The Disadvantages of MONEY

As we cannot live without money, it plays a significant role in our lives. To some extent, we are all motivated by money and try to get it for all kinds of reasons. However, money is not an unmixed blessing. From my point of view, money is the most powerful medicine in the world. Not only can it help you, but also destroy you when you are totally controlled. A few days ago, I came across a proverb.” The same knife cuts bread and fingers. ” I spontaneously related it with money. There’s no better description of the dual character of money.

Although money is an efficient trading tool and can be used to but what we need and want, total dependence or misuse of money may lead to undesirable and harmful results.  

As for poor people, they always save every remnant coin and dream to be rich one day. Because of the lack of money, some of the students don’t have any opportunity to be educated. As a result, they have no way to learn new things or broaden their horizons. It means that competiveness of these poor people is extremely weak whether at school or at work. What they can do is to repeat what their fathers did, such as being laborers. On the contrary, rich youngsters receive better education and more chances. A child from a rich family is more likely to success in the future than one from a poor family. So, the poor become poorer, and the rich become richer. The gap between wealth will definitely lead to class conflicts. That is one of the most obvious disadvantages of money.

Another disadvantage is the great power of money. There is a kind of people who become the slaves of money. For example, in the book Eugenie Grandet, Felix Grandet, the father of Eugenie, is miserly rich person. In his eye, there is only MONEY, MONEY, and MONEY. He is too miserly to repair the house, to provide better living standards for his wife and daughter, and to help others. What he only enjoys is watching the wealth of property. Nothing can attract him except for gold and diamonds. He is just a tragic slave of money who destroyed the happiness of his lovely daughter.

As Mark Twain said, “The lack of money is the root of all evil”. There are too many crimes connected with money throughout history worldwide. Greedy people want money, and sometimes they cannot control their desire any more. No matter what methods they use, they must get more money. As a matter of fact, the money is far more than they require and some processes of getting money are illegal and dangerous to other innocent people.

To sum up, the defects of money do not indicate that we should not use it. The advantages of money far outweighed than the disadvantages. How money affects our life depends on how we use it. The proper use of money will bring us a happy life.

Animal Farm

    Animal farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 august 1945. It tells a simple and tragic story of what happened after animals drove out Mr. Jones, the farmer, and attempted to set up their own farm. What they wanted to achieve was a utopian communism. However, the book ends up with the dictatorship of pigs, which are the brightest animals. Power changed everything. The pigs learnt to walk upright, carry whips and wear clothes. Napoleon (the “conqueror” pig) announced an alliance with the humans and had a great party with humans, drinking and playing poker. The other animals, overhearing the conversation,”looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which”.

    Reviewing the book, I found that Boxer, a horse, makes the deepest impression on me. He is the most loyal and hardworking laborer in the farm. He repeats his motto “I will work harder”, and puts his heart and soul into making the farm a success. However, hard work doesn’t turn out to be the better reward. After he collapsed from overwork, the pigs sent him to the knackers’ yard instead of a veterinarian, in exchange for the money to buy the whiskey. Poor Boxer! He always insisted that “Napoleon is always right”. He didn’t know how vicious, cruel and vile pigs were until he was slaughtered. This pitiful character is considered as the reference to the overworked and mistreated workers who were betrayed by a leader they always believed in.

     “Seven Commandments”, the clue that throughout the whole novella is really unforgettable. The pigs Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer adapt Old Major’s ideas into animals’ so-called philosophy, Animalism. The “Seven Commandments” are laws that are supposed to ensure the elementary animalism and prevent animals from following humans’ evil habits, including walking on two legs and sleeping in beds. However, with Napoleon and other pigs having the increasing power over the farm, they gradually indulge in the vices of humans. The pigs even change the “Seven Commandments so that they are not accused of law-breaking. At that moment, all animals are not equal anymore, and communist theory has already been replaced with slavery.

     The book reminds me of some revolutions led by people who are dissatisfied with the corrupt government. The beginnings of the revolution were always good for people and society. However, as time passed by, the leader became selfish and vile. They abused their power and dictate people as their slaves. The new government was just another version of the old one. The revolutions were doomed to failure. All seems to be so horrible. The so-called fight for freedom was just an excuse of the vicious leaders. Maybe, the book just brings a hair-raising warning to all humankind.