Faustian Economics – Hell hath no limits
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/05/faustian-economics/
Setting: Modern day America; the Industrial world
First reaction: Cynicism towards the human ideas of freedom and limitlessness and how they lead to wastefulness and greed.
“We seem to have come to a collective delusion of grandeur, insisting that all of us are ‘free’ to be as conspicuously greedy and wasteful as the most corrupt of kings and queens.”
Visual Description: World’s smallness and its claustrophobia. High-speed transportation. Modern industrial factories. Oil, coal, and other natural resources.
References/allusions/other data:
*Paradise Lost – knowledge without wisdom is worthless
*Tragical History of Doctor Faustus – Hell having no limits, Three of seven deadly sins – pride, wrath, gluttony
*King Lear and The Divine Comedy – If nobody had written these two works, then they would never have been written
*The Wisdom in Words – the word free is related to the word friend, suggesting that one’s identity is not based in individuality, but based on a one’s relationships and connections
*The Declaration of Independence – all men are created equal, and given rights by the Creator; our rights are not granted to us by the government, but are assigned to us by birth
As if/metaphors: Humans defining themselves as higher animals. Humans thinking they can be as wasteful and as greedy as the most corrupt kings and queens.
graycoloredlenses 