ipl-logo

Consumerism In The Short Story 'Hungry Teens' By Joan Green

1542 Words7 Pages

Everyone has their own meaning of the word consumerism. Calgary teen Brooke Wladyka at the age of 17 quoted as saying “If you don 't have brand name clothes, you 're not looked up to.” “It 's about what other people think of you.” She says she doesn 't judge people on what they 're wearing or how they look but there are people out there that do. Consumerism is a social and money-based order and ideology that encourages the purchase of products that are bought and sold at services in ever-increasing amounts. The push for more is known as wanting something that you don’t need and pushing the limit to buy it all. Throughout the short stories in the textbook Interface edited by Joan Green the theme of consumerism is shown from a push for more and …show more content…

In the short story “Hungry Teens” the teens look for the most nicest pieces of clothing to buy and getting the latest gadgets. This shows push for more when the teens keep wanting more and better. For this to actually happen the teens need the money to get these expensive designer clothing and gadgets. So they would need to get a job to buy the things they want bacause not every teens parents are going to buy their son or daughter $150 clothing piece or gadgets. “It depends,” admits Wladyka. “You could say you need it because you definitely need things like a cellphone these days, but I guess it’s still luxury in a way.” This will show the teens that how hard money is made and won 't buy the latest and most expensive items. The short story “Cracking the desired code” the story tells us how not to waste our money on items we don 't even need or how to use. Apple launched a new device called Ipod you could watch videos, text message, play games, and listen to music. The people that had MP3 players could only listen to music when the Ipod came out lot of people wanted it even the people who just wanted to listen to music but the people who just wanted to listen to music it was a waste of purchase because they didn 't need to use the other features of the Ipod and just use it for the music. This shows the push for more when people keep wanting the newest and latest gadgets when they might not

Show More
Related

  • 1920s Consumer Culture Essay

    638 Words  | 3 Pages

    Den Fernandez Consumer Culture in the 1920s As the world moved into the Roaring 20s it attempted to leave behind the destruction left in the wake of World War 1. In that transition back into a semi-normal society, a new fascination emerged from the United States' economic prosperity and consumerism. While the end of World War 1 brought American soldiers back home from the front lines, it also brought back huge economic gains with America’s numerous loans to other countries with the Dawes Plan instated by President Calvin Coolidge.

    Read More

  • Consumerism In America During The Early Twentieth Century

    128 Words  | 1 Pages

    1 - Consumerism developed in America during the early twentieth century in large part due to the boom in industry created by Europe 's inability to create goods after World War I. Combined this with American inventions such as Henry Ford’s assembly line and Americans had money to spend (Schultz, 2013). With the advent of an electrical distribution system, Americans had electricity in their homes for the first time, which led to the desire for all types of electrical appliances to make life easier. All these new products meant that companies had to get the word out about their products which ignited the advertising industry, which led to even more consumerism. Mix into this recipe, the growing credit industry, and you had consumerism like

    Read More

  • Capitalism In Zone One

    1393 Words  | 6 Pages

    Mark Spitz states that “he was crestfallen when he ate at another location for the first time” and he recognized the “same stuff on the wall” (189). This moment is crucial because it emphasizes how even the most precious and sentimental aspects of our life are a result of consumer culture. Many aspects cleverly crafted to appear as a one-of-a-kind product or experience actually result in a slightly customizable template. Similarly, Sorensen explains consumerism as “the capacity to realize and replicate itself by borrowing against the guaranteed promise of the future as the site of more of the same and of endlessness of reproduction without difference” (562-3). Whitehead further supports this idea by illuminating the reproduction of a one-of-a-kind

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Working At Mcdonald's By Amitai

    854 Words  | 4 Pages

    The topic of teenagers having jobs while in high school can be considered controversial and is definitely one that generates a lot of opinion both for and against this practice. Mr. Amitai Etzioni’s has a negative position on this issue as was stated in his article “Working at McDonald’s”. I on the other hand believe that having a job is a way for teenagers to learn how to be independent and obtain good working skills that will stay with them for a lifetime. This essay is an argument pro teenagers working while in high school. The concerns of the opposition will be addressed as well.

    Read More

  • Consumer Culture By Kathy Hamilton: Article Analysis

    1675 Words  | 7 Pages

    Within this critical literature review, the article which will be under analysis is “low- income families and coping through brands: Inclusion or stigma?” which was written by Kathy Hamilton in 2012. The article concentrates on the coping strategies used by single parents and low-income families to avoid stigmatisation and threats upon their social identities. Therefore, to avoid stigmatisation these low-income families may take part in conspicuous consumption where families may spend a lot of money on luxury goods to make themselves look better, which can give them a sense of economic power and acceptance within society. However, due to the rise of ‘chav’ culture surrounding single mothers, it can be much harder to move away from stigmatisation,

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Teenagers Have Stopped Getting Summer Jobs By Derek Thompson

    307 Words  | 2 Pages

    High youth unemployment is not as bad as most think it is. When teens aren’t working in the summer they are in the classrooms learning. In Derek Thompson’s essay, “Teenagers Have Stopped Getting Summer Jobs --- Why?” ,he talks about how teens are in the classrooms rather than getting jobs. Thompson supports his claim that students are staying in school instead of getting jobs by asking rhetorical questions and using logos by showing graphs and other statistics. In the first half of his essay Thompson presents his claim that teens aren’t working as much, not because they are lazy but because they are taking more summer classes.

    Read More

  • Impact Of Consumerism In The 1950s

    851 Words  | 4 Pages

    As World War II came to an end, the United States entered the 50s. This decade became a major influential time that brought many cultural and societal changes. Categories such as the economy, where a boom in new products increased, the technology world which incorporated new medicines and computers, entertainment when the television became popular and the overall lifestyles that Americans adapted to. All of these topics reshaped and created several advancements throughout society during the 1950s.

    Read More

  • Consumer Class In Canada

    993 Words  | 4 Pages

    Statistics show that today there are over 1.7 billion members of the “consumer class”- half of them being in the developing world (2011, the World Watch Institute). Being part of the consumer class myself, I believe it is crucial to dispense a great deal of money on goods and services to improve the economy here in Canada. Does this mean I’m considered to be a consumer as a result of my views on world consumption? Yes, I fit into the category of a consumer due to the fact that I’m part of the endless cycle of supply and demand. From the moment I leave my house and walk the two minutes to the bus stop I’m already thinking about what I’m going to buy.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Consumerism

    1080 Words  | 5 Pages

    The concept of consumerism was first brought to my awareness in First Year Writing. I admit, before this intro course, I was indeed ignorant of the negative impacts that consumption had on society. FYS opened my mind to the dangers of over-consumption, and more importantly, helped me see beyond what meets the eye. Take for example, Disney, a seemingly innocent corporation, a company’s whose name is practically synonymous with the notion of childhood innocence. Upon initial judgement, one would assume that Disney is merely harmless family entertainment.

    Read More

  • Teens Ethos Pathos Logos

    477 Words  | 2 Pages

    Teens & Advertising Advertising is a form of marketing in which the author uses writing strategies to capture the attention of an audience to persuade them into purchasing what is being promoted. The success of an ad relies on the products ability to reason with readers and appeal based on emotions. Individuals can be distinguished by their proneness to social influence; teenagers in particular differ in regards to their level of susceptibility to advertising. Though teenagers do not typically have as much money as older adults, there are many products that teenagers are still willing to spend their restricted funds on. These advertising agencies who target teens utilize strategies that are meant to make their services and/or products attractive

    Read More

  • Materialism In American Society

    1147 Words  | 5 Pages

    Materialism is a problem in American society, everyday people go for the next best thing just to show off their possessions. People show off what they have, and once they get tired of it, they begin to go for the latest, cellular devices, clothing’s, cars etc. According to Tim Kasser, “People develop ideals looking at the lives of their friends, neighbors, co-workers, and relatives” (Kasser52). What he is trying to say is, instead of every person helping each other expand in life, everyone is in rivalry with one another. In order to make an attempt at fixing the American society, making it less materialistic, people must become and think correspondingly of a minimalist.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Consumerism In Brave New World

    806 Words  | 4 Pages

    A consumerism makes the community and economy stable which is the goal of the society. In Brave New World, the motto of the government is “community, identity, and stability” (6). Claim: A consumer economy makes the society of Brave New World which is when the most important in the economy is buying and selling of goods and services overall. Establish Evidence: In the Western civilization, Huxley would realize that consumers still make up most of the economy.

    Read More

  • What Is Wall-E And Consumerism

    2467 Words  | 10 Pages

    Sydney Kesling 18 December 2016 Dr. Damai ENG 201-118 Final Paper Wall-E IS Our World "We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.” – Ken Levin. This quote itself may not seem as if it is much, but in all reality the words behind it go much deeper than at first glance. Each and every day we are forced to make decisions and those decisions make us into the person that we are today. Whether the outcome may be good or bad, it all results back to the choices we have made.

    Read More

  • Kardashians Research Paper

    1003 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the 21st century, we consume so frequently that we do not take notice; consumerism consumes us. Consumerism is an integral

    Read More

  • Commodity Fetishism In Consumer Culture

    1584 Words  | 7 Pages

    In 21st century America, it is important to understand these aspects of commodity fetishism that creates the problem of distorted consumerist practices that have become common in the marketplace. Sociologically, the “magical” process of abstracting the value of a product is critical to understanding why many Americans blindly follow a consumerist culture in this form of capitalist economy. Commodity fetishism describes many of the key problems with the valuation of products that trick Americans into over-consuming in a Marxist

    Read More

More about Consumerism In The Short Story 'Hungry Teens' By Joan Green

Open Document