Christopher Morley On Laziness

People want to be happy. No person is happier than the one with no responsibility. Christopher Morley writes his essay, “On Laziness,” to provide his opposition to this point of view and improves his point with the development of style. Diction is of utmost importance in Morley’s essay, “On Laziness,” as it helps support his argument. In the first sentence, the words used are contradictory to the actual outcome, saying “we rather intended to write an essay” and that they “were to indolent” to actually accomplish this goal. This sets a tone for the rest of the piece as it advise the reader to look beyond what the author is saying. This sentence proves that the author is not necessarily talking in seriousness, but more likely in inverses. Also,

Once again within the first sentence Morley manages to entrap the reader within the essay by making them laugh. He sets the tone for the essay right here. He makes the first sentence very lighthearted to show how the rest of the essay will sound, and to make sure the reader keeps reading. Moreover, Morley makes a point to talk about “the laziest man we know”, who started life “in the customary hustling way,” but after an epiphany moment decided to cut off his contacts and now is “in a secluded cafe with his cheek against a seidel of dark beer.” The use of storytelling provides a light sense of humor that provides the reader with the continued lightheartedness from before, but also builds on the theme. Very few people actually see this end result as their goal in life or the epitome of happiness. Afterwards, Morley produces some contextual humor by discussing how “[the Germans] were not lazy enough.” Adding this to the time period of the essay being soon after World War I, adds in some humor. Veterans who read this essay will not only be at least mildly indignant, but also see that the essay is making a joke of

Biblical allusions have their time and place and Morley finds just that in this essay by discussing “the meek inheriting the earth”. This allusion is used to draw some credibility to the essay, people trust the Bible. However, as intended, it does not quite do that, instead the audience looks at the word meek and think that the original meaning of the verse is not lazy, but humble. Moving forward, he uses an allusion to O. Henry, discussing the difference between “laziness” and “dignified repose”. O. Henry was known for his wit and surprise endings so this allusion is two-fold. It produces a question from the reader on how Morley can out wit O. Henry, and the surprise endings are similar to Morley’s purpose, as both string you along in one direction, but closer reading will show the alternative