Week Five: Cosmopolis

Cosmopolis, a novel about the lifestyle behind a very wealthy male and his journey to the barbershop.  He travels through the city in his limo that is later vandalized by street protesters.  Along his journey to the barbershop is meets and is greets friends.  In some cases, with his lady friends, he would sleep with.  In the novel this rich fella, the main character, talks with some confidence on his future, as if he knows where it is going.  Slowly, as the novel and movie progress we notice that the main character isn’t is in full control of his surroundings. 

The topic for this novel and book was about privilege.  In the novel we get to see the lifestyle of this rich man play out from good to bad.  We the reader, get an understanding this man has a good grip and control over his life, especially when he gets personal doctor check ups whenever and where ever.  However, we also get the since his control around his life is limited.  Such as the main journey to the barber shop that happens to be in a bad neighborhood.  We get to see the struggles he faces such as slowly losing his wealth, get very little to no love from his wife and even losing a somewhat close friend who happened to be a music celebrity.

His main struggle I got from the novel and film was how no matter his wealth or privilege, he couldn’t buy real friendships.  No matter how much money he had, he couldn’t make things last forever, such as his musician friend who passes away.  No matter how much money he had, he couldn’t buy a normal conversation.  He was sort of discounted.  This novel to me seems to be more about whether you agree to some the actions and ideas the main character presents.