Money, money, money.
When you're with me, You make people green with envy.
And I smile with satisfactory as they fight over me.
When you finally leave me, Everyone leaves me hanging.
And then I am left with nothing.
Money, money, money.
What good are you to me?
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As the above (pathetic) poem, that I came up with, has stated. What good is money to everyone?
Sure, you need it to buy all your daily necessities and whatever nots. However, what good does it do for you when you want to make friends? You do not know who these strangers are and what are their intentions for getting close to you. You do not know which are putting on charades and who you can trust. And for those who are already your friends, you worry for the day they betray you for this paper called money.
As it is, the more money you have, the more paranoid you become. In spite of this, your greed grows as you want more. Your self-esteem is boosted as your money increases, just like in the story written by Catherine Lim, Paper. Both Tay Soon and Yee Lian's greed grew as well as their confidence from seeing their money increase by dabbling in stocks and shares. They boasted about their dream house being build very soon as their money continued to increased. The paranoia is shown when the shares decreased in price and the couple worries about every loss they made. Yee Lian listens to Dr Soo's wife and puts their money into OHTE and West Parkes, which crashes shortly after, while Tay Soon refuses to listen his broker's advice to sell his remaining shares after that major loss.
In a way, money leads people to their own destruction, exemplified by Tay Soon's death after he had gone insane from the loss of all the money he had. From the beginning, you lead the good life and enjoy yourself with many friends as you work to increase the money you have. In between, you encounter problems in the form of people scheming to exploit you of your money. Towards the end, you find yourself left with no one to turn to. All the friends who always tell you that they are there to lend a helping hand, are those who would be the first to disappear in your time of need. So really, what good is money to everyone?
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ok, I know this is really short, but its the best I can come up with. Don't ask when you look at the timestamp at the end of this entry... I have nothing better to do other than sleeping.
10 comments:
Is money to blame or are we humans the one to be blamed?
Since money is known worldwide as credit,its use for every individual is subjective.The credit can be exchanged for almost every material and service wants of any individual.
I agree that money has ensured a society that works and doesn't slack all day for a living(at least for Singapore,can't say the same for austrailia though).But money has also corrupted the minds of its owners;who want more and more of it but the more they have,the more they want.MONEY is indeed a STRONG example of greed
Humans to blame. Humans are born selfish.
right,i didn't exactly answer the question there.....money is nothing more than paper credit;it is no magic cursed item of fantasy etc etc etc.I would definitely say that it is the greed of society that inflences every one of its individuals to such a predicament...
Not a bad analysis by Wileen. Is it because Tay Soon and his wife are just greedy by nature or is it greed that causes them to self-destruct. If you choose the former, bear in mind that Tay Soon;s mother actually did not succumb to greed. So, in another words, we can argue that it is not greed that causes humans to fall, but it is the humans themselves who choose to allow themselves to fall to greed. If Tay Soon's mother can resist the temptation, why not Tay Soon and his wife?
Tay soon's mother is wiser,this can be seen by the fact that she advices Tay soon against investing in the stocks.
Tay soon himself was so obsessed with the dream house that he talked about it non-stop until the point whereby he even spread the obsession to his family members.This shows how different he is from his mother because his mother stated that she was happy living in her terrace house.The difference is further explored when Tay soon gets scolded by his mother simply for participating in the stock market.
Tay soon's main obsession was his dream house,therefore,he is not initially as obsessed about money as he eventually becomes.But from the moment he invested in the shares,he tended towards his obsession with money.It was the gain that really caught him;just like when Wileen said"your greed grows as you want more. Your self-esteem is boosted as your money increases".
Therefore,it's a fact that Tay soon COULD HAVE resisted the temptation up to the point of which he started to invest in the shares.But after that,it was beyond resisting.
The story never stated that Tay Soon's mother was never attracted to material belongings in her younger days,in fact,her younger days were kept a total mystery in the entire story.
After all,she was already aged and her life line would not have been known to her.Therefore,there really is no reason for her to have craved the money anyway.
Tay Soon's initial motivation was simply to get his dream house.As he and his wife were still young,there was more meaning for them to chase their aim of the dream house compared to what Tay Soon's mother could have gained from it.
At her old age,she would have naturally been more sentimental and wiser than the younger generation.
As Wileen conveyed,greed also becomes a strong factor when they gain money at such a rapid pace;the money is considered of high value to them since the twenty-thousand dollars of initial profit greatly outpaced their combined savings of an additional two thousand dollars which took them so much effort just to save.
With their unexpectedly high level of overnight profits gained,Tay Soon and his wife were immediately hooked by the greed.
But because of her sentimental mentality and initial lack of enthusiasm in the dream house,Tay Soon's mother never faces the chance of being caught by the greed of money.
There are many theories. But the original meaning for money just means "work done". That's to say that what you do is valued at a price(money). You then exchange that same value with other work(let's say you feel like eating a burger. Work done = taking care of cow, butchering it, slicing into meat patties, seasoning it, then cooking it). Therefore, the work you done(let's say you deliver newspaper) can be used to exchange for other services(like a double cheeseburger).
Therefore, it is true that humans are the one to be blamed(some anyway). How so? They attempt to break free of this value, doing no work to purchase similar work. In games, you'd probably call that cheating. In real life, you'd call that stealing.
Exactly what is the significance of money?
In PAPER,Catherine Lim uses the theme of materialism and greed to question her readers on this topic.
I'm sure that most of us who have read paper would have noticed how the main hull of the story consists mainly of Tay Soon trying to earn even more money and yet the ending sentence describes"It burnt brilliantly and in three minutes was a heap of ashes on the grave."---(IRONIC)---
Catherine Lim displays a great difference in value when she compares the amount of time that Tay Soon wastes to earn the money from the three meagre minutes that the paper house got to burn brilliantly.She also ironically questions her readers on the worth of the time spent.
My interpretation of this contrast is that Catherine Lim tries to convey to the readers the worth of work;the fact that Singaporeans spend so much time trying to earn their money,but its efforts can only be enjoyed for a short period of time.(I'm not saying that it is foolish to work for a living,but what about trying to work for the sole purpose of earning more money that has no fate planned for it yet)...
(ITS ONLY PAPER AFTER ALL.)
Catherine Lim explores the theme of greed on pg 7 line5-"What!Sell at a fraction at which i bought them!How can this be tolerated!"
This shows how greed may hinder the judgement of individuals;despite the fact that it remains obvious to Tay Soon that he would no doubt lose money,his greed puts him in denial and gives him the false hope of still making money out of the shares.
Catherine Lim further elaborates on the evils on money with symbolism;"he hankered after it like an adict after his opiate."Here,both GREED and MATERIALISM comes togather when she uses these words to describe Tay Soon's dream of getting his ideal house.Opiate is a drug,symbolising something that is unresistable even though it is bad for her/him.Because the house is an indirect symbolism of value and material belonging,money is said to be bad but addictive when described as the opiate.
Catherine Lim also conveys how the never-ending quest for money is only in vain when the paper 'dream house' brought is later shown to be imperfect after all,-"There was a paper swimming pool(round,as the man had not understood "kidney")which had to be fitted inside the house itself,as there was no provision for a garden or surrounding grounds."
Once again,the question is asked,'Was it really worth it?'
I think people are to be blamed,just because of their material wants and desires,they fail to see that its the simple things in life that cant be bought that makes u full.look at tay soon's wife in "paper" she is obsessed with money and nearly lost her sanity before seeking her family for refuge,while tay soon on the other hand has succumbed to greed and money,sacrificed sanity for this green eyed devil called money.
also,in tanjong rhu,edward never seems to be fufuiled in life though he has plenty of money yet his mum seems to be so fufilled in life because she has all the little things in life that makes life complete.she has a family who loves her and a house where edward fails to grasp that concept.
the ironic thing is how even though money is not a part of us,many people cant seem to survive without it.money has no feelings yet people are willing to sacrifice friends and even their sanity for her.it is so not worth it for it is the little things in life that makes life complete.the above stanza of tanjong rhu is a perfect example.
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