Willy Loman lionizes his brother, Ben, as a self-made man whenever he tells the story of how Ben walked into the jungle when he was 17 and walked out when he was 21 and he was rich. He looks up to his brother so much that he does not see any fault in him. In Willy’s eyes, Ben is everything that Willy hoped to become. The life Ben led is the life that Willy wanted to have, but that wasn’t in the cards for Willy. Now, because Willy didn’t lead the life he had hoped to he is almost forcing his dream upon his two boys, Happy and Biff.
Malcolm Gladwell’s opinion on the self-made man issue is that a person’s drive strictly comes from how they were brought up. The parents, grandparents, other children, the background from which they are being brought up in, and the culture determine your drive for success. Gladwell would disagree with Willy because he was brought up with the same parents, same background, and same culture as Ben did because they are brothers. As Gladwell sees it, they should have the same drive for success because Willy had all the things that Ben had.
From what I understand, Howard Roark sees that a person’s success comes from how hard they worked and what they deserve. To Roark, Ben played all his cards right and he played them with the drive he acquired on his own. Ben worked hard to get where he got and that’s how he made himself, so he is a self-made man.
I believe in self-made men and women to an extent. In my family if we want something we have to work for it, and we make sacrifices, but we aren’t handed anything on a silver platter. My drive for success is completely different from everyone else in my family because I want different things, what makes me strive to be my best and reach for my goals is completely different from anyone else because I’m my own person. The people, culture, and background I am raised in are also huge factors too. I also know that I wouldn’t have the same drive I do right now if I was born into a different family. The people around you push you and help you strive to be a better version of you, so you aren’t doing it on your own. You didn’t make you, other people had to help you out along the way and that is who you are.
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