In Dorothy Parker's, “The Standard of Living,” two young women are strongly influenced by the value system of wealth. Parker wrote this short story in 1941, the age of the poem shows that people today are still influenced by a particular social status in society. Main characters, Annabel and Midge are more concerned with their social status and image than they are with their friendship. This short story is a representation of the hierarchy between the rich and those of middle class and its influences on young women. Annabel and Midge are close friends and both stenographers working in the same office. Both girls live at home with their family and pay half of their salary to help support their families, they come from the same social class. The girls spend a fine amount of time with one another, including lunch hour. “Usually they ate sandwiches of spongy new white bread greased with butter and mayonnaise; they ate thick wedges of cake lying wet beneath ice cream and whipped cream and melted chocolate gritty with nuts (Parker pg. 476). The girls even traveled home from work together and would spend weekends entertaining each other. The two did not look alike in features, but their mannerisms, actions, and style made them appear similar. “Their skin was like the petals of wood anemones, and their bellies were as flat and their flanks as lean as those of young Indian braves” (Parker pg. 476). The condition of Annabel and Midge are happy and fun. They dare and both dream of a prestigious lifestyle, both thinking it would be much more beneficial than working in middle class. A rising action in the story occurs when Annabel invents a game, the game consisted of someone who dies and leaves you one million dollars. The catch is, you can only spend the money on yourself. Sylvia, a woman who works in the same office as Annabel and Midge was asked what she'd do if given the money. Blandly she said, “Well, “the first thing I'd do,