Insufficient+funds

Literary Analysis
Our society puts great emphasis on the importance of wealth and materialistic goods as essentials to survival. Because of this heavy influence, it can be observed that society has finally gotten to the point where most of its members really cannot live beyond their own personal wants and impulsive buying or even understand the consequences of their actions. 'Insufficient Funds' shows how humans have imprisoned themselves in a web of materialistic wealth and chained themselves with their own dependency on such wealth as a sign of the social hierarchy.  The king represents humanity, standing in front of a metal wall that separates him from necessity and minimalism. The magic eight ball shows how he puts his money into trivial things that do not help him get anywhere in his own life, but only serves to make him dread the future even more. The contrast in the coins, how there are pennies in front of the slinky and nickels behind, show how humanity favors something that he himself has named useless pennies over something that could save space and raw materials. Though it is hard to tell, the light in the right end of the box is shining on the king. The fact that the sphere of light does not reach out of the circle shows how isolated humanity has become to the rest of the Earth, and to the universe as a whole. The spider, with wires dangling from above attached, shows the promise and practical aspects of artificial intelligence, since humans no longer want to do anything for themselves now.  In //Brave New World //, John the Savage notices how society relies on Soma to keep themselves happy and in working condition. This ties in with Insufficient Funds because Soma is used to keep them happy, except they become addicted to it and need it for any slightly disturbing event, relying on materials instead of a strong will to keep themselves sane. In //Candide //, the main character finds El Dorado, which is described as utopia where money is not used and the greatest gems are considered pebbles and are not paid any mind. Insufficient Funds alludes to that because the king is facing towards the pennies, material wealth, instead of what is practical, showing the fall of humanity away from the Utopian standards that we desire.  The creative process for Insufficent Funds was that I found my main character, the King of Spades, and put him front and center. Using the items I had around me, most of which had something to do with technology, except for the Magic Eight Ball, I arranged them in an order that I would be most likely to keep to most likely to give away or discard. The eight ball and the pennies were at the latter end, so those I put in one area. I couldnt decide on the slinky, since it was broken, so I put it in the middle. The others, though, since they were still functional for their original purpose, were put in a different file. Through that organization, the idea to create something about materialism and humanity came to mind. By Elizabeth Lucas