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The Beautiful And The Damned Research Paper

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The saying ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ is very accurate. A key example of this can be seen in many studies done on people’s lives after they win the lottery. Approximately seventy percent of people who win end up unhappy, some even eventually commit suicide. Those with new found wealth often discover some people are only around for their money. According to studies, it’s common for the wealthy to feel that they are superior to people of a lower class, they can also feel a sense of entitlement. These traits can put a strain on their relationships with other people. In the pages that follow this paper will explain that possessing material items such as money, may bring temporary satisfaction, but cannot provide someone with true happiness. Happy people, more often than not, have good relationships with the people around them. Studies show that wealthy people tend to score lower on empathy tests than those who do not have as much money. In three studies, lower-class individuals (compared to upper-class individuals) received higher scores on a test of empathic accuracy (Study 1), judged the emotions of an interaction partner more …show more content…

The idea of wealthy people not necessarily having great relationships is evident in the novel, The Beautiful And The Damned, in the main character Anthony Patch and his wife Gloria’s marriage. Their marriage starts off as an intense love and Anthony believing that he has everything he could possibly need to be happy, except his grandfather’s money. This love eventually goes through a rough patch and turns to meaningless partying and alcoholism. Anthony and Gloria go through his inheritance money and find themselves in debt. The stress of this debt caused the couple to argue a lot and begin to resent each other. The excessive money available to them and the irresponsible use of it lead Anthony into alcoholism and into a downward

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