5 Steps to a 5 AP English Language 2019

Practice Exam 1 ❮ 201

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In a country where we have no national religion, we did find something that tied us

together. Money quickly became our national religion, with the wealthy as its priests.

Rockefeller and Carnegie were our first high priests. Social Darwinists to the core, they

lived and preached the power of copper, gold, oil, commerce, and wealth from their

glittering towers, and the plebian masses ate the crumbs left over, hoping to become

a member of the clergy some day. “This change, however, is . . . welcomed as highly

beneficial,” cries the high priest Carnegie. “Much better this great irregularity than

universal squalor” (Source G).

But, is it much better? As pictured in a recent New Yorker cartoon, when a rich man

and woman lie in bed surrounded by paintings, lamps, sculptures, and other luxurious

odds and ends, and say to each other, “Something is missing,” it is indicative of the fact

that they and we don’t begin to realize how deep a truth this is (Source D). What they

are missing is a meaning, an intimacy, a happiness in their lives. That can’t be found in a

four-poster bed with lavish objet d’art encroaching from all sides.

Perhaps the worst thing about affluenza is the way it is taught to the children of

today. According to statistics provided by Jesse H. O’Neill’s The Golden Ghetto: The

Psychology of Affluence, most working mothers play with their children forty minutes a

week. They SHOP six hours a week (Source E). The family is replaced by shopping bags

strewn across the bed. No wonder ninety-three percent of teenage girls list shopping as

their favorite hobby. They can’t go to the beach without designer bikinis. They can’t

listen to music without an iPod, and it must be accessorized!

We hold these truths to be self-evident: money buys things, no more, no less. It

can’t replace people, or love, or nature, or travel to places where they just don’t worship

things as much as we do. It’s time for America to wake up and stop smelling the designer

perfume and ink on the greenbacks. There’s no cure for affluenza but ourselves.

Student B

In a world in which material possessions are looked upon as treasures to be collected

and guarded, the thought of being content with what one has is considered a prehistoric

myth. America, the main culprit, has been infected by what PBS calls “affluenza.” This

“disease” has crept into American homes causing “an epidemic of stress, overwork, waste,

and indebtedness.” [introduction to prompt] The claim that Americans are never satisfied

holds much validity and gains more validity as the economy continues to flourish.

As the economy continues to grow and produce objects in which Americans can

become infatuated, one can only see America’s affluenza infection worsening. A recent

cartoon in which a husband and wife peer over their bed sheets into a vast room ridden

with trinkets and stuffed with mere junk, one can only agree with the claim that

Americans value “stuff ” too much (Source D). The cartoon described ends with a witty

comment, “Something is missing.” This cartoon is a clear satirical look at what America

has become. Although the room is already stuffed with belongings, the couple feels that

something is missing, showing that Americans are never happy with what they have.

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