Pyramids Sentence Structure

In the passage “The Pyramids”, Samuel Johnson utilizes a variety of sentence structures to achieve the effect of humans having excessive desires and also the effect of humans having a greedy personality. Using a long sentence, Johnson declares that “ Whoever thou art, that, not content with a moderate condition, imaginest happiness in royal magnificence and dreamest that command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual gratifications, survey the pyramids, and confess thy folly”. Furthermore, just like the length of this sentence, a person should live a long life without a lot of desires. It does not matter what situation their life is in. Humans should always be happy just like royal people are by having a perception of a perfect life. Just like surveying a pyramid, people should look up to big opportunities that will arise in life. The excessive desires that people have can never be all fulfilled, and having them keeps people from being joyful. Using a shorter sentence, he claims that “[treasures seem] to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must be always appeased by some employment”. Therefore, the shortness of this sentence represents the treasure. Once a treasure is opened, it is gone and is never again opened because people use it all at once. And then they end up imagining their life with the treasure because they didn’t use it wisely and end up feeling so depressed that they can’t even work properly. Johnson believes that a king “ whose power is unlimited.. is compelled to solace.. by seeing thousands laboring without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon another”. This loose sentence illustrates that even a king can have a greedy personality. Even though a king has a lot of wealth and power, he is forced to help out low-class people only to keep his own reputation. He does not have any sympathy for poor people and only cares about the wealth and power he has,