Connecting Two Texts: Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich and The More Factor by Lourence Shames

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Connecting Two Texts: Bright-Sided” by Barbara Ehrenreich and “The More Factor” by Lourence Shames
It appears that Americans have always lived to their consumerism reputation. In line with the ideals of the American Dream, being American is all about being able to afford and enjoy the good things of life. It is also more than just accessing the goodies of life; most importantly, it is about having more and desiring for even more. Author Lourence Shames captures this American consciousness in “The More Factor” by alluding to a popular bumper sticker in the eighties that declared that “He Who Dies With The Most Toys Wins.” This cliché is not just a witty attempt at humor, but an illustration of the insatiable hunger for material success of the American society. With reference to Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay, Bright-Sided, this paper discusses the prevalence of Lourence Shames’ “Hunger for More” in America.
Lourence Shames’ “The More Factor” examines the American culture of hungering for more material possessions. America’s insatiable desire for material wealth is attributed to three major American values: the quest for the American Dream, Consumerism, and capitalism.
The American Dream is the driving force of America’s capitalist economy and consumerism. The American Dream is a big inspiration for many working class families wishing to move out of poverty and access all the luxuries of life. In light of Ehrenreich’s positive thinking ideology, Americans have this collective belief that one can achieve success by working hard and remaining optimism. Americans’ optimistic nature informs their tendency to speculate good things about their future and take risks while hopping for the best. Shames calls it “the habit of more,” which persuades people that “there is no such thing as getting wiped out in America” (Shames 91). This is the same attitude that Shames argues informed pioneer venture investors in Texas, who built towns even without the assurance of having people to live and work in them. Their dream of making big-time money encouraged them to speculate about future developments and risk injecting capital into risky ventures. Thus, the American Dream has always inspired people’s quest for more, leaving them unsatisfied with their present condition. Shames illustrates this culture of hungering for more using the metaphor of America’s vastness in terms of geographical coverage, which symbolizes limitless. However, while the...