Money Moulds Choices Evie and John are denitely true representatives of the modem world where money moulds the choices. Both of them knew very well that Mr. Gresham has misappropriated bank money. When they come to know that if their father, Robert Baldwin, simply says three words “I don’t know” during the trial of Gresham, he is promised a bribe of a colossal sum of 100,000 dollars, they want their father to say those three words and collect the money. For the poor family like Evie’s and John’s, this is a huge sum. If that money comes to the family, Evie and John can do some of the things they want to do, but were unable to do because of the lack of money. So they are making excuses to make their father accept the bribe.
Evie says Mr. Gresham has not done anything really wrong as if site is the judge! John dismisses the misdeed of Gresham by calling it a mere technicality. Moreover he says nobody will lose a cent and nobody wants Gresham to be punished. So his logic is there is nothing wrong if his father takes the 100,000 dollars offered to him. These young children are talking like some modem lawyers who twist the truth for their advantage. They don’t mind twisting the truth if the payment is good.
This is the typical attitude of the modern world. Honesty, integrity and truth have no meaning to most of the modern people who can simply close their eyes to truth if it is beneficial to them. For the modem people addicted to the consumer culture, money is God. They are prepared to sacrifice anything – their conscience, soul and spirit – for money. Mammon is the modem god and people do not even feel shame to worship him in the open! They have forgotten the old ditty: “If you lose wealth, you lose nothing; if you lose health, you lose something; but if you lose character, you lose everything!”
