# Consumerism and Debt in Short Fiction

> Theme guide for Short Fiction by Robert Sheckley.

In the Avignon Electric story, a man is trapped in a cycle of buying luxuries on credit, mortgaging his son's future earnings, satirizing the pressures of consumer culture and the illusion of prosperity.

## Where it surfaces

- [Final Examination](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/chapters/final-examination): Money becomes meaningless as people desperately give it away, highlighting the absurdity of economic systems in the face of existential crisis.
- [Cost of Living](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/chapters/cost-of-living): Carrin's day revolves around acquiring new appliances on credit, mortgaging his son's future earnings, highlighting the trap of consumer debt.
- [Prospector's Special](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/chapters/prospector-s-special): Morrison's debt to the telephone company and his overdrawn water account highlight the theme of debt and financial pressure on the frontier.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/themes/consumerism_and_debt
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/themes