Money Madness by D.H. Lawrence
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Summary of Money Madness by D.H. Lawrence
The intriguing and insightful poem "Money Madness" by D.H. Lawrence explores the complexity and negative aspects of a fixation with money. Lawrence deftly examines materialism, greed, and the negative implications of placing material worth above all else in this vital piece of poetry.
The poem immediately immerses readers in the world of a protagonist driven by an unquenchable desire for wealth. This main character embodies the general human propensity to fall prey to the attraction of money because of his relentless quest for financial gain. Lawrence clearly illustrates the effect of this preoccupation on the protagonist's life, relationships, and, finally, their sanity as readers move through the poem's lines.
Money Madness Summary in English
Lawrence evokes vivid images and potent analogies to compel readers to consider the tremendous and frequently negative impact that money can have on people's lives. The poem serves as an adequate warning of the evils of materialism and the risks of losing sight of what matters most in life. It examines the inherent emptiness of a life lived only to accumulate wealth and emphasizes the potential repercussions of abandoning interpersonal relationships, moral principles, and emotional well-being in the name of monetary achievement.
In the following parts, we'll go into more detail about the story, the characters, and the ideas in "Money Madness," revealing the complex layers of significance.
Summary of the poem Money Madness
D.H. Lawrence's poem "Money Madness" weaves a compelling story about the complex facets of people's fixation with money. Lawrence explores the effects of an unrestrained desire for wealth with vivid imagery and moving lyrics, revealing the complexity of the protagonist's path.
Readers are introduced to a character in the poem driven by an unquenchable desire for wealth. It is clear from the first few words that this person is concerned with amassing wealth. Their entire waking day is devoted to achieving financial achievement, and their entire existence centers on this unrelenting quest.
Lawrence creates a clear image of the protagonist's spiral into lunacy as the poem continues. The character gets caught up in consumerism and avarice, sacrificing interpersonal ties, moral principles, and emotional health. The desire for wealth becomes an addiction, obviating the importance of interpersonal relationships and warping their understanding of reality.
Lawrence brings auxiliary people who try to persuade the protagonist, including family members and friends, into the story. These individuals stand in for the voice of reason, frantically attempting to draw the main character back from the brink of their worldly lives. Although the protagonist persists in their goal, further alienating themselves from the outside world, the wealth attraction is strong.
The main idea of "Money Madness" is the damaging consequences of a money-obsessed mentality. Lawrence casts a negative light on materialism, emphasizing how it may undermine interpersonal bonds and rob people of their morals and emotional stability. Readers are prodded to consider the meaninglessness of a life lived exclusively to accumulate wealth through the protagonist's quest.
Lawrence's powerful analogies and vivid visuals highlight the severe consequences of prioritizing monetary value. The poem serves as a warning, informing readers of the risks involved in losing focus on what matters most. It challenges people to consider their relationship with money and the potential repercussions of unbridled greed.
In the depths of "Money Madness," Lawrence calls for a reconsideration of societal norms and a return to a more centered and fulfilling way of life. He challenges readers to reconsider their priorities and rethink the genuine sources of happiness and fulfilment in life by revealing the nuances of the protagonist's journey.
Money Madness Question Answer
1. Are all the people of the world mad for money? Which line implies this?
Ans: Yes, all humans in this world are possessed by the lure of money. The opening two lines point to this.
‘Money is our madness, our vast collective madness
And if the multitude is mad’.
2. Are all the people equally mad for money or degree of madness varies from person to person?
Ans: As far as the degree of madness is concerned, people of alternate extremities are bound to make up the the fabric of society at any given point of time. Then there’d some whose mental instincts surface with regards to the context. As the saying goes, there is no accounting for tastes. In other words, the degree of madness is just as diversified as the diversification in cultures, geographies and behavioural conditioning. Any generalization would be inaccurate.
3. How does a person feel when he parts with a pound of money?
Ans: While parting with a pound, a person feels a certain degree of sadness and loss.
Or
A person experiences a fleeting sensation of sharp ache in his heart while he parts with a pound of money. Such persons desire to keep all their wealth to themselves, and are commonly termed as the misers. Miserliness appears to be taking increasingly more minds under its grasp. Such unfortunate turn of events sign towards the emergence of miserliness as a mental pandemic.
4. How does a person feel when he hands out a ten-pound note?
Ans: When giving out a ten-pound note, a man feels a tremor expressing his utter hesitation and grief.
5. What kind of feeling does money create in us? (Line 6 – 7)
Answer – Money gives a man an aura of superiority, vanity, and dignity.
Or
Money always keeps us fearful and apprehensive. The higher the possession of wealth, the greater the anxiety in the owner’s mind. Man has traded his soul to money at the cost of his morality and dignity. It appears as if man kneels before money and begs it to never depart. The unquenchable lust of money robs us of our mental peace.
6. Are we really afraid of money or moneyed men?
Ans: Money itself is actually a revolutionary concept that allows man to accumulate resources, a luxury that no other living being can afford. Man’s unwarranted attachment towards money has tainted its image, morphing it into a twisted devil. It’s always the moneyed men that we are afraid of. In their lives, accumulation of wealth takes the driving seat and overshadows their noble characteristics such as compassion, generousity, humility and humanity. Blinded by money, they manifest behaviour that’s wretched and vile.
7. What do people say about a man‘s worth?
Ans: People use money as the yardstick/benchmark to evaluate a man’s worth in society. The more wealth one possesses, the worthier he becomes, automatically. On the flip side, the ones who have a hand to mouth existence, are looked down upon by default. To the sane mind, it’s bizarre how low the bar is for individuals to judge other living beings of blood and flesh. The poor is humiliated at every opportunity and is repeatedly reminded of his subpar quality of living.
8. How many times is ‘dirt’ repeated in the poem? What does the poet mean by ‘dirt’?
Ans: The word ‘dirt’ has been repeated five times in the poem. The poet repeats it as he wishes to stress on the predicament of the poor. By dirt, the poet wants to point at the insults and mockery the poor are generally subjected to.
9. How do money-mad men treat men-without- money?
Ans: The money-mad men apparently deny to acknowledge the existence of the poor. They mock and degrade the poor individuals with unwavering consistency. The poor is provided barely enough to sustain their lives and the money-mad suck out their lives almost parasitically.
10. What does a man without money fear – poverty or dishonor by eating ‘dirt‘?
Ans: Dignity and respect are the two priceless possessions of every man. Without them, a man turns into a mere puppet that dances at the signal of the puppeteers. He is treated as a slave and unspeakable torments are meted out to him without any option to walk away. So, it’s always the dishonour by eating ‘dirt’ that a man without money fears.
11. Why does the poet say ‘We must have some money’?
Ans: Without money, life becomes insufferable with insult, humiliation, and indignity coming in from all directions relentlessly. To have the minimum honor and respect, the poet feels that we must have some money.
12. What does the poet mean by ‘bread’ (line 22), ‘shelter’ (line 23), ‘fire’ (line24)?
Ans: Bread refers to the food we consume to survive. Shelter means our homes that protect us from the adversities of the wild nature. Being homeless in this day and age is arguably the worst punishment one could suffer. Fire means domestic heating and cooking appliances that help regulate the indoors temperature and cook food respectively. Without access to room heating, the people in the Nordic regions would freeze to death.
13. Do you think ‘bread’, ‘shelter’ and ‘fire’ should be free? Explain why you think so.
Ans: Logically, these three basic needs of life should be free particularly for the disadvantaged people. But, such welfare measures will cost a lot of money for the government. The moot question is if the government can mobilize the necessary resources.
14. Why does the poet repeat the words ‘all and anybody’ in line 24?
Ans: He repeats ‘all and everybody’ as he takes a sympathetic stance towards the less fortunate. His vivid imagination enables in to walk in the shoes of the poor not just in his immediate vicinity, but also around the globe. The feeling of dread takes over his consciousness and he expresses that state of mind with those words.
15. What does it mean to ‘regain our sanity’ (line 25)?
Ans: ‘To regain our sanity’ means to reclaim our sense of good judgment, goodness, and all other virtues that separates humans from animals.
16. What are the two things implied in – ‘It‘s one thing or the other’?
Ans: The poet is convinced that we have to choose between the two ways – going blindly for money, and sacrificing al the noble vales of life, or wanton violence, unleashing of animal instincts a slid back to the ‘Stone Age’.
1. Are all the people of the world mad for money? Which line implies this?
Ans: Yes, all humans in this world are possessed by the lure of money. The opening two lines point to this.
‘Money is our madness, our vast collective madness
And if the multitude is mad’.
2. Are all the people equally mad for money or degree of madness varies from person to person?
Ans: As far as the degree of madness is concerned, people of alternate extremities are bound to make up the the fabric of society at any given point of time. Then there’d some whose mental instincts surface with regards to the context. As the saying goes, there is no accounting for tastes. In other words, the degree of madness is just as diversified as the diversification in cultures, geographies and behavioural conditioning. Any generalization would be inaccurate.
3. How does a person feel when he parts with a pound of money?
Ans: While parting with a pound, a person feels a certain degree of sadness and loss.
Or
A person experiences a fleeting sensation of sharp ache in his heart while he parts with a pound of money. Such persons desire to keep all their wealth to themselves, and are commonly termed as the misers. Miserliness appears to be taking increasingly more minds under its grasp. Such unfortunate turn of events sign towards the emergence of miserliness as a mental pandemic.
4. How does a person feel when he hands out a ten-pound note?
Ans: When giving out a ten-pound note, a man feels a tremor expressing his utter hesitation and grief.
5. What kind of feeling does money create in us? (Line 6 – 7)
Answer – Money gives a man an aura of superiority, vanity, and dignity.
Or
Money always keeps us fearful and apprehensive. The higher the possession of wealth, the greater the anxiety in the owner’s mind. Man has traded his soul to money at the cost of his morality and dignity. It appears as if man kneels before money and begs it to never depart. The unquenchable lust of money robs us of our mental peace.
6. Are we really afraid of money or moneyed men?
Ans: Money itself is actually a revolutionary concept that allows man to accumulate resources, a luxury that no other living being can afford. Man’s unwarranted attachment towards money has tainted its image, morphing it into a twisted devil. It’s always the moneyed men that we are afraid of. In their lives, accumulation of wealth takes the driving seat and overshadows their noble characteristics such as compassion, generousity, humility and humanity. Blinded by money, they manifest behaviour that’s wretched and vile.
7. What do people say about a man‘s worth?
Ans: People use money as the yardstick/benchmark to evaluate a man’s worth in society. The more wealth one possesses, the worthier he becomes, automatically. On the flip side, the ones who have a hand to mouth existence, are looked down upon by default. To the sane mind, it’s bizarre how low the bar is for individuals to judge other living beings of blood and flesh. The poor is humiliated at every opportunity and is repeatedly reminded of his subpar quality of living.
8. How many times is ‘dirt’ repeated in the poem? What does the poet mean by ‘dirt’?
Ans: The word ‘dirt’ has been repeated five times in the poem. The poet repeats it as he wishes to stress on the predicament of the poor. By dirt, the poet wants to point at the insults and mockery the poor are generally subjected to.
9. How do money-mad men treat men-without- money?
Ans: The money-mad men apparently deny to acknowledge the existence of the poor. They mock and degrade the poor individuals with unwavering consistency. The poor is provided barely enough to sustain their lives and the money-mad suck out their lives almost parasitically.
10. What does a man without money fear – poverty or dishonor by eating ‘dirt‘?
Ans: Dignity and respect are the two priceless possessions of every man. Without them, a man turns into a mere puppet that dances at the signal of the puppeteers. He is treated as a slave and unspeakable torments are meted out to him without any option to walk away. So, it’s always the dishonour by eating ‘dirt’ that a man without money fears.
11. Why does the poet say ‘We must have some money’?
Ans: Without money, life becomes insufferable with insult, humiliation, and indignity coming in from all directions relentlessly. To have the minimum honor and respect, the poet feels that we must have some money.
12. What does the poet mean by ‘bread’ (line 22), ‘shelter’ (line 23), ‘fire’ (line24)?
Ans: Bread refers to the food we consume to survive. Shelter means our homes that protect us from the adversities of the wild nature. Being homeless in this day and age is arguably the worst punishment one could suffer. Fire means domestic heating and cooking appliances that help regulate the indoors temperature and cook food respectively. Without access to room heating, the people in the Nordic regions would freeze to death.
13. Do you think ‘bread’, ‘shelter’ and ‘fire’ should be free? Explain why you think so.
Ans: Logically, these three basic needs of life should be free particularly for the disadvantaged people. But, such welfare measures will cost a lot of money for the government. The moot question is if the government can mobilize the necessary resources.
14. Why does the poet repeat the words ‘all and anybody’ in line 24?
Ans: He repeats ‘all and everybody’ as he takes a sympathetic stance towards the less fortunate. His vivid imagination enables in to walk in the shoes of the poor not just in his immediate vicinity, but also around the globe. The feeling of dread takes over his consciousness and he expresses that state of mind with those words.
15. What does it mean to ‘regain our sanity’ (line 25)?
Ans: ‘To regain our sanity’ means to reclaim our sense of good judgment, goodness, and all other virtues that separates humans from animals.
16. What are the two things implied in – ‘It‘s one thing or the other’?
Ans: The poet is convinced that we have to choose between the two ways – going blindly for money, and sacrificing al the noble vales of life, or wanton violence, unleashing of animal instincts a slid back to the ‘Stone Age’.