Rhetorical Analysis Of The Gospel Of Wealth

The Gospel of Wealth is primarily about the dispersion of wealth and the responsibilities of those who have it. Carnegie thinks that inheritance is detrimental to society because it does not do any good for the

Andrew believed that the upper class should not show “extravagant” displays of their wealth simply because they can. He believed that the first thing a wealthy man must do is to meet the moderate wants and needs of their immediate family and dependents. He also believed that any left-over money should be used for public works to better the community by that person’s own judgment. Andrew states that the poor need to be guided by the rich because without that guidance the people will live the same poor life for their lifetime. He continues to say that the poor trust and rely on the rich to “administer” their lives because they can’t successfully do it themselves. The working people of Andrew wrote a “prayer” in which it thanks Andrew Carnegie for his acts of philanthropy in a sarcastic manner.

In his essay, “The Gospel of Wealth,” Andrew Carnegie argues that the imbalance of economic wealth is essential to the advancement of society. In days past, there was little difference between the quality of life between a ruler and his subject. Alluding to a time when Carnegie visited the chief of an indigenous American tribe, he observed that the Chief of the Indians ', who lived in a state of antiquity, tent was no different from even the poorest among the tribe. Returning back to this stage of civilization would be detrimental to both the ruler and subject. Is it better for all of us to live in poverty than for a few of us to have riches? Shouldn 't those who prove themselves masters in art and literature and those of higher intelligence have more than those with no talent? This is the way society is progressing. Whether or not one actually believes that doesn 't matter, as changing the destiny of civilization is beyond one 's power. (Carnegie, 28-29)

Andre Carnegie was a poor immigrant who came to the United States in a quest for the realization of the American Dream. A self-started entrepreneur who through hard work and by taking advantage of the right opportunities was able to develop an enormous wealth, signifying with it, the definite possibility of social mobility. In his essay “Wealth” of 1989 Carnegie refers to the importance of the distribution of wealth and how such fortune was there to be used by the rich for the benefit and well-being of all individuals of society. Throughout this essay I will be explaining the arguments for the redistribution of wealth made by Carnegie, while analyzing as well the factors that may have motivated him to write his famous essay “Wealth.”

Therefore, the work schedule of the majority of Americans is greatly time-consuming and restrictive in how their life is like. Employment is restrictive in the sense that it doesn’t allow for much free time for Americans to do things in their life how they would like. Hochschild states, “But without overstating the case, it seems true that capitalism is a cultural as well as an economic system and that the symbols and rituals of this cultural system compete with, however much they seem to serve, the symbols and rituals of community and family.” (Hochschild 187) Most Americans are employed around capitalistic ideas of efficiency. Employers require employees to commit long hours, days, and years of their life to working for them. Employers also seek maximum efficiency in the time that employees are working. This commitment that employees make to their employment takes away from things that they value as mentioned by Hochschild. Unfortunately, Americans are forced to deal with this because they want to establish economic stability for themselves. Furthermore, the work life of

In this book, it is well-defined that the starting point (verge) of being wealthy is possessing a net value of $1,000,000 or even more. Centered on this description, only 3.5 million (3.5 percent) of 100 million families in America are referred to as wealthy. Roughly 95% of millionaires in America have a net worth between $1,000,000 and $10,000,000. A large quantity of the discussion in this book centers on this section of the population. This group is being focused on because this level of wealth can be achieved in one generation and by many Americans.

Carnegie writes a great deal about how individual children are often spoiled and therefore harmed by wealth. He states that one reason estates and wealth are left to children is so that “the vanity of the parent may be gratified by the thought that his name and title are to descend to succeeding generations unimpaired” (489). Doing so is injudicious because it is simply the egotism of that parent which then leaves unearned and undeserved wealth and estate to their children—children who often have no other qualifications and no commitment to use it wisely or respect the value of that money. Carnegie goes on to explain how often, when a child without proper morals and education is granted inheritance, they will lose it. For example, he

“The right of the laborer to his hundred dollars in the savings-bank, and equally the legal right of the millionaire to his millions,” this is what Carnegie calls intense individualism (Carnegie 488). This idea is essentially the heart of capitalism. As humans, it is natural for most to be competitive and have the drive to be successful. The competition, also referred to as survival of the fittest, pushes most people to be the best and work hard so they can have the higher status. When you work hard and get an earning from that, it is instinctive for most to want to keep that money, not give it away. This is the idea of the American Dream, when you pull yourself up from the bootstraps to give yourself the life you wanted. This competition does not only fall within individuals but companies as well. This competitiveness and desire to be the best is constantly stimulating the economy. When wealth is just handed out like Carnegie suggests, people will get lethargic and not work as hard, therefore not stimulating the

During the 1930’s the federal government was the largest source of funds to artist through public art programs. This funding allowed the government to suppress certain subjects that were occurring on society at the time. An area the government suppressed art subject matter involved labor disputes that were occurring through the country. In the 1930’s an important issue that was taking public stage was workers attempting to unionize to better working conditions. In the 1930’s the labor force attempting to unionize faced a “unified opposition from a combination of industry and government forces” (pg.413) The federal government was able to suppress many painting showing this subject, but some artist were able to incorporate the topic into

The amount of wealth a man possesses determines his level of power, which leads to an unjust society. The amount of money a person possesses also determines his quantity of wealth. A man earns money, “charged on the account of labour” (Ch. V, Sec. 43, pg. 27), which means the large

There are many dangers of leaving great sums of inheritance money to the children of those who accumulated their own fortunes. Andrew Carnegie, a self-made philanthropist millionaire who gave away $350 million and built 2,509 libraries before his death in 1919, sees this as a great problem as well and writes about it in “The Gospel of Wealth;” along with how he believes that the highest obligation of those who have amassed a great fortune is to return their money to the societies where they made it (Jacobus 481-83). Some of the dangers of handing fortunes directly down to kin instead of donating or investing it back into the community, include generating spoiled children and an unproductive hereditary class whose extreme wealth exacerbates the inequality of wealth throughout the nation. Consequently, leaving children hereditary fortunes not only spoils them, but is also economically inefficient, politically troublesome, socially destructive, environmentally caustic, and simply unethical.

“Rich man, poor man – can anything close the gap,” published in the May 2014 issue of FortWorth Business Press by Richard Conner, uses an example of a poor cab driver in New York, and compares him to the rich people he drives around who own private jets. They have plenty of money to spare, yet he can barely feed his two kids let alone keep a roof over their heads, exemplifying the gap between the rich and the poor. In this article the author utilizes primarily pathos with a bit of logos to persuade his audience. On the other hand “Liberals play with words and the truth,” published in the February 2014 issue of Hill Judd Greg, is a piece written about liberals pushing socialism, which has never worked in the past, without the guts to call it that. “Progressives” should call themselves what they really are, socialists.

Carnegie suggests to decrease the gap between the rich and poor. There should be re-distribution of wealth through charity where the money is circulated back to the public. Charity is seen as a way to give back to the community reduce the inequality among the people. In bestowing charity, the main consideration should be to help those who will help themselves. He believes that the rich should not be greedy in keeping their wealth and being lavish about it. Surplus wealth should be distributed back to public in ways that it can benefit them. Reich on the other hand, does not suggest charity among the rich to balance out the rich and the poor. He believes that all the financial surplus always end up in the hands of the business owners, managers

The book talks about private affluence and public squalor. Private affluence is when people prefer to keep the money to themselves rather than spending it for the public. Public squalor is the result of private affluence, since many wealthy people are building private things, the public outlook is still in terrible condition such as terrible roads, public schools, dams, etc. This book also talks about poverty. It explained how even though America is one of the wealthiest country, theirs still a high rate of poverty. That’s because working families cannot find jobs to support their families leading to a high rate of unemployment.

This art was constructed and completed in 2014. A show for this art’s display was open for roughly three months (May-July). The United States has become a modern industrial powerhouse, where the values and rights of the workers are heavily respected. However, this does not mean that there is no worker exploitation around