The Beach Bum: 10 Tricky Philosophical Questions It Raises

3. Does Money Have Actual Value?

The Beach Bum's storyline doesn't contain much actual conflict, but one of the few problems facing Moondog is his late wife's will. She won't release his half of the money unless he publishes his novel, and he's too lazy to bother writing it.

Not to say that Moondog never writes - he eventually finishes the book and wins a Pulitzer. Nonetheless, he needs to experience life before he can describe it on paper. With Millie's last testament hanging over his head, he has to experience that life without the wealth to which he's grown accustomed.

Moondog's friends, Lingerie and Jimmy Buffett, write a song in which they refer to Moondog's financial loss as "the death of a dream." Is it, though? Temporarily stripped of his wealth, Moondog continues to live more or less the same life he lived before. He may not have the expensive vehicles or the unlimited resources, but most of his fun comes from his attitude rather than his possessions.

Even when Moondog finally does get the money, he doesn't grow too attached to it. Initially, he claims victoriously that he can now sail around in a new boat with a bunch of cash and do whatever he wants. Then he promptly lights both the cash and the boat on fire. The Beach Bum ends with Moondog adrift in a smaller boat, presumably with the same intention to float around and do whatever he wants. With or without money, his character never changes.

If a person can stay the same regardless of their financial situation, what real value did money ever have in the first place? The fiat currency of Moondog's home country already receives its value primarily from humans. Moondog merely demonstrates how much choice an individual truly has in deciding what that value means to them.