Mall

After a recent visit to the mall, I was reminded how material possession is a symbol of status in America. I had just picked up a necklace as a gift for my girlfriend, and was now window-shopping the rest of the Mall with my friends. I walked into Nordstrom, and for the first time in my life the retail employees bombarded me. At first I didn’t think much of it, but as I walked through store I was helped in every section, men and women’s, I soon began to realize that it was the iconic Tiffany and Co. bag that was drawing these people to me. Nordstrom is a high end retail store so when the store sales reps saw me sauntering through the store with something from Tiffany’s, the store reps who treated me as a ghost in the past, were now looking at me like sharks do a bucket of chum, they saw me as a person whose pockets were not shy. Little did they know I had just spent a large portion of my total net worth on this necklace and was not in a position to loose the rest. Amazing what a bag will do for you social status. Through out this class we have seen how material possessions become synonymous with wealth: whether it be the plantation owner and his slaves, or Thomas Jefferson and his vast library at Monticello, the ability to obtain assets in vast quantities is something that the we as Americans in the Western world value.