Abundance: Pink's View of America's Disease

Abundance, from Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind, attempts to open the workings of the human mind as he amusingly explains how America's obsession with frivolous material possessions has changed the mindset of the average citizen. The "triumph" of left-directed thinking has actually led to its own decreasing significance. People are more prone to right-directed thinking, such as "beauty", "spirituality", and "emotions." This irony means businesses can no longer produce rough looking items that serve a useful purpose. Items must also be unique and beautiful. Pink's most telling example of this humorously explains how Target has begun to carry designer wastebaskets. The left side of the brain says this is illogical and wasteful. However, the right side fights back, saying, all items must have good aesthetics. The change to more right directed thinking has actually led to the greatest paradox of our generation. People have more and more material possessions but are not any happier. Pink explains that "liberated by prosperity but not fulfilled by it--are resolving the paradox by searching for meaning." Practices once considered eccentric, such as yoga and meditation, are now becoming mainstream. Pink offers "one last--and illuminating--statistic:" Candles, once needed by the population too poor to afford light bulbs in the 20th century should be no longer needed. However, candle sales are a 2.4$-billion-a-year business. Pink's last pun along with all his other examples adequately explain the change in mindset of the American population as our generation has entered the 21st century.

Shared Responsibility

Anti-drug ads are becoming more and more commonplace in America. However, this ad has nothing to do with America or even Americans. This ad is almost exclusively targeted at Colombians and uses two of the three persuasive techniques to proclaim the true effects of Colombia's drug production.

The most obvious persuasive technique used is Pathos, or emotional appeal. This ad hits home immediately because kidnapping alone brings strong emotions in most, if not all, parents. The fear showing in the body language of the girl in the house gives goose bumps to a reader. I mean, what parent does not fear for the well being of his or her own child? No parents. Feelings of guilt are also coaxed out into the open in this strong ad. Past, or ever current cocaine users have or are funding the terrorist kidnappings currently ravaging the country of Colombia.

Instead of the usual celebrity or expert endorsement, this ad mixes things up a bit. The designers use ethos in a negative way. They portray a "business man" with only one giant nose. This symbolizes his use of cocaine to stay awake all night partying. This ad implies that any purchaser of cocaine is just as bad as the one holding the gun, as the man is holding an assault rifle. This negative ethos makes the reader not want to be like the "business man" in the picture.

Interestingly enough, logos is not used in this advertisement. Given that the creators have probably been trained in persuasive techniques for years, this is quite odd. However, the main target for this advertisement is a cocaine user. There are so many health warnings about drugs in the world today; any drug-user probably has lost all common sense. The picture is supposed grab the reader and captivate in a short time period, not burden their minds with health warnings.

This anti-drug ad has effectively used pathos and ethos to make a strong impression on any reader.

Present or Future?

Many people live in the now, that is they only think about what is currently happening and not about the future. This, I believe, is a problem. Too many people take for granted what we, people, have now and do not think about what would happen if these were lost. This past month, I read a novel that addresses just this.


In One Second after by William Forstchen, an Electromagnetic Pulse Device (EMP) is detonated over the United States, causing all electronics to fail suddenly. The reader follows a family in the mountains of North Carolina. In this book people have not taken necessary steps to live without technology. This causes massive "die-offs" where in some cities only 5% of the population survives.


While reading, I never understood the title of Forstchen's novel. Then, just yesterday, the meaning hit me like a brick. Just one second after a disaster of this magnitude occurs, the effects are immediate. All events that have occurred until this point become almost meaningless. One second after, the fate of the United States and the rest of the World is changed forever. One second after, the lives of millions of people are changed forever.

People should be living in a state of mind where the future is the most important part. This causes the one second after thought to be less dramatic and catastrophic as it was in One Second After.

Lottery???

Words are without a doubt the most important part of language. Communication without words would be nearly impossible. These words normally evoke certain feelings and thoughts in people. For example, in America football brings up thoughts of grown men crashing into each other. However, these thoughts are not always the only way to look at a word. Football in the rest of the world brings people thoughts of what Americans know as soccer. The interpretation and perception of words are explored in "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.





In the realm created by Jackson, there is an annual lottery. When most people think of the lottery, certain thoughts. Images of people buying weekly tickets hoping to win exuberant sums of money. However from the beginning of the there are some oddities. The children start gathering stones and stuffing them in their pockets and pushing them into piles. Then Mr Summers, the lottery director, "soberly" announces the start of the lottery. These oddities are fairly minor and hard to notice during the first reading, however the story turns truly strange when a family is announced a winner. The wife Tessie Hucthison begins yelling that the lottery "wasn't fair." All these oddities eventually cause a horrifying realization that the lottery in this world is completely different from the lottery in our world.



This twist on the word "lottery" is refreshing. Jackson managed to take a word with a commonly perceived meaning and shown another way to percieve the word. "The Lottery" showed me how awesome stories can become if the perceptions of words are changed even thought the new perceptions still fall under the definition of the word. I encourage people to read the "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and become refreshed with a different perception of a common word.

Soccer in the States?

Soccer as a professional sport in the United States is, well let us just say, obscure. People everyday are surprised to learn that in America we have a professional soccer league. However, with the start of the World Cup, Americans everywhere have turned their attention to soccer, the most popular sport in the world. This attention has kept editorial writers everywhere busy, writing about how soccer is dull and over-hyped. One such article caught my attention. "Soccer Too Dull for America" by Daniel Kline, observed that soccer will never take hold in the United States television market and despite my love for the sport, I am inclined to agree with Kline.


"High level soccer involves almost no scoring and very few shots on goal." These words spoken by Kline are essentially true. Unfortunately, this lack of scoring and shots is boring to most American viewers. These viewers are accustomed to the high-scoring sports of football, basketball, and even baseball.


Common misconceptions about soccer also seem to prevent average viewers from watching. Most Americans seem to believe that soccer has "limited physical contact" and the games are very slow paced. These are absolutely false, but do keep viewers away from soccer games.


"The United States will never be Brazil or Italy where the fortunes of the national soccer team set the tone for the nation." I believe this thought by Kline is completely true. People will continue to not watch soccer, or even soccer's biggest event, the World Cup. The United States Soccer Federation will have to continue living in a country where soccer will never be as popular as football, baseball, basketball, or even hockey.

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Of Mice and Men Analysis

Analysis of Detail

From his first paragraph, John Steinbeck sets the scene of Of Mice and Men through his use of imagery as he describes the natural world as a parallel to later events in the novella.

The quote "the Salinas river drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green," can be used to find descriptions of the characters. "Green" is often used to describe someone or something that is full of life, naive, and young. The word "deep" can show something to be strong and solid. These words can be used to describe the main characters of Steinbeck's novella. Lennie is very young and full of life. He is also very very naive. George, on the other hand, is very smart. In fact, he is smart enough for the both of them. George is also very deep in thought.

Another sentence containing the words "strong", "rocky", and "mountain" can be used to further describe the characters and foreshadow events to come. "Strong" means a person being physically or mentally tough. The use of this word can describe George or Lennie, as Lennie is physically tough and George is mentally tough. "Rocky" can be used to describe something that is unfinished or jagged. Lennie is very much rocky. He is not very bright and might have a mental impairment. A mountain normally symbolizes a challenge. I believe that the description of the mountain in the first paragraph most likely symbolizes there will be a challenge to overcome in Of Mice and Men.

The sentence, "under the trees the leaves lie deep and so crisp" can be used to symbolize the journey of George and Lennie. When leaves change color they fall of the tree and move on to a different place. George and Lennie embark on a similar journey. Their lives change so they must move on to a different place, which in this case is the ranch. Steinbeck's use of imagery and foreshadowing are amazing.

After rereading the first paragraph, a reader realizes that George and Lennie are described as well as certain events in the future.

Analysis of Point of View

The third-person objective point of view accentuates the differences between each character through descriptions of their traits.

The quote from page 37 of the novel states that "Curley seemed really to see George for the first time. His eyes flashed over George, took in his height, measured his reach, looked at his trim middle" when he encountered George in the bunkhouse. Curley was a small man and had self-confidence issues, forcing him to put on a tough front. He looked over George to see how big he was in comparison. George also happened to be small, this making Curley feel relieved and more at ease when talking to him.

"[Crooks] kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs." (pg 67) As also stated in the passage Crooks was "proud" and "aloof." These quotes from Of Mice and Men shows that Crooks, the stable buck, knew he was different from everyone else. Keeping out of the way of the other ranch workers' was the only way Crooks knew of to keep his pride. Third person allows people to see the differences in Crooks, because their are no personal point of views to give a racist perspective in Steinbeck's novella.

Without the descriptive passages regarding these characters in third-person objective, their characters would not be as defined as they are found in Of Mice and Men.

Analysis of Tone

Steinbeck constructs brilliant passages of remorse and longing to characterize Lennie.

Lennie has no control over his immense strength. This immense strength and lack of control causes him to hurt just about anything and everything Lennie touches. This passage from page 87 shows that Lennie really feels bad about the bad deeds he does. After the puppy's death Steinbeck makes references to the puppy using words like "sadly" and "woe", showing Lennie's great remorse for his act of treachery.

"An' live off the fatta of the lan'," Lennie shouted. Lennie shouts at George to tell a story that he has no doubt heard many times before. This part and others from the passage of page 14 show how Lennie longs for the rabbits and the house. They give him something to hope for in the future.

Lennie's strength conflicts with his personality to create a very interesting character in Steinbeck's novella.

Analysis of Theme

Whether faced with a disabled relative or a homeless person on the street most people have faced the question, "Am I my brother's keeper." This idea is explored in Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men.

For no feasible reason, George takes care of Lennie, and even when Lennie offers to leave, George says "I want you to stay with me, Lennie." (pg. 13) Without Lennie, George's life would be undoubtedly easier, but something makes George feel an obligation to stay with him. Throughtout the the novella, George gives various reasons for staying with Lennie. "Your aunt Clara wouldn't like you running off by yourself, even if she is dead," shows that Lennie probably has no relatives that want to have anything to do with him. (pg. 13)

When Lennie and George finally make their way to the ranch, the boss asks George "Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is." (pg. 23) George stumbles around this question and lies to the boss, saying that himself and Lennie are cousins. Even though George and Lennie share no relatives, George feels his situation is easier to explain if he tells people himself and Lennie are cousins. This shows that George has no real reason to take care of Lennie, especially if he has to lie to make the situation easier to explain.

"Of Mice and Men" shows that humans should be responsible for looking out for one another even if there is no feasible reason for doing so.