Annotate” You say of him but little attracted to the most ...



“Worship of the Wealthy”: Annotations

Passage 1: Submitted by Jose and Arjun

"Those who praise Mr Carnegie do not say that he is as wise as Solomon and as brave as Mars; I wish they did".

G.K Chesterton was a versatile writer who has published books in many genres. He started his career as a journalist and is also known as a critic, poet and essayist . He has many volumes of essays to his name, which are characterized by his commonsense approach to the problems of life. In his essay "The worship of the Wealthy" he exposes the hypocrisy of journalists who flatter the wealthy.

The essay begins with the the comparison between ancient and modern flattery. As is his style, Chesterton employs a paradox to bring out the differences between the two. According to him, the ancient method of flattery was so straightforward that "falsehood itself was more true". Both the flatterer and the flattered  knew that the praises attributed to the latter were entirely improbable .But the modern journalist has invented  a much subtler and more poisonous kind of  eulogy. Journalists give a credible picture of a rich man's personality and then enormously exaggerate the value and importance of natural qualities like him being a sportsman or being fond of the arts. He is disappointed that they don't praise Mr. Carnegie by saying that he is as wise as Solomon or that he is as brave as Mars; this kind of flattery is at least honest .The new age flatterer takes for granted that a rich man is extraordinary and therefore that ordinary things about him will be of interest.

 

Mr Carnegie was an industrialist and philanthropist who donated liberal amounts to universities and libraries. Solomon is the epitome of wisdom and Mars is the Roman god of war. A clear tone of sarcasm can be felt when he talks of the modern methods of flattery.

Passage 2: Submitted by Nitya Babuji and Sr. Tiji

“You say of him but little attracted to the most recent schools of German transcendental philosophy, he stands almost as resolutely aloof from the tendencies of transcendental Pantheism as from the narrower ecstasies of Neo-Catholicism.”

G K Chesterton, in his essay “The Worship of the Wealthy”, exposes the hypocrisy of journalists who flatter the wealthy. This essay is notable for its Englishness, enthusiasm, informality, humour and self-assertiveness.

In this essay Chesterton mentions the three methods used by modern journalists to flatter the wealthy. The first method is to inflate the value of quite ordinary superficial aspects of the rich man’s personality and then make him out to be a wise man or a savior. Another method is to use negative expressions to great effect. They mix facts with negatives so that both the flatterer and subject are equally pleased. He brings out the example of a millionaire, Mr. Pierpont Morgan. Journalists may suggest that he is not interested in German philosophy or transcendental pantheism which may give the impression that he is a man of great knowledge. The only purpose of this is to conceal his lack of intellectual interests. He points out it is possible to flatter even a charwoman in this way and adds that a charwoman deserves much more praise than a millionaire. Another modern way of flattery is to use words like ’simple’, ‘quiet’ or ‘modest’ without any relevance.

Pantheism is the doctrine that the entire universe is the manifestation of God. In this passage Chesterton strongly ridicules not only the methods of modern journalists for flattering the wealthy but also their artificial style of writing.

Passage 3: Submitted by Varna and Devi

"As if anyone would expect him to have a burning Catherine wheel in his button hole"

GK Chesterton the noted English writer started his career as a journalist with his controversial articles on social & political issues. In the essay "Worship of the Wealthy”, he exposes the hypocrisy of journalists who flatter the wealthy.

Though flattery started from ancient times it has achieved new heights and has become more subtle and dangerous. Chesterton speaks about the modern journalist who inflates the value of quite ordinary superficial aspects of the rich man’s personality and then makes him out to be a wise man or a savoir. Another method employed by clever journalists is to mix facts with negatives so that both the flatterer and the subject are equally pleased. Then Chesterton ridicules the use of the word "simple" "modest" and the "quiet" by the flatters. A journalist flattering a rich man speaks of his walking quietly down the street, modestly dressed in plain suit having a simple flower in his button hole and so on. Chesterton asks if anyone would have expected the rich man to walk around in spangled trousers or wear a Catherine wheel in his button hole. The quality of simplicity and modesty are, according to Chesterton, extremely difficult to possess and these words have become words without meaning for these hack writers. What is even more amusing, says Chesterton, is that even funerals of wealthy men are described in these words.

Chesterton here exposes the modern subtle methods adopted by journalists to flatter the wealthy and ridicules these attempts in his characteristic pungent style. The ‘Catherine wheel’ is a rotating fire work which keeps on turning after it is lit.

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