china - Francisco AP Comp - P1D1.

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In the hyper-capitalist society with which we are all too familiar, we strive to contradict the teachings of Marx and Engels to derive a sense of self-worth from the things that we can put our names to, whether they be houses or skills, tangible or intangible !nd for very long, we have strictly upheld the "alvinist teachings that have made this country so great# that to own and possess is the sure route to moral fulfillment In fact, our possessions and our sense of self are so inseparable that the desire to own blinds us to our true sensibilities, moralities, and personalities $ltimately, ownership and the development of self are dangerously and intricately intertwined, and our possessions often become fragile trophies of self-worth and achievement %or &konkwo from !chebe's (hings %all !part, this is especially the case, as everything he owns - his title in the community, his yam farm, his multiple wives - is for him, a fragile indicator of his self-worth and and masculinity (hrough years of toil and hardship, he has emerged from an inhospitable childhood with an alcoholic father to a paragon of masculinity and heroism in his hometown of $muofia (o him however, the only affirmation he has of his virtues is his possessions )ook no further than how he beats his wives, how he abuses his sons, how he desperately attempts to cling to his village title to see that for &konkwo, character isn't enough# he must have the ownership, tangible and intangible, to sustain his pride !fter he accidentally kills a village son, everything that he held dear is pulled out from beneath him, and he is exiled to another village &konkwo no longer has a concrete basis with which to evaluate his worthiness as a man, and ultimately as a human being *is illusions of self disintegrate into shadows of inferiority +hen we returns to his village, he is no longer the &konkwo he once was# no longer morally upstanding nor a village hero *e enters a downward spiral that results in his murder of a missionary and eventual suicide &konkwo's character rested on his fragile foundation of possessions, and when this foundation was removed, he was blinded to the traits that he already possessed that made him a hero !lthough some may disagree and contend that the ownership of tangible goods helps moral character, the fact is simply that goods are often a seemingly obvious reflection of what an individual believes he or she is capable of achieving, attaining, or working towards !nd although goods may enhance individuals' ability to donate and thus bolster their sense of self worth, the fact is also that an individual's self worth is based on his or her ability to obtain goods that can be mobili,ed for the welfare of others -elf-identity and self-confidence are very much bounded by possessions, and this is even more apparent in the financial industry .ankers on +all -treet strive for the biggest returns through cleverly devised exploits and loophole discoveries of financial regulations .y basing their sense of achievement and identity as a member of society off of how much money they can generate out of thin air, their value proposition lies in the magnitude of the figures they can achieve at the end of the day, when none of it actually reflects on how their character or their capacity to generate meaningful impact on society through their work !nd so there is a strong, if not dangerous relationship between an individual's possessions and self-worth, as the possessions are seen as concrete emblems of a capabilities of the individual (o have is everything, but people who get caught up in this

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mindset lose track of their inherent worth as human beings to give and contribute, and as personalities with distinct characters (hey find their solace in the ob/ects, tangible or intangible, that surround them