More than any other country, America seems to be the most materialistic. Everywhere we look, there are advertisements to spend our money on products, and we do. Americans have the constant urge to buy things. This may be an underlying theme in Richard Scarry’s book, “What Do People Do All Day?” He is teaching children that buying things with the money earned from working is good, but also that there are other things in life that are more important.
In almost every passage, Scarry writes about some form of spending money. For example, the character Alfalfa bought a new suit with the money he earned and the rabbits bought food, new clothes, and an eggbeater. There were also entire passages about going on trips on a ship and a train. Scarry’s style is very realistic. It seems he is forthright about what he is saying, but there are also messages he is trying to send children. For example, in the passage about building a house, he lists all the things the family has to buy, such as kitchen appliances and a television. It seems like just a list, but he could be inferring and trying to teach the children that our society revolves around buying things.
This lesson seems like it could have a negative effect on a child, but Scarry goes on with more points about money to show that although society revolves around it, our individual lives should not revolve around it. There is the ever-popular question, “What would you save if your house caught on fire?” that Scarry addresses to demonstrate this. He writes a passage about the cats’ house catching fire when the mother irons the father’s shirt. He writes, “Look at poor Daddy’s shirt! But that doesn’t matter. The firemen have saved his family and his house. That is much more important”(Scarry 24). Scarry also offers some alternatives to spending money. To show the value of caring for family, Grocer Cat “bought a new dress for Mommy” and “a present for his son”(Scarry 8). Scarry tried to teach the reader that saving money is responsible because many workers deposited their money in the bank. He is trying to teach the children to not be selfish or materialistic.
Although it is not entirely something we’d like to admit, receiving a present or buying things does make people happy. American society is revolved around making and spending money, and Scarry is teaching children this in the right way. This way, they understand it is important, but other things are more so. Sometimes people do not realize this and either become spoiled or too materialistic, which is becoming a problem today in America. But now, after reading this book, hopefully children will understand where to put money on a scale of importance.
1 comment:
I very much like your focus on Richard Scarry’s relationship with materialism. What I don’t like - but will hopefully prove to be a minor point - is your pointlessly broad claim about America in the beginning. Maybe it’s true, but beginning with a huge, contentious generalization isn’t usually a good way to argue.
From this point on, your paper remains simultaneously promising and vague. You provide a list of a few examples of materialism in the book; I’d argue that the strong emphasis on using and throwing away material goods (for instance, the broken truck) is something you could have focused on. Your discussion of alternatives to materialism are similarly vague - love is important here, as are material possessions, and one thing you could have worked with is the fact that Scarry shows the ways in which family bonds are created and reinforced through money, especially gifts.
Your ending is vague and disappointing. Who could possibly disagree with your premise, which is that money is important, but so are other things? Few hippies would disagree that money can be important; few tycoons would disagree that other things are important, too. You don’t really have anything distinctive to say here. This was a smart topic, but you never really developed an argument from it.
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