Shames Essay
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Shames Essay
Consuming the American Frontier”
The original settlers of this country were optimistic speculators. They hoped that America held the promise of a better life and the freedom to live the way they chose. Relocating your entire family to “The “New World” was a gamble. The trip itself was fraught with danger but, the colonists need for more for themselves became the drive that set aside fear and reason for the hopeful achievement of their goal. These are the “American ancestors”. These were a different kind of breed, who colonized this country, and Americans continue their legacy of the pioneering spirit through subsequent generations.
Today, there is no literal new frontier. The vast open space that was America is now a well-developed landscape.
Shames II
Owning property, having lots of money, and running a
thriving business are parts of the American ideas of
success. They are also parts of the board-game Monopoly.
The ideas of prosperity within Monopoly remain throughout
childhood, and into the adult life. The result of this
creates a culture of people in the business world with the
desires for more of the now real objects found in Monopoly.
The basic ideas behind Monopoly are the same concepts of
the essay “The More Factor” by Laurence Shames. In his
essay Shames argues that the expansion of the frontier and
acquisition of land has moved on to possession of material
goods and economic growth as symbols of American success.
Each of these has its equivalent in Monopoly. Success in
the game is defined by owning the most property so as to
acquire more money, to build material things, like houses
and hotels, ultimately resulting in the financial
destruction of your opponents. This type of success is an
example of the way “more” works. Shames says that if a
person has the strive to obtain more land or money his
apparent success will also be greater. In Monopoly the
player with the most drive to own more property will
succeed. In the spirit of the more-driven frontiersmen who
succeeded by sweeping away the Indians and Mexicans, the
more-driven Monopoly player easily crushes his opponents by
acquiring the most ! land. In other words, the
“More-Factor” that Shames describes is the determining
element when deciding who is the champion of the game.
Monopoly can also be equated to Barthes essay “Toys” when
he states that toys “are essentially a microcosm of the
adult world.” Although the United States currently has
anti-monopoly laws, the game still accurately represents
the American business world. The goals and ideas of success
in Monopoly are also present in the world of business,
where the main objective is to make more money than the
competition, eventually leading to a hold on the market.
But Monopolys representation of adult life does not stop
with the business world. All Americans, no matter what
profession they are in, hold some of the dreams within
Monopoly, although not to the extremity of the game. We all
hope to someday possess our own property. With this land we
continue to improve it; not necessarily by adding more
houses or hotels, but still changing it into