The Importance of Work
First, in Benjamin Franklin’s, “The Way to Wealth,” he shows how to step outside the expected custom, to share his unique perspective on wealth and spending. In his era it was common among the upper classes to flaunt their wealth through their purchases, and most of them lived extravagant lifestyles. People would even go into debt sometimes to uphold their standard of living. Franklin went against this tradition and encouraged saving and investing wisely. He tells his audience “laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him” (459 A). Many people today still have the problem of going into debt to live a certain lifestyle. It is evident that Franklin believed strongly in hard work and thought that all men should work hard to succeed.
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Thoreau uses the idea of slumbering as a metaphor for mankind's tendency to live by routine, without seeing the greater questions and meaning of life. He also emphasizes the perspective he gets by waking early and experiencing nature, while others in the village are still sleeping. When he says, “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” he means that the pursuit of success and wealth has made mankind unable to appreciate the simpler pleasures in life (984 B). He urges his readers to seek a spiritual awakening. Both Franklin and Thoreau feel that people depend too much on their wealth, while Franklin teaches success and Thoreau teaches how to enjoy
In conclusion, by temporarily removing himself from society and thrusting himself into nature, we are better able to understand how Thoreau conveys his attitude towards life. He believes that in order to enjoy it one must free himself or herself from the high-tempo nature of society, live life more simplistically, and experience the reality that is hidden by all the things that are irrelevant in our
Franklins in his Autobiography, composes the idea of a “self-made-man” by depicting his experiences of his hard work ethic to go from poor to rich. Throughout his writing he explains how he made himself successful. He took chances and was proactive.
We often focus on the unimportant and minor details of life. Rather than just going on about life peacefully, we tend to complicate things for ourselves by never being satisfied. Throughout the story, Thoreau uses rhetorical questions as a literary device. He questions the actions of those who surround him by asking, “Why should we knock under and go with the stream?” This is similar to asking, “Why make things harder for yourself when you can just go with the flow?” He asks, “Why should we live with such a hurry and waste of life?” This question is straightforward, simply meaning; we often tend to rush life without completely living it. Instead, we should rather pace ourselves and enjoy every present moment before it’s gone.
Franklin believed that through self restraint and development of ones temperament anyone can achieve a successful life. The process Franklin describes involves cataloging all of the bad habits you do during a period of time and gradually working on reducing each of them to the point where they are almost non existent. However he does note that it is impossible to achieve
Thoreau believed that labor was not only the activity that could bring material profits, but also a play which made man complete and developed simultaneously” (Ma 384). Thoreau's work was experiencing nature and living transcendentally in order to share the quality of life that nature provides. We see Thoreau in many aspects of today’s society, whether it’s Lisa from The Simpsons, a means of transportation, or political protests, they all follow a Thoreauvian idea of looking at the bigger picture and seeing what really matters. This way of thinking was created because one man decided that society was too mainstream and he moved off to the edge of town and reflected; people these days that do that are referred to as “hipsters” but the influence had to come from somewhere, and that was Henry David Thoreau.
On the other side of the spectrum is Ben Franklin 's vision. His vision of America was practical. Stating that wealth, respect, prosperity, is earned through hard work. In Franklin
It is believed that every person has a dream to accomplish in life but only those who believe can achieve them. ?No man e`er was glorious who was not laborious. Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it? (Franklin). Franklin believed that you can only spoil yourself if you can afford to.
Thoreau states, “I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary”. In this statement is is trying to distinguish between the life that he already has and the life that he wants in solitude away from civilization so that he has time to think through the deeper meaning of life.
Throughout the passage many devices appear so the reader can have a deeper understanding of Thoreau’s attitude towards life. “Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently and without perturbation;
Franklin believed that every conversation should be beneficial, and that people should be proud of what they do. Equiano’s discipline is what also made him successful. If you are discipline, you will go far in life; if you work hard, you will succeed.
Thoreau conveys many points in his writing and a large recurring one is the state of society. As stated before, he believed that people are too focused on physical gain and modernization which leads them into desperation. He adds on to this belief later in the book asking that above all else whether it be money or fame he be given honesty (Thoreau 246). To Thoreau, the truth is more important than anything measurable in status. Thoreau believes that a minimalist lifestyle is a good lifestyle, similar to Mccandless. He speaks of how it is good that he can put all of his belonging in one pile in his yard because it removes the clutter from his life (Thoreau 85). He also says that his best quality in life is to want very little, because it keeps himself true to himself and keeps him from distraction. Thoreau also believes that every man should be one in himself not oppressed by the government. He says that everyone should be able to be themselves whether is is in accord with the government or not (Thoreau 240). He is essentially saying that the government should not be a part of people's life decisions only to maintain the
To conclude, Thoreau believed that people should be ruled by conscience and that people should fight against injustice through non-violence according to “Civil Disobedience.” Besides, he believed that we should simplify our lives and take some time to learn our essence in the nature. Moreover, he deemed that tradition and money were unimportant as he demonstrated in his book, Walden. I suggested that people should learn from Thoreau to live deliberately and spend more time to go to the nature instead of watching television, playing computer games, and among other things, such that we could discover who we were and be endeavored to build foundations on our dreams.
In the “Gospel of wealth”, Andrew Carnegie argues that it is the duty of the wealthy entrepreneur who has amassed a great fortune during their lifetime, to give back to those less fortunate. Greed and selfishness may force some readers to see these arguments as preposterous; however, greed is a key ingredient in successful competition. It forces competitors to perform at a higher level than their peers in hopes of obtaining more money and individual wealth. A capitalist society that allows this wealth to accumulate in the hands of the few might be beneficial to the human race because it could promote competition between companies; it might ensure health care for everyone no matter their social standing, and parks and recreation could be built for the enjoyment of society.
Benjamin Franklin's moral and social philosophies inspired and continue to inspire millions around the globe. Becoming a "self-made man" is a long and arduous task. Improve yourself, which will in return improve the society. Contradiction is inevitable when trying to follow strict ideals. Franklin's purpose was to make people aware of their inclinations and to help them overcome the natural tendencies of man, which would limit our dependence on other people. Benjamin Franklin is an inspiration to us all.
Thoreau writes that we should simplify our lives as much as possible, and that we should only worry about our own affairs. He then closes the paper by writing that he does not want to work any harder than he has to, but that he wants to use his mind to work through life. One of the many ways Thoreau keeps his life simple is he only imagines buying a farm, however, he never actually does so. Instead, he uses the land only to observe and write about the landscape. By not ever actually buying the farm, Thoreau illustrates his belief that everyone should live free of commitments for as long as possible.