The Father of Middle-Class America free essay sample

Andrew Carnegie can be looked to as an ideal example of a poor immigrant making his way up to become leader of the capitalist world. Carnegie was born into a poor working-class family in Scotland. According to the PBS documentary â€Å"The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie,† the Industrial Revolution was difficult on Carnegie’s father, causing him to lose his weaving business. The Carnegie family was much opposed to the idea of a privileged class, who gained their wealth simply by inheritance (â€Å"Richest†). This type of upbringing played a large factor in Andrew Carnegie’s destiny. In order to appease his mother’s desire for material benefits, and perhaps in an effort to heal his father’s wounds, Carnegie rejected poverty and cleaved to prosperity. Carnegie’s character was ideal for gaining wealth. His mother taught him to â€Å"look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves;† he later turned this proverb into â€Å"watch the costs, and the profits take care of themselves† (â€Å"Richest†). We will write a custom essay sample on The Father of Middle-Class America or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Such thrift was integral to his future success. He also believed that â€Å"all is well since all goes better† (â€Å"Richest†). His theory General note: the paper heading, the title, and body text of the paper (including lock quotes) are all double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font. Except where exceptions are noted, the paper has regular margins set at 1. 0† all around. Page numbers begin on and with page 1. They are rightjustified and 0. 5† from the top of the page. Type your surname next to the page number on each page. Your name, the instructor’s name, the course number, and the date of submission are 1. 0† from the top of the first page and leftjustified. Dates are written in this order: day, month, and year. Titles are centered. Titles are not bolded, underlined, or italicized. Other than standard doublespacing, here are no additional spaces between the heading, the title, and the body text of the paper. The introductory paragraph(s) should set the context for the rest of the paper. The thesis is a clear position that you will support and develop throughout your paper. This sentence guides and controls your paper. Catlin 2 of an â€Å"industrial utopia† proves his optimistic outlook of both capitalism and the laboring class. Optimism is what pulled him through his difficulties at Homestead and empowered him to withstand competition. Carnegie didn’t let the Industrial Revolution, which so damaged his father, destroy him. As a oung boy in Pittsburgh, he began working in a factory. He hated this position, and even had terrible nightmares, but he still endured. In so doing, he was able to secure a different position in a telegraph office. From here, he developed a skill that is priceless to capitalist America—he made connections. Memorizing faces and facts, he was able to win the sympathy of elite customers. This, in turn, led to his acquaintance with Thomas Scott (â€Å"Richest†). Scott secured Carnegie a job with Pennsylvania Railroad. This position was pivotal in his career. His ability to take risks enabled him to move ahead in the business. When a Pennsylvania Railroad train crashed, Carnegie took a risk and boldly ordered the workers to burn the cars. Such a bold and risky statement later became standard procedure (â€Å"Richest†). Perhaps the most controversial of Andrew Carnegie’s qualities is his belief in Social Darwinism. The English philosopher Herbert Spencer convinced Carnegie that it wasn’t bad to be successful. It was â€Å"survival of the fittest† in the financial jungle, and Andrew Carnegie need not feel guilty for obtaining more wealth. Throughout Carnegie’s life, he displayed his firm belief in the certainty of competition. In fact, he feared competition and did all he could to hinder it (â€Å"Richest†). Andrew Carnegie’s belief in Social Darwinism also affected his treatment of his laborers. Perhaps the only negative quality that is placed upon him is that of oppressor of the working class. Carnegie inspired competition among his workers and fired the managers and work crews that fell behind. His workers believed that upward mobility wasn’t possible—they were stuck as laborers and would never rise higher (â€Å"Richest†). Provide parenthetical documentation for any information that you can attribute to another ource. Still cite a source even if you only summarize the information in it. Catlin 3 Despite his workers’ pessimism, Carnegie still believed in their ability to improve their situations. Carnegie once said, â€Å"To be born to honest poverty and compelled to labor and strive for a livelihood in youth is the best of all schools for developing latent qua lities, strengthening character, and making useful men† (qtd. in McCloskey 233). He firmly believed in the laborers’ right to organize themselves in unions and canonized the commandment â€Å"Thou shalt not take thy neighbor’s job† (â€Å"Richest†). Perhaps Carnegie recognized that unions and other societies of organized laborers develop a cohesiveness that moves them up in society; the emergence of reform organizations crystallizes middle-class consciousness (Blumin 345). The idea that former craftsmen, who now were the unskilled laborers in Carnegie’s mills, still demanded codes of conduct, led to their involvement in unions to improve working conditions in the mills. According to historian Stuart Blumin, â€Å"To the extent that they accepted doctrines of individual upward mobility, . . . any immigrant workers absorbed the acquisitive and individualistic ethos of the native middle class. Multiple cultural systems offered workers different strategies for survival and self improvement† (301). Carnegie allowed for this upward mobility as long as it didn’t impede production. Carnegie was not a â€Å"typical† capitalist of the time. He was more absorbed in the moral problems of his times than his peers (McCloskey 250). Though Carnegie believed that workers should be allowed to organize themselves, he feared the threat of violence. This idea was brought to the forefront with the Homestead crisis in 1892. Carnegie’s associate, Henry Clay Frick, handled the crisis and was consequently criticized by Carnegie for allowing the violence and the loss of so many jobs. Carnegie tried to move past this and eventually built a library in Homestead (â€Å"Richest†). With Carnegie’s quest to develop cheaper and more efficient production, new machinery replaced many of the jobs that required human labor. In consequence, white-collar workers were In-text parenthetical documentation occurs after the quote but before the period. The name(s) of the author(s) precede the page number with no comma. If you delete ords from the original quote, insert three periods with a space between and after each one. This is called an ellipsis. Each paragraph should begins with a topic sentence. Every sentence in the paragraph should relate to and support the statements made in the topic sentence in some way. Catlin 4 needed for paperwork, and unskilled laborers became a thing of the past. This cau sed a middle class to form because of â€Å"the emergence of new tasks and the reorganization of old tasks† (Blumin 316). Carnegie hired clerks, chemists, and others at higher-than-average wages (â€Å"Richest†). In addition to offering higher wages, Carnegie’s control over the emerging steel market also helped form a middle class by providing cheap access to a valuable commodity. Carnegie predicted the steel revolution and harnessed it from the beginning. His lifelong quest to make production more efficient and cheaper was perpetuated by his entrance into the steel industry (â€Å"Richest†). The low-cost mass production of steel spurred the growth of the middle class. Carnegie reduced prices to beat the competition and eventually produced more steel than all of Great Britain (â€Å"Richest†). Carnegie sold steel to manufacturers of buggy springs and railroad-car axles, farmers’ plows, stovepipe, and roofing gutters (Kent 239). Steel was also used in the mass production of automobile bodies (Walton 138). The fact that Carnegie provided low-cost quality steel is perhaps the premiere reason that he is the father of the middle classes. In providing the means for automobiles among other durable goods, average citizens, not just the wealthy, had access to luxury items. Credit and the consumer society of the 1920s can be considered the grandchildren of Andrew Carnegie. It became clear throughout Andrew Carnegie’s life that capitalism could make an aristocracy out of the lower classes. Carnegie was truly the richest man in the world, yet he firmly believed that â€Å"the man who dies rich, dies disgraced† (Carnegie). America has often been ready to blame the men of big business for their more flagrant depredations, yet we must remember that American has been quick to forgive them as well (McCloskey 267). Through Carnegie’s philanthropy, he has been forgiven of any wrongdoing in his dealings with the working class. Transitions from one paragraph to another should connect concepts from the previous paragraph to the next one. Also, useful markers like â€Å"In addition† help signal that you are transitioning to a new subject. Catlin 5 Carnegie realized that the difference between a working classman and the white-collar working is knowledge. He believed that a library â€Å"outranks any other one thing that a community can do to benefit its people† (Kent 378). He built nearly 3,000 libraries throughout the world and gave millions more dollars to universities and colleges. What better way for a rags-to-riches success to develop the same success in others? Carnegie also put aside $4 million to support employees and the families of employees of the Carnegie Steel Company who had been injured or killed at work. He did this â€Å"as an acknowledgement of the deep debt I owe to the workmen who have contributed so greatly to my success† (Kent 409). A true man of the people and father to the poor, Carnegie gave away $180 million after which he established the Carnegie Corporation to promote the advancement . . . f knowledge among the people of the United States by aiding technical schools, institutions of higher learning, libraries, scientific research, hero funds, useful publications, and by such other agencies and means as shall form time to time be found appropriate therefore. (Kent 410) All in all, Carnegie donated 90 percent of his money—$324,657,399 (411). These gifts to society are at the heart of the hard-working middle-class American. A ndrew Carnegie’s example of thrift and industry, optimism, realistic Social Darwinism, and risk taking, are the ingredients needed to be a successful capitalist. His example and life pursuits have been, and continue to be, an ideal for the poor American and the immigrant trying to make the American Dream a reality. Andrew Carnegie ordained the happy marriage between capitalism and humanitarianism. In so doing, he made himself the father of the American middle class. Block quotes begin on a new line and are indented 1. 0† from the left margin. Do not use quotation marks. The citation information (author name and page number, if any) follows the block quote’s end punctuation. Your conclusion could restate the following: our topic, your topic’s importance, your thesis, and your supporting points. Parenthetical citation used for information from the previously cited source only requires the relevant page number. You do not need to repeat the name of the author.

The Miss Firecracker Contest

The Miss Firecracker Contest The Miss Firecracker Contest, along with other Beth Henley plays, is characterized as a Southern Gothic. The play is set in the small southern town of Brookhaven, Mississippi, and tells an archetypical story of a young woman trying to reinvent herself. The two main qualities that land The Miss Firecracker Contest squarely into the Southern Gothic genre are: the story concerns flawed characters.it occurs in a once prosperous, but now run-down town. Plot Synopsis Carnelle Scott had a rocky start in life. Her mother died and her father dragged her around the state with him until he dumped her with Carnelle’s old aunt and her two cousins. Carnelle idolized her cousins, Elain and Delmount, and believed them to be the most beautiful and interesting people in the entire town. At age 17, Elain won the title of Miss Firecracker in the local beauty contest and Carnelle never forgot the sight of her beloved cousin riding atop the Fourth of July float crowned in glory. Carnelle never achieved the beauty and social status of Elain and made up for it by sleeping with most of the young men in town earning herself the dubious title of Miss Hot Tamale. Carnelle sees a chance to erase her past and start again by winning the beauty contest. Carnelle hires Popeye, an odd girl from poor beginnings, to sew her costume for the talent portion of the show. Popeye is a talented seamstress who taught herself to sew by making clothes for bullfrogs because she had no dolls to sew for. In the course of the play, Popeye falls in love with the eccentric and frazzled Delmount. Eventually, Delmount returns Popeye’s affections and finds her odd personality something worth loving. Delmount is determined to sell every item in his mother’s old house and then the house itself and move to New Orleans. He offers half the sale to Carnelle and begs her to quit the contest and make a new life outside of Brookhaven, Mississippi. Carnelle accepts half the money but wants to continue in The Miss Firecracker contest so she can now leave â€Å"in a blaze of glory.† Elain shows up and announces to Carnelle that she is leaving her husband and two children. She has had enough of their constant need for attention and wants to walk away from it all. Carnelle is thrilled until Elain’s presence overshadows her participation in the contest. Carnelle’s anger and frustration eventually cause her to explode and spew at all her relatives and friends, insisting that she wants what she wants despite all their petty protestations. Carnelle uses the moment to fling their personality flaws back in their faces and release herself from all their judgments. Within this encounter, Elain understands that she has lost Carnelle’s hero worship and decides to go back to the husband who adores her. Production Details Setting: Brookhaven, MississippiTime: End of June and beginning of JulyCast Size: This play can accommodate 6 actors.Male Characters: 2Female Characters: 4Characters that could be played by either males or females: 0 Roles Carnelle Scott is twenty-four and ready to make a few changes in her life. She wants to turn over a new leaf and be someone who is not â€Å"Miss Hot Tamale† and is instead respected and beautiful both inside and out. If she could, she would ride out of town in a blaze of glory with the Miss Firecracker crown on her head and enough money to start again in a new town as a beautiful and talented winner.Popeye Jackson grew up as an odd girl with no money who makes outfits for bullfrogs. Now she is an odd woman with no money who makes outfits for whoever will hire her. She falls head over heels in love with the eccentric Delmount but is sure he could never return her affections. Popeye puts little value on money, talent, and beauty. She makes the world beautiful by her simple actions of generosity.Elain Rutledge enjoyed a life of beauty, talent, and adoration. Her overbearing mother, now deceased, foresaw the end of that lifestyle for Elain and pushed her into marriage. Now Elain is bored with her married life in which she is only adored by only one man and has to answer to two sons she dislikes. Her will to be free and independent is continually at odds with her desire to be wanted and admired. Delmount Williams has never had any trouble finding women who will sleep with him despite his odd appearance and temper. His recent stint in a mental institution has only fortified his eccentricities and desire to rid himself of all memory and ties to Brookhaven, Mississippi.  He prides himself on finding the beauty in those who consider themselves plain, but the truth is that he has never tried to pursue anyone or anything that would be a challenge or a true beauty.Mac Sam is an ex-lover of Carnelle’s. He contracted syphilis through Carnelle but has never sought treatment for the disease. He has a magnetic personality despite his ill appearance. He and Carnelle still share a strong attraction, but she is disgusted that he won’t do anything to better his health or station in life.Tessy Mahoney is the beauty contest coordinator. She and Delmount shared a questionable night of lovemaking a long time ago and he has been hiding from her since. She is not a beauty and doub ts Carnelle’s chances in the contest, but she seems to be a sweet and pleasant coordinator despite her opinions. She is starstruck by Elain. Production Notes Beth Henley makes a particular note at the beginning of the play about Carnelle’s hair which the character has dyed bright red. Henley notes that â€Å"It is strongly suggested that the actress playing Carnelle dye her hair bright red instead of opting for a wig.† The set for The Miss Firecracker Contest is an old southern house filled with antiques in Act One and the backstage of the beauty pageant for Act Two. The play has been produced with success both with full scenic designs and minimal scenic designs. Content Issues: Language, syphilis, talk of sexual escapades.