Thinking about the girl character and the grandmother in the story of Little Red

Riding Hood, the setting is surrounded with lots of trees and farms and of course, ways to spend

money and consumerism might not be like the present. If the girl character who is in my

generation grows up at the age of 20 at the present, a shopping experience of the girl’s world will

be different from the grandparent’s generation and have some similarities in some aspects as

well.

The consumerism and shopping experience of my generation and my grandparent’s

generation share some similarities. Firstly, both generations spend on health insurance which

provide a needed financial backup at times of medical emergencies. In the past and at the

present, the medicals costs for some cases, for example getting admitted to a hospital or having

an unexpected serious accident or illness, are higher than their income and saving. Having the

insurance gives them the peace of mind that they can get the treatment they need. Secondly,

purchasing lands for private purposes or investment is a trend for both generations. They can get

additional income if they do a business on their lands. This also shows they are prosperity and

get positive self-image even they leave their lands vacant. Lastly, both generations collect gold

ornaments on the purpose of future profits or personal reasons – as a present for someone. Some

of them believe that the price of the gold will be risen dramatically when time passes. And in a

financial emergency need, it can be pawn at a price depending on the gold rate of that day. If

they give someone a gold ornament, it shows that they have good financial status.

Although there are a number of similarities, there are several differences of the

consumerism and the way to spend money of the both generations. The first difference is that the

people at the present buy supplementary food for nourishing their health. Various kind of food

material, for example food and vegetable, are contaminated with chemicals. Although there is a
organic food, some are high prices. Plus, now the lifestyle of the people which is busy and

rushed are contributed them to take the supplementary. In contrast, the past generation do not

know what the supplementary is. They know only that the nutrition is from each meal they take.

They have home-ground vegetables, feeds animals like pigs, hens, fish, and cows, or some of

them might buy additional food they need. They can take control some of food material they

grow. Next, the present generation can shop with cashless. The advanced technology especially

e-payment let people make their payment via smartphone. If some stores require cash, now

people can withdraw money on internet-banking and collect their cash at an ATM without using

a card. However, a smartphone and an e-payment do not exist and the most necessary thing when

going shopping is enough cash. People in that era need to calculate the prices of products and

services that they intend to consume before go shopping in order to avoid the cash insufficient.

Lastly, people at the present have many choices of products when they go shopping. For

example, if they want to buy consumable goods like a soap, on a shelf there are different brands,

smells, packages, and countries of manufacturing that they can choose. Those products are also

competitively promoted on various of channels, for example social media, bill boards, television,

etc. People need to draw a compare among many brands. Yet, there are few choices of products

for people in the past. The channels for advertisement at that time are not diversity as much as

the present. People in the past are familiar with seeing some brands on a shelf.

In conclusion, the girl in the red hood who represents my generation should learn the way

to spend money and consumerism of the grandparent’s generation in order to apply it with their

life among changes of the present world.