greed controls lives. Society has morphed into a money sucking monster. Everywhere
we look there are cheaters and crooks just trying to get rich and not caring about anything or
anyone they harm or destroy. However, many people also work hard and are fair, but they still do
it just for money. The book The Wreck Of The Mary Deare portrays this theme of life well. The
search for money and possessions drives everyone, be they good or bad, right to the very end.
In the beginning of the book John Sands is trying to get money. He is driving a boat on a
mission of salvage collecting. He is just trying to get money rather fairly but greed is driving him
nevertheless. "Salvage! A ship of 6,000 tons, drifting and abandoned. It was unbelievable" (18).
As the quote says he spots a ship that has been abandoned. The first thing that comes to mind is
how he can make money off of it. That it is just salvage waiting to be collected. He does not
think of trying to find any survivors, and worst of all, he is not thinking about his own safety.
There is a storm coming, but he wants that ship. He boards it and knows that if the storm blew
his ship away he would be stranded. If fact he is so blinded by greed that he thinks he might be
able to operate such a large ship and bring it into port! Greed drives all men, even the heroic
character in the book.
Next, in the middle of the story, greed drives a company and other men. A company that
insured cargo on the Mary Deare, the very same ship Sands tried to salvage, is bringing the case
of the wreck of the ship to court. This shows the greed of the company and the greed of lawyers.
" 'Do you know who's representing the insurance people?' he whispered. I shook my head. I had
no information about the legal representatives. All I knew was that a Mr. Bowem-Lo...