Davis 1 Carter Davis Prof. Bishop English 1101, Essay # 4 11 November 2008 False Truth’s Davis 2 world_ can “jump on the band wagon” and get their slice of the wealth pie that America is made out to be. _ Davis 3 heights it had never seen before. In Handford’s picture he has entertainers, entrepreneurs and other capitalists all mixed together with the rushers. While there are several hundred images within the illustration the most outstanding is the fact that out of all the commotion only one man had achieved success. This represents the fact that during the gold rush the economy didn’t benefit from the gold itself but people capitalizing on the concept. Handford presents his main point in his quote at the top left corner of the illustration. He states that while people were running towards what they thought would provide wealth many ended up losing everything they had or at the most broke even, but the fact that some did get rich and prosper is the fact that carries on and that’s all that matters . . . isn’t it? The fact is that the people that went west in search of gold are not the majority of the people that got rich from it. The people who saw past the literal headlines and focused on capitalizing on the hope that caused people to spend any amount of money to capture the dream provided by the gold rush. Handford used the events of the 19th century gold rush to depict how America operates. Without the profits created by American “gold rushes” the United States would be a much different place. This is self evident in that the American economy holds its strong points in history when there is high spending within the economy driven by hopes of prosperity. The best possible outcome of every situation is what’s communicated to the American public so that they will take the bait. The success of many American’s and their families is a product of the destruction of many more due to false hopes. Davis 4 Works Cited Handford, Martin. "Where's Waldo: The...