preview

Summary Of Christopher Morley On Laziness

Decent Essays

Christopher Morley’s article “On Laziness” (1920) claims that being lazy can be much more beneficial than going the extra mile and being what is seen as an overachiever. Morley develops his claim by providing logical explanations how those who are slothful are truly happy; he supports his claim by using a very ironic and contradicting diction and examples of allusions. Although the purpose seems unclear, Morley is really trying to explain that sometimes being a conformist may be acceptable in order to fulfill a sense of joy and satisfaction rather than dwelling on failure and unhappiness after having tried to do more than what was needed. Morley’s entire essay is very both very ironic and contradicting. His introductory sentence explains that Morley intended to write an essay on laziness but was …show more content…

He supports this by stating that he who is meek is too modest to believe any benefit would arouse from his part, therefore is lazy and does nothing at all. Also, Morley refers to another allusion of Doctor Johnson and his letter to Lord Chesterfield claiming that it was his laziness that led to “the greatest triumph of Doctor Johnson’s life.” He then quoted Boswell explain that Johnson had neglected to write the letter by the appointed time, and Johnson’s exact words: “Now if any good comes of my addressing to Lord Chesterfield it will be ascribed to deep policy and address, when, in fact, it was only a casual excuse for laziness.” In addition to that, Morley makes a final reference to the old saying of “passing the buck,” claiming that lazy people do not pass the buck, instead “he lets the buck pass him”. Lazy people, according to Morley, much rather accept the blame for something than have to put an effort to fulfill a

Get Access