15 Cents and the American Dream

By Abigail Giron Marroquin, English and Professional Writing Class of 2025.

Abigail Giron Marroquin, the Editor-in-Chief of the 2025 edition of Groundswell, reflects on the first short story written in the first edition of UB’s art and lit magazine, which was published in 1948.

You can find the original story below Ms. Giron Marroquin’s essay.

In 1948, fifteen cents would translate to about two dollars and 20 cents in the present year, 2025. Granted, there isn’t much you can buy with two dollars and twenty cents in the U.S.A, year 2025. You can’t buy a magazine, that is for sure, but you could have with fifteen cents in 1948.

David R. Minard’s “Only 15 Cents a Week” was the first story to be published in the first edition of the University of Bridgeport's art and literary magazine, originally named Helicon, in April of 1948. It is the clever story of an unnamed salesman who cons housewives in the late 40’s into buying magazines. While the first half of the story has a lighthearted tone showcasing the salesman's clever tactics to deceive the housewife, the second half shows the remorse the salesman feels as he is stealing money from the woman, who has to take out money from her piggy bank that she was saving for her child's birthday. “He wanted to say something more, say something nice to her. Tell her to forget about it.” These remorseful thoughts are for naught as the salesman quietly puts ninety cents in his pocket and thanks the woman. As he leaves, the salesman convinces himself that it is not his fault, that the woman didn’t get scammed, he just makes “it sound easy, that’s all.”  

While the story makes the salesman look like an unremorseful-remorseful person, the last line that he thinks to himself gives a different perspective to the story as a whole. After trying to convince himself that it was not his fault the housewife fell for his tricks, he says to himself, “Damn it, I have to make a living.” The story turns into a depiction not only about the fraud that many people face, but about the circumstances that lead people to such actions.

At face value, the story shows a woman getting scammed by a con artist, yet it also shows the harsh reality that many people have to make a living while doing immoral things. Does this make it right? Does doing things that are generally considered morally wrong become okay when they are done out of desperation? No. The wrong is still there. This poor housewife who wanted to save money for her kids' birthday is duped by a man who is good with his words. But we can understand the need to survive.

It is human nature to want to be able to live. People will often take drastic measures to ensure that they do. In this case, a salesman cons a woman into buying magazines. This is a tame example of survival. A more extreme case that comes to mind in terms of survival is immigration. As of 2025, President Donald Trump has signed multiple executive orders in order to deport illegal immigrants from the United States of America. While I understand that there are measures in order to keep the country running properly, I find that the extreme ways in which ICE works are inhumane.

In January 2025, I saw various people share in their personal social media accounts the ways in which ICE has forcibly entered people's homes without warrants signed by a judge under the constitution and how ICE has entered hospitals and schools, taking advantage of vulnerable children and ill people.

I am a first-generation Guatemalan-American. I am privileged to have parents who were immigrants that have received their citizenship. Living as such, I have seen the ways in which many immigrants have lived honest lives, making the most out of the opportunity they have fought for to be in this country. Many are able to pay back debts that they have accumulated in their home country that exploited their vulnerabilities. Many have been able to create new lives escaping the violence of their home country. Many are able to receive the medical treatment that they need in order to live. And while many have created better lives for themselves, it is not often without being homesick. People don’t leave their homes to go to unknown places, where they don’t know the language, where they would be alone, for no reason. People leave their homes like this because they believe their lives will be better.

Like the salesman who is desperate to make a living, so are many immigrants. They both have circumstances that prevent them from doing what they truly wish to do. The salesman has no desire to steal, and many immigrants have no desire to leave home. Yet, it is a way to survive a harsh world.