The Denotative Meaning For Success: The Definition Of Success

What is success? The denotative meaning of success is being at the pinnacle of accomplishment, but there are also connotations that many people associate with success—money, beauty, and social status. Though not guaranteed by success, people think these extraneous things do because they look at the garish side of success instead of the important daily success people have. Hemingway, Frost, and Dante, write about the principles to achieve success personally.

Ernest Hemingway’s quote, “The only person you should ever compete with is your former self.” means other people will do what they need to do, but if you are focused on what they are doing you will never grow. I believe this is the only way to acquire success individually. Because people

Letting go broadens the paths that one can take because once one door closes another opens, you just have to let that other door go. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby holds on to Daisy and ends up making things worse. This is seen when Daisy says, “‘Oh, you want too much!’ she cried to Gatsby, ‘I love you now—isn’t that enough?’ I can’t help what’s past.’ She began to sob helplessly. ‘I did love him once—but I loved you too.” (Fitzgerald 118). The words ‘I love you’ get thrown around to the point that it is meaningless jargon because Daisy starts in the present tense, but by the end of the quote she is in the past tense. This shows Daisy letting go of Gatsby, and throughout the rest of the novel Gatsby and Daisy do not reconnect; the act of love is ephemeral, but letting go lasts a

He thought he was making the world better. This quote may be taken out of context because of examples like Hitler. There are so many definitions of what the words better means. Also, people may think that they have to make a huge impact compared to Martin Luther King or Ghandi. This quote paired with the first quote clarifies this quote. Those who do make the world better first cogitate on the problems of a community and it spreads from there. I believe Dante is saying that people who do not make any change in the world are just space fillers which may make someone seem like they are not