Andrew Carnegie is a prominent American businessman. Andrew Carnegie was an immigrant from Scotland who achieved success in the railroad, steel and oil industries. Carnegie’s essay is full of many important points about the rise in wealth and living standards. This essay will discuss Carnegie’s reasoning for writing it, analyze the message he was attempting to convey to his intended audience and point out how he persuaded them. Carnegie uses a variety of arguments to support his thesis. One is that the wealthy should use their fortunes to improve society. A second point is that the richest people in the world worked hard for their wealth, so they should have all of it.
One reason he may have written this essay is the state of America at that time. The factories of steel and other natural resources, which were booming in the late 1800s to early 1900s, made the majority American workers work together. This led them to want their jobs protected and defended. Carnegie spoke about the state of the economy for farmers in his essay at the writing time and before. Carnegie’s essay was written for farmers, independent workers and rich people who did not want to work for a large company.
Carnegie uses examples in his essay to convince and persuade the audience. He explains that masters or servants did not live as well back then as they did at the time of writing. In his essay, Carnegie explains how people who complain about the good old days are wrong because their economic situation was much worse. This is an important fact because independent workers and farmers can use this to compare the economic conditions of their past and present and realize that industrialization helped them achieve greater success. Throughout the essay, he explains how industrialization has improved the lives of farmers and other workers on low incomes. In summary, the essay states that landlords at the time had a much better economic situation than before. It also mentions that farmers were able to afford better homes, books and other items.
Carnegie’s essay makes some good points. First, he states that after taking care of their families’ needs, the wealthy must contribute to improving society. He says that the rich should not show off their wealth and power, but instead donate to causes which help to improve the society that they live in. This is a statement I strongly agree with because it shows that rich people are not always willing to give back and help people in need. They should be an example for others, since they don’t do enough to improve society. Carnegie’s paper also made a point that I agree with: many children of wealthy parents do not spend their parents’ money in a wise way. They instead waste it carelessly and don’t work hard to achieve anything. Carnegie writes that only very rarely do the children of millionaires spend their money wisely. The parents of a child want to keep them happy, but they should not give them all the things and let them become spoiled. Carnegie was right to notice faults even though he himself was a multi-millionaire. Carnegie makes a statement about how people were less fortunate in the past. He gives many examples of this, like the differences between the financial situation of farmers then and now. Carnegie’s essay was a success in that he proved his point by elaborating on every sentence and providing extensive reasoning for each one.
