"The 30000 Bequest" Blog Post One

Twain's "The 30000 Bequest" constructs the notion of wealth as a corrupt system that overpowers the two main characters, Aleck and Sally. Twain switches between gender roles between the husband and wife in "The 30000 Bequest" to create a comedic air while also and to playing up the idea of money and social status as destructive figures. I found that Twain's use of irony throughout the course of the story also creates an air of humor that is present from beginning to end. When the story open's, Twain describes The Foster's life as very prosperous and happy. Sally is a man earning a handsome salary and his wife Aleck is happy in her husband, and her children. Their life seems almost picturesque. Once the money is introduced, it is then that everything seems to go awry. First, Sally and Alecks' daughters are never mentioned again except for in relation to the elaborate marriage plans that the couple creates for their children. The Foster family life becomes a thing of the path, and it is soon the money that becomes all consuming. With the disappearance of the familial structure, Aleck and Sally also begin to lose their marriage, their friends, and even their sanity. The delusions that they create about the large non-existent sum of money end up destroying everything that they had before they knew about the money as well as the dreams they create surrounding the money. Even though Aleck and Sally are not suffering financially, and are convinced that they will soon be the recipients of a significant financial gain, they still fall to some of the same things that people who live below the poverty line suffer from. The Foster's not only watch their family break apart, but they also have a physical and moral decay. Their obsession with material possession is reminiscent of those who suffer from a lack of money and resources. Twain uses the Fosters as a parallel to the lives of poverty stricken people and creates irony within their lifestyle to show that money can tear apart lives if not dealt with carefully no matter what social status or class.