Future fiction
In Monica Hughes's story, "The Price of Land," the government saw human life in dollar symbols. The story tells of a farming family who had not experienced the best of luck making money off of the farm. Money was short but there was a solution offered by the government; not too with farming or anything like that. Jim, the father figure, received a letter, with an offer that would prove hard to refuse. Jim's seventy year-old mother in-law was living with him and his family. She was collecting a small pension and was a contributing member to the household. Although the penny-pinching government saw that it would be cheaper in the long run to just 'buy' this woman's life and give a cut of the money they would have spent to support her in her last years to her family. The offer sounded good to Jim, though he did feel bad, and Gran thought it would be best for the struggling young family. They went through with the deal and Gran was euthanized. Does this sound like nonsense, or could this type of thing really happen? I think it would take a severe moral breakdown in society to bring about those types of changes. But, what would it take? Here's a scenario I have thought about that is somewhat similar to the situation prese
While we're on the subject of morals, I think it is fair to say that greed has taken up a certain part of many people's lives. Will the value of money in the future be put on par with human life? Monica Hughes' story, "The Price of Land" suggests that it will. Money says a lot these days and as the gap between rich and poor increases there are more and more individuals ruled by greed, hoarding money. It's the name of the game. This ever-growing gap puts strain on our country's social programs. To a certain degree we see this happening today with software development and new exploration in robotics. Computer automated systems have also taken the places of many employable positions in many industries, all to save money in the long run. Although, there have been many new jobs and opportunities supplied by the computer industry, but mostly for people in the urban centers. It has also inspired new schools and training facilities to better educate people for the coming technological advances in our future. A shortage of jobs caused by a rapid growth in population an the rising cost of living could force families to depend on their children to bring some money into the house. Also, in today's society, kids are staying in their parents' homes longer, and marrying later than that of the past generations. In many cases these young adults are paying their parents rent, maybe just on principle, but regardless it goes to show that people are having to rely on one another when it comes to paying the bills. Another factor to consider is the risi
Some common words found in the essay are:
Price Land, Hughes Approximately, North American, North America, Want's Millionaire, family unit, Edward Arnold, Monica Hughes', Monica Hughes's, Press Toronto, story price land, america family unit, people jobs, breakdown society, greed individualism, distribution wealth, north america, north america family, human life, america family, industrial revolution, price land,
Approximate Word count = 1047
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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