What do you like best about your book?
I like how this book brings up the moral issue of "cheating" a casino out of its money. The counting club justifies their actions in two ways. First of all, they would argue that they aren't cheating or stealing from the casino, just strategically playing their odds to maximize their profits. I agree completely with this statement, and think that they are simply using their abilities and resources to their benefit. The second point that might justify card counting is that the casinos are practically stealing money from the general public. However this is not true, people that go to casinos go by choice and need to understand that most likely you will loose everything. If a person is not able to understand this fact, then of course somebody somewhere is going to cheat him/her out of his/her money. What I'm saying is that casinos are also taking advantage of their resources and abilities just like the group does.
Which of our central questions (American dream/possessions, nature, race and equality, individual power, etc.) does your text address most thoroughly?
I think it addresses both the american dream/possessions as well as race/equality. First off, the idea of card counting is a altered version of the american dream, where you still work hard to earn an ideal life, but you work in an unconventional sense. Yet it is still a very close version, where individuals are being creative and using ingenuity to make their jobs easier. How could anyone argue that the american dream isn't about being progressive and working to make your future comfortable? The book also addresses race and equality through some people having "the look" or rather being able to blend into any crowd. The look comes from having usually tan to fair skin and being of a foreign decent (preferably Asian). The look takes advantage of stereotypes that casinos hold on people. If some 22 year old Asian kid strolls around in an electric blue getup throwing around hundreds of thousands of dollars, its assumed that his dad is some big business owner overseas. But a middle aged white man? He has no place betting that much green. Stereotypes can be used both ways.
I agree that the book has the theme of the american dream. But I think its more of the lack of achieving the american dream. Kevin does make a lot of money in card counting and achieves this highly thought of life, but he does question if that is all he wants. He doesn't have a real relationship or a real job and he spends a lot of his time avoiding trouble. Is that really what the american dream is?
ReplyDeleteIt ties in with the Hemingway short story by exposing the american dream as unachievable because no one is ever finished wanting something else. Kevin gets all this money and that is all he thought he wanted and he is left unhappy after making so much money. He finally understands at the end that he needs to go after his other goals in life too, but he still has that taste of greed and lust for money.
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