Are the Rich Happy vs Homeless: A Comparison Essay Example

Are the Rich Happy vs Homeless: A Comparison Are the Rich Happy is more compelling than Homeless because the author uses wry cynicism to shine a light on rich people’s money problems being about social status rather than money while Homeless is based on describing the homeless problem. Although both of these stories are written in different ways, one being a narrative while the other is descriptive, they are both dealing with two different ends of the human financial spectrum. Are the Rich Happy is a cynical and sarcastic piece about how the rich seem to always be unable to keep up with other rich people while Homeless describes the human condition of poverty and homelessness and how this makes people invisible in society. This essay will examine both these works and compare and contrast the similarities and differences. Are the Rich Happy is, in my opinion, the more compelling of the two works perhaps because it is the most unlike my own financial situation. In imagining all the woes of the rich, one would never think that any of their problems would be about their financial status. Stephen Leacock begins his story by declaring his lack of “adequate material” because he has “never seen any rich people”. This assertion by Leacock immediately contrasts to Anna Quindlen’s story where she had been researching and writing on the homeless, in particular a homeless woman named Ann. Their style of writing is very different as well as Leacock seemed to write with a bit of wry sarcasm and Quidlen seemed to be exploring the idea of homelessness and questioning how it could happen with seriousness. Needless to say, while I enjoyed both of these stories, I tend to favor the story Leacock wrote because he provide numerous examples of the rich stating “how impossible it is to keep up with the rich”, although during the time this story was written, each income he mentioned was fairly large and would have afforded the person speaking a good life. One line I found