Money and Happiness, It Never Works Together Essay

Often times if you inherit a large add together of money your life coffin nail change for perpetually much like in a lottery, however if you atomic number 18 not careful you may dear be the opposite of happy. However, businessmen who earn their money are proud of it, just ask lottery winners who have had their lives altered because of that. Well, in Goodbye, Columbus the Patimkin family morsel a lot like lottery winners, Mr. Patimkin a wealthy businessman has a spoiled family who in actually doesnt seems happy with their wealth. As more than and more problems started to arise with money, things started to unravel with the family. In Goodbye Columbus, Phillip Roth shows that Brenda and her mothers tensions over money, Brendas lifestyle decisions nigh money (including the intrude job), and the obvious multiplication gap shows that financial success does not invariably lead to happiness.Brenda and her mother have issues about money, and Brendas apparent laziness over having m aids leads her to believe she can do whatever she wants. They fight over Brendas view on her not appreciating the value of money, since her mother tells her You ought to earn some money and buy your avouch clothes, save Brenda ever regards she doesnt have to earn her money and daddy should buy her clothes and nose jobs for her. Not only that, they fight about work ethic because Brenda thinks the maid should do everything and her mother think she is lazy for it was said by Brendas mother You ought to learn what a days work means. (64).Brenda however doesnt think that way, in fact she think she thinks shes not a slaveIm a young lady which gives readers the impression that she is a brat, and that she does not appreciate the value of hard work or money. Brendas mother also believes Brenda is lazy, and Brenda thinks the maids can do all the dishes and housekeeping Whens the last time you washed the dishesJesus ChristCarlotta washes the dishes this shows Brenda has a mindset that bec ause she is rich she doesnt have to do anything. Therefore, Brenda and her mothers unvaried fighting show that they have plenty of tension between them to prove that money never has led to individualised happiness.While Brenda and her mother have personal issues that lead to money not giving them happiness, Brendas personal decisions & her lifestyle have dictated her way on not being happy with money. Brenda always has a mindset that her maids Carlotta and Jenny do everything when in reality, she is the one that needs to be doing work, as this was stated during her fight with her mother My god, mother youd think we didnt have Carlota and Jenny (64). She because of her monetary status (being wealthy) she assumes that she doesnt have any chores to do, however her mother thinks Brenda should help more around the house (and in a way calls her spoiled) When is the last time you lifted a finger to help around here?, therefore in a way their cordial and economic status had led to money being a problem because of their fighting. Brendas lifestyle choices also dictate wherefore money doesnt always bring happiness, for example Brenda wanted a nose job to smooth out the bumps in it, but in reality she wanted to look prettier Im pretty. Now Im prettier. If someone wanted to look prettier, they could have fagged less money on her, but instead Brenda spent a thousand dollars on the nose job just to be prettier.The generation gap between the Patimkin parents and children could also explain why money doesnt always lead to happiness. Mr. Patimkin explains that he wasnt as wealthy as his was now, instead he had (to buy) forks and knives for the five and ten.(95) Which means he bought his things from nickel note and dime discount stores (like the Dollar Store) when he was a kid. However he then goes on to say that his kids need gold to eat off of(95) which implies that they are spoiled, however he isnt angry at his kids instead he is happy he can pass on his current wealth to them but here was no anger far from it. However, his kids (the next generation) are exactly the opposite, instead of buying thinks from discount stores and functional hard they are getting nose jobs, relying on their maids, and going to country clubs which are all things upper class people do. There defiantly is a generation gap between the working class Mr. and Mrs. Patimkin, and the spoiled Brenda, Ron, and even Julie Patimkin.The Patimkins are not a dysfunctional family by any means, in fact they are a loving family by many aspects, they respect each other, and in the end it is money that implodes the family. It is unknown if the familys generation gap is filled, but judging by the attitude of the children it seems that they may never be happy in their spirits. And while it seems that money is keeping them happy on the surface, maybe it is money that is driving them apart. Just ask anyone that ever won the lottery and you will know that their lives have change drastically, mu ch like the Patimkins live have changed once they realized that.