Summary Of 'Choosing To Fail'

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1. In the introduction, the author writes: “Such flattery is thus the death of aspiration, and lack of aspiration is, of course, one of the causes of passivity.” What is the “flattery” to which he refers? Why is this flattery, according to the author, the “death of aspiration”? A: The author is referring to our culture being deluded into believing nothing better is out their besides being rich and having fancy cars .Theodore uses an article written in reference to the biggest minds in the world. The article pinpoints Puff Daddy as one of these influential thinkers and it shows how small minded people can be .It also shows that we are giving the new generation no one to look up too with substance. So, I believe the author was referring to not …show more content…

In “Choosing to Fail”, the author writes: “But it isn’t comfort he is after; he is making a statement of disrespect in the face of what he supposes to be authority. His fragile ego demands that he dominate all social interactions and submit to no convention.” Who is being discussed here? Why is this person seeing the author? Why does the author recognize so quickly the “cues”, so to speak, given off by the person he is discussing? A: The author is referring to a member of the Indian underclass and he’s in prison. I think the underclass Indian is in prison because the author mentions that works in one .It’s how he first encounters the development of an Indian underclass. He has a sit down with one the underclass Indians and comes face to face with how they converse. Theodore recognizes the Indian is marking is territory when he slouches in an uncomfortable position this signifies disrespect. He kind of writes the author off when he asks a question and makes him feel not adequate due to his facial expressions. 6. In “Lost in the Ghetto”, the author writes: “And where decent sensitivity is not nurtured, encouraged, supported, or protected, brutality abounds. The absence of standards, as Ortega y Gasset remarked, is the beginning of barbarism: and modern Britain is well past the beginning.” Just why would an absence of standards lead to barbarism? In other words: what is the logic of the author’s

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