Critical Analysis of the Literary Works - Essay Example

There is also the human capital that is used to aid in the production process. To Henry, Portia was also a form of capital as she helped him carry out his deals successfully. Therefore, capital in this context is anything that helps a person earn money or make wealth.

Portia and Henry in their conversations talk about salary and love. According to them, there is a positive relationship between romance and business. In their relationship, they used their romance to do business. Accompanying each other to different business occasions, planning together on their next move, and acting as each other’s aide in business meetings complimented their relationship.

According to Thorstein Veblen, “pecuniary emulation” means the behavior in which people try to emulate other people who are socially well off. He observes that as people increasingly acquire wealth, their social class and lifestyles change. As these aspects of their lives change, they are seen by others to live decently and comfortably. They act as role models as those who envy them try to emulate their behavior and lifestyles. As a result, they try to improve on their earnings and acquire things that closely resemble those of the high people in society.

From Benjamin’s story “The Way to Wealth,” the “plain clean old Man, with white Locks” cites the idea, supposedly from Poor Richard that we should “oversee our affairs with our own eyes, and not trust too much to others” and that we should act independently and avoid debt, yet Richard himself is gratified that others cite his sayings and buy his almanacs, which makes his arguments and ideas be in opposition with the reality. Purchase of his almanacs and other authors citing him is in contradiction to his reasoning. Benjamin advocates for independence in people’s reasoning and way of doing things, which is however not true according to the context and content of his book. Many sections of the book are quotes either from other authors or from the author’s previous works. On the contrary, he advocates for the independence of reasoning and avoiding debt for people who wish to be financially successful. Although this is true, the reality cannot be guaranteed. To be successful, we have to constantly keep on borrowing ideas from other people. Comparing our ideas with those of others gauges our reasoning with other people, and thus we know how viable our ideas are. From the framing of the story and the advice of the old man, there is a need for us to show commitment in our businesses. Although people complain about taxes, few work to maximize their potential and abilities.

The repeated saying from “The Way to Wealth” that ’Tis easier to suppress the first Desire, than to satisfy all that follow it” means that it is easy to avoid the first desire to take debt and either invest it or spend. However, after the first desire has overcome an individual and falls into the trap, it is impossible to from seeking debt. It all begins with the first debt and others follow, creating a chain of other debts that are insatiable. The repetition suggests the author’s desire to make this advice known to people by insisting on it.