Anna Quindlen Stuff Is Not Salvation

Words: 1553
Pages: 7

Stop Throwing Your Money
A question that most of us ask, but hardly know how to answer is, “Why in the world did we buy all this junk in the first place?” (Quindlen 322). Perhaps all of us realize that we really did not need to buy half of the things we own, but just because we liked them and wanted them badly. In the article “Stuff is Not Salvation” by Anna Quindlen, her claims about American consumers spending their money on unnecessary things rather than on “real things that matter: college tuition, prescription drugs, rent” (322) are completely true, but her argument is somewhat weak because of the lack of evidence to support her stand, and she neglects to specify more examples of individuals who could carry on with a satisfied life through the things they own. Yet, one should still agree with every aspect of the argument.
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First, she mentions that a worker fell on the floor of a Wal-Mart store during a Black Friday sale because crowds of shoppers stampeded over him (321). The incident indicates how shoppers do not care whether they harm someone, and would keep shopping. Also, she addresses how consuming so much has caused Americans to fall into debt. This is a key issue because people probably do not care anymore about money they do not have, rather they think about what things they do not have and how they can get it. Thus, credit cards are continuously being used every day by these individuals to purchase meaningless things they do not