Project Gutenberg 2009-07-19 Public domain in the USA. 109 Sheckley, Robert 1928 2005 Barbee, Phillips Lang, Ned O'Donnevan, Finn Barbee, Phillip Emshwiller, Ed 1925 1990 Emsh Emsh, Ed Alexander, Ed Emshwiller, Edmund A. Willer EMSH Cost of Living Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Cost of Living" by Robert Sheckley is a science fiction short story written in the early 1950s. The narrative explores a future society marked by technological advancements that provide individuals with a luxurious lifestyle, yet this comes with a heavy burden of debt. The story likely delves into themes of consumerism, existential anxiety, and the implications of a society built on material ownership. The story follows Carrin, a middle-aged man grappling with the suicide of his neighbor, Miller, who seemingly had a perfect life filled with modern conveniences. As Carrin prepares for a visit from the finance man of the Avignon Electric company, he reflects on his own burdensome debt of over two hundred thousand dollars, accumulated in order to afford various household appliances and luxuries that define his life. The visit reveals the insidious nature of consumerism, where even his son's future earnings are up for negotiation to further finance this lifestyle. Throughout the story, Carrin's interactions with his family and the finance man accentuate the pressure to maintain appearances and the emotional toll of living in a society where happiness is deeply intertwined with material possessions, leading to a poignant examination of individual purpose and fulfillment in a technologically saturated existence. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 47125 47133 2024-09-12T14:31:06.008510 2023-09-13T06:40:18.378335 text/html text/html 43277 2009-07-19T08:07:56 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 127703 2009-07-19T08:07:56 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 172429 2024-09-12T14:31:10.626546 application/epub+zip 171002 2024-09-12T14:31:07.436501 application/epub+zip 96597 2024-09-12T14:31:06.567542 application/epub+zip 275167 2024-09-12T14:31:12.208565 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 178262 2024-09-12T14:31:09.965555 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 105018 2022-09-13T15:29:27.518941 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 39898 39798 2024-09-12T14:31:05.763517 2023-09-13T06:40:18.172352 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 39810 2009-07-19T08:07:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 15251 2009-07-19T08:07:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19909 2024-09-12T14:31:12.342491 application/rdf+xml 9908 2024-09-12T14:31:06.913529 image/jpeg 2947 2024-09-12T14:31:06.741513 image/jpeg 172717 2024-09-12T14:31:06.020559 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia