ENGL 200 D: Reading Literature: Literature in the Marketplace

I would like to discuss the economic profile of Debra in “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” as she presents an interesting twist to a seemingly perfect system presented in the Bitchun society. While the system of Whuffie is meant to level the playing field so that anyone may live happily, successfully, and participate as a citizen, Debra demonstrates that there still exists the desire to break out of this uniformity to become the wealthiest and respected person. Nobody in the society should have any need to want seemingly infinite amounts of Whuffie, yet she still desires this. In a world of a very fluid economy with widely fluctuating currency for each individual, the citizens of the Bitchun society are responsible for their actions all of the time.

Here, working in the Magic Kingdom, Debra has the opportunity to flex her innovation and tech-savvy muscle to get what she wants while bringing in the most entertainment and excitement any park fan could want, rewarding her greatly along the way. In the long run, her plan may fizzle out and become stale like the Epcot project as Julius points out, but during her immediate lifetime, the Whuffie is too easy to take to pass up.

Debra brings out an interesting point of view of this utopian society by showing a dark side to a seemingly foolproof economy. Anyone with enough Whuffie already has an advantage in the system to take more as she/he is already high respected by everyone in a society where Whuffie “is everything”. By seeing this through, it is still possible to be selfish and thrive despite possible destruction to the historical world-wide attraction, Disney World. By analyzing Debra in the context of Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments by looking at her “fashion” and “wealth”, I can show how she easily commands attention and gets her way, possibly causing “corruption of our moral sentiments” and altering a historical landmark forever.