How Much a Dollar Really Cost? In the song How Much a Dollar Cost, lyricist Kendrick Lamar exposes how humanity selfishly clings to money, rather than giving back to those who are less fortunate. Kendrick tells a vivid, intriguing story about his experience with a seemingly homeless panhandler, who turns out to be God in the flesh testing his morality. Kendrick, unaware that he is speaking to God, tells the panhandler to “Beat it” which results in him losing his spot in heaven. The lyricist uses powerful allusions and strong language to make the reader aware of our own greed for materialistic items, while simultaneously stressing the importance of helping other individuals. The Lyricist uses very specific detail about the character’s appearance …show more content…
When Kendrick assumed that the homeless panhandler only wanted money for drugs, the homeless panhandler responded, “My son, temptation is one thing that I’ve defeated;” this alludes to Jesus being tempted by Satan. In the Bible book of Mathew, Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights and during that period the devil tempted Jesus with food. Of course, Jesus denied Satan’s offer and ultimately defeated temptation, hence homeless panhandler defeated temptation already, just as Jesus has done. The homeless panhandler even directly asked Kendrick “Have you ever opened up Exodus 14? - A humble man is all we ever need;” Exodus 14 tells the story of how God’s faithful servant Moses led the Israelites to freedom. The homeless panhandler suggested this scripture to Kendrick because Moses lacked skill that a typical leader would have, but still led his people to freedom because he was humble, which is a trait that Kendrick did not posses. As the story continues, Kendrick tries and argues with the homeless panhandler, but gets the response “Know the truth is will set you free” though this response seems simple, it holds a lot of power. It is a direct quote from Jesus Christ himself in the Bible verse John 8:32. In the book of John, Jesus Christ spread his teaching to individuals who were “Slaves of sin” in hopes to deliver them from any mental or emotional bondage that would restrict them from entering His Father’s kingdom, heaven. The function of the direct Bible quote is to add context and substance to the story in order to hint to the reader the importance of the homeless panhandler. Kendrick is too angry and frustrated to realize who he is speaking with, so the homeless Panhandler finally reveals his true identity: “you’re looking at the Messiah, the son of Jehovah, the higher power, the choir that spoke the word, the Holy Spirit, The
Howard Thurman in his book, “Jesus and the Disinherited” presented Jesus as a role model for the oppressed on how to find strength, freedom and peace within God and oneself. Thurman shares the story of how Jesus offered an alternative to accepting the Roman rules, like the Sadducees did in hope of being allowed to maintain their Jewish traditions; A solution to remaining silently obedient, like the Pharisees, as hatred and resentment destroyed them from within. Jesus provided an alternative solution to the Zealots of his day who resorted to physical force to advance their justified cause, often paying the ultimate cost, their life. Jesus taught love. Love of God, self, neighbor and especially your enemy. Thurman stresses that Jesus know that “it is man’s reaction to things that determines their ability to exercise power over them”.(Thurman, 18) Jesus taught and modeled the art of strength through humility. He
The speaker’s rocky encounter with her ex-lover is captured through personification, diction, and tone. Overall, the poem recaps the inner conflicts that the speak endures while speaking to her ex-lover. She ponders through stages of the past and present. Memories of how they were together and the present and how she feels about him. Never once did she broadcast her emotions towards him, demonstrating the strong facade on the outside, but the crumbling structure on the inside.
... wickedness of their situation. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Douglass 77). Douglass’ words are meant for the master, the mistress, the auctioneer, the slaveholding preacher, the government: the hypocrite, but mostly for his brothers and sisters in manacles.
He purposely conveys the message acknowledging Jesus Christ, because Christians where treating his corresponding African American’s immorally wrong and participating in sinful acts such as lynching. Mr. King knew that Jesus C...
The world in which Lily grows up in is one where money is the standard by which everyone is judged. In a setting like this, “money stands for all kinds of things- its purchasing quality isn’t limited to diamonds and motor cars” (Wharton 66). Therefore, even small things such as the way a person dresses or the places someone frequents become of high importance as they are representative of how much money a person possesses. This materialistic tendency ...
"A Dollar a Day" is a documentary that shows and discusses what it means to live in poverty . The theme or the main idea of "A dollar a day" is how people who do live in poverty get jobs and meet their basic needs, and how the people in this documentary show that even though they are poor, lack education ,healthcare and can’t make ends meet still strive to aquire thier basic needs with perseverance and alot of effort. Many people live in poverty and "A dollar a day" shows how some people who are poor make thier lives better while others aspire to reform the government and get better pay.The film "A Dollar a Day" is a good documentary that shows how people live in poverty .what is the cause of poverty and how we can fix the problem. This documentary shows us how people live in poverty and how they are not so different from us the middle class because we all share the same dream to have a job, a decent house and just live comfortably people like Wayne Petterson and Li-Jieli aspire to live like us.
In an attempt to fulfill their lives with meaning and happiness Jay Gatsby and Mr. Shiftlet strive to obtain more possessions or more wealth than what is needed. Due to their greed and careless lifestyles, they cannot achieve happiness or fulfillment; instead, their actions lead to dissatisfaction, destruction, and unhappiness. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Flannery O’Connor use the literary devices of motifs, foreshadowing, and symbolism to cause their readers to become disenchanted with the idea of being wealthy for fear of being associated with evil and corruption like the characters in The Great Gastby and “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.”
The three parables contained in chapter fifteen of the Gospel of Luke are a tightly woven trio anchored on either side by closely related teachings. The preceding chapter gives instruction on humility and hospitality, telling the reader to open the invitation to one’s meal table to all, including the poor, the sick, and the unclean. In the following chapter the reader finds instructions for how to use wealth to benefit those same people. In the middle of these we find chapter fifteen, containing the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal and his brother. As a part of the triplet, the parable of the lost sheep challenges the reader to not only invite the poor into one’s community, but to receive them as family with joy and celebration.
Li, a teenager, is enraptured by this western product, witnessing the duality of lifestyles portrayed by media and reality. Whereas her reality is poor in contrast, describing how “half the people [she] knew cooked in the hallways” because they had no kitchen, Tang glorifies a lifestyle of luxury and wealth. By falling for the persuasive advertisement, Li becomes obsessed with Tang and the lifestyle it represents. Within the Tang advertisement, all individuals had “healthy complexions and toothy, carefree smiles” and a “kitchen [that] was spacious and brightly lighted,” an ideal desired by lower-income families. Because this vision did not fit Li’s reality, Li becomes resentful and jealous, as it is not the lifestyle she has. Li effectively utilizes pathos in this instance by evoking a sympathetic effect. Similar to a baby who wants a candy bar but is given a strawberry instead, Li desires this luxurious lifestyle but is given her current
The speaker chooses that he wants to be a writer rather than what his father does since he had “…no spade to follow men like them.” The speaker uses emotion to put himself down while praising his elders. The speaker does not retain the meanings or the cravings to live as his family did and decides to use his pen to write instead. The speaker creates art based on his emotion about his family which allows a connection for the audience to relate
Whereas, Wheatley who shares her “actual” experience of being kidnapped from her native lane. Although these two artists have similar view points, they interpret different concepts that separate the two. While listening to Redemption , Marley mentioned "But my hand was made strong, by the hand of the almighty, we forward in this generation, triumphantly" from those few quotes Marley obviously believes that through all the pain and agony of slaves, his generation will be able to create a difference. Next, “Old pirates, yes they rob I, sold I to the merchant ships” refers to the slave traders who robbed the Africans by selling them into slavery, So him using “I” is referring to the whole African nation. Marley also talks about the importance of escaping mental emancipation . Break through the mind set that we as African Americans are worthless and understand our power as a nation and the difference we could
The next verse begins by saying politicians hide when it comes to backing up their words. "They leave their role to the poor," meaning they would never go
... this motif of love is explored because it shows how people in this world use others for their money.
Living on One Dollar was a very interesting movie that can really help change the perspectives of those living in more privileged communities. I had always known that a large portion of the world lived on poverty and many lived on as low as one dollar a day. I always just believed it was not as bad as it seemed due to the fact that the standard of living and the cost of living was lower in these places, such as Guatemala where the movie takes place. However, what was so interesting was that while common items such as food were a lot cheaper, they were not nearly enough to feed a family of six or seven or even the group of four friends. But even more surprising than that was the fact that while the food was comparably inexpensive, other necessities such as medication or even education was still so expensive for the individuals living there.
Going back to Heaney’s early life, his mother's side was focused more on the economy-driven goals of the industrial revolution, rather than the rural economy found on a farm. Heaney’s mother’s uncles were employed at a linen mill, and the aunt has worked in service to the owners of said mill. Heaney recalls his mother’s side of the family as very economically driven, and sometimes for the worse. This can be inferred that his mother’s aunt and uncles are too involved with making money that they often miss out on the happiness of life, and that their lust for money distances them with Heaney, and other family members, as Heaney states that he does not associate with them that often due to their work. Heaney ties this aspect of his life into his poetry, in which the message that greed can consume a person’s morals, and control them without the person even knowing it.