Joseph Backus II

Iliana Miller

English 112

21 April 2017

The Power of Money

Numerous different themes show up in all pages of literature. It sometimes takes some digging

to find them, but quite often there are very similar themes found in different pieces of literature. One

theme that is very prominent in many pieces is the power of money. The power of money can be shown

in things like a person spending $60,000 to buy a house. In this case the money gave that person the

power to buy their house. Or even more simple things like buying a $1 candy bar. There are many

things connected to this theme of money being powerful, for example, gambling, stealing, cheating,

borrowing, debt, purchasing power, and so on. A Raisin In The Sun shows the power of money quite

clearly in that the entire story is about Walter trying to get his mothers inheritance so that he can put it

towards buying a liquor store in hopes of making even more money. This theme is also quite visible in

The Power of Money by Karl Marx and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

In A Raisin In The Sun and The Power of Money, several instances of the power of money

are easily recognizable. Both pieces mention how money is powerful and not just in terms of purchasing

power. One example showing purchasing power though would be in The Power of Money when

philosopher Karl Marx states Six stallions, say, I can afford, Is not their strength my property? (Marx)

This shows that the narrators wealth gives him the power to purchase six stallions which in turn gives

him the power to use the horses to do various different things. Quite often they are things in which he

could potentially make back the money that he spent buying them and then possibly even more. So this
money that he started with gave him the power to purchase six stallions which he was able to use to

make his money back and then make even more money to purchase more stallions or whatever he may

wish to purchase. Now this is just one possible scenario that could happen, there are many more like

this that could happen too. This is added onto by A Raisin In The Sun when Walter says Anybody

who talks to me has got to be a good-for-nothing loudmouth, aint he? And what you know about who

is just a good-for-nothing loudmouth? Charlie Atkins was just a good-for-nothing loudmouth too,

wasnt he! When he wanted me to go in the dry-cleaning business with him. And now hes grossing a

hundred thousand a year. A hundred thousand dollars a year! You still call him a loudmouth! (716).

Walter is so engrossed with money that its the only thing he sees about Charlie. He doesnt care what

kind of person Charlie is, he only cares that he makes a lot of money. Walter wants to have more money

so that he will have the purchasing power to buy a liquor store and then make that money back and then

make even more off of selling liquor. Quite similarly to what happened in The Power Of Money That

man bought six stallions that he could use for work and then make his money back off of and quite

possibly even more. In A Raisin In The Sun money is a consistent reason for dispute between Walter

and Ruth. The previous quote seems to suggest that Walter really does not care who he goes into

business with or what business he goes into as long as it will result in more money. This just adds even

more to the idea that money is powerful. This shows that money is something that can drive a person to

work with people who arent the best in places that arent the best just to make more money.

In Death of a Salesman it is shown quite clearly that the story of the play has a lot to do with

money. The word money is mentioned twenty one times within this play actually. One line that speaks

very loudly that money is powerful would be BIFF: Why? Youre making money, arent you? (Miller)

The context of the play before this line is what makes this line particularly interesting. Biff and Happy are
talking, Biff is kind of complaining about his own life and then he asks if Happy is content with his life,

and indicates that he should be because Happy is such a success compared to him. But then Happy

responds with a big Hell, no!. Then Biff continues on that he should be content and satisfied because

he is making money, assuming that money is what would make Happy content with himself. This shows

that money can be a very powerful factor when it comes to peoples feelings of self worth and

contentment. Quite often people will not feel as though they are worth anything unless they make a lot

of money. In A Raisin In The Sun this same theme is shown quite clearly through Walter. Walter does

not think he is worth anything because he cant provide a lot of money for his family. He does in fact

provide money for the family, enough to keep food on the table at least. He just wants to be able to

provide enough to give his family a nice new house, really good food on the table every night, and a fun,

easy going life. But to do all of these things he needs the power of some money. Walter says, talking to

his mother Do you know what this money means to me? Do you know what this money can do for us?

Mama Mama I want so many things, (738). This shows that Walter knows what the power of money

is, to him at least. To him it is the power to be able to satisfy himself with things that he can buy with that

money. He wants to be able to buy a bigger house for his family, a nice car, nice clothes, and many

other things. To do this he needs the power of the money that his mother has.

There are many things that can show that money is powerful. On things that is seen quite often is

gambling or making bets. Often times at fights people will bet on who is going to win, or at a basketball

game they will bet on which team will win or how many points a certain player will score for their team

within that game. Betting, also known as putting money on, someone or something shows that the

person making the bet believes strongly in what they have put the money in for. The power of this can

be shown in a few different ways. One way would be that the teams or person may know that people
are betting on them so it motivates them to play their hardest and win because they dont want those

people to lose their money. They want to impress them and do even better than what they expected.

Another way that the power of money can be seen through this is when people bet on things that have

already happened. These sort of bets seem a bit weird to some people but to the people betting its

completely reasonable because they want to prove that they are right in what they believe in. For

example in Death of a Salesman, Willy states Sure. Certain men just dont get started till later in life.

Like Thomas Edison; I think. Or B. F. Goodrich. One of them was deaf. (He starts for the bedroom

doorway.) Ill put my money on Biff. (Miller) In this Willy is putting a money to his word as a way to

make it more valuable.This is something people do all the time without even realizing it, they add

money to what they say as if they are trying to give it more value and meaning. Money has the power to

transform all sorts of things including what people say. If someone says something but it doesnt sound

powerful enough, they put money with it to make it sound more powerful. Money can transform even

bigger than that too. It can change someone from being viewed as a nerd and a loser to being viewed

as a superhero or a god. Karl Marx talks about this in his piece The Power Of Money. He states

Money, then, appears as this distorting power both against the individual and against the bonds of

society, etc., which claim to be entities in themselves. It transforms fidelity into infidelity, love into hate,

hate into love, virtue into vice, vice into virtue, servant into master, master into servant, idiocy into

intelligence, and intelligence into idiocy. (Marx)

Money is becoming a huge power in the world. Not only can it make things said sound more

powerful, it can change how people are viewed by society and even themselves sometimes. Now the

saying of money isnt everything is being taken over, ripped apart, and rearranged so that it now reads

money is everything.
 Money is proving to be a very powerful substance. Money has the power to purchase things, to

control people, to get attention, to change views, to make others decisions for them, and sometimes

even to change the results of a vote. A Raisin In The Sun, The Power Of Money, and Death of a

Salesman have some great examples of how powerful money is. A Raisin In The Sun shows what

money does to many people. They become obsessed with it because they want to be able to buy things.

The Power of Money shows many things that can be purchased with money and how they can be used

to gain power. Death of a Salesman, which is somewhat similar to A Raisin In The Sun, shows how

someone can become very stressed and obsessed with money when there is not enough. It can clearly

be seen in these three pieces that money is very powerful. It is needed for almost every life function.

Without the power of money, things would change drastically.

 Works Cited

Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." Chicago: N/A, March 11, 1959.

Marx, Karl. The Power of Money. The Power of Money, Marx, 1844, EPM, 13 Oct. 2013,

www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/power.htm. Accessed 21 Apr. 2017.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. 10 Feb. 1949,

http://www.pelister.org/literature/ArthurMiller/Miller_Salesman.pdf.