There is no use denying the fact that modern age can be characterized by a great rivalry. People have to achieve some goal and become successful in order to be appreciated in society. With this in mind, nowadays such notion as success becomes more significant. Trying to become popular and rich, a person looks for some methods which will be able to guaranty his/her becoming successful, However, very often people forget that there are no universal methods and every approach should be unique to bring success to its creator. However, having understood the demand, people started creating books which main aim was to teach a person how to become successful.
Besides, it is impossible to do it and these books just promoted enrichment and success of people who wrote it. Chesterton, in his work The Fallacy of Success, also cogitates about this very issue, underlining the fact of uselessness of these books and outlining his own ideas connected with the issue of success.
The work is rather controversial and provoking. That is why a great number of people analyzed it from different perspectives. First of all, it is possible to mention existentialist point of view on this issue. Existentialism is a philosophic category which stresses onliness of human existence, underlining its irrational character (Crowell para. 6). Avital Pilpel in his article The Fallacy of Success analyses the original article from this very point of view, stating that Chesterton suggests the idea of success which can be characterized as existential (para. 11). Chesterton states that success cannot be measured or easily achieved with the help of different pieces of advice as it is unique, though, irrational phenomenon (para. 15).
However, there is another point of view on this article. Dale Alquist researches this work from biographical perspective trying to see some peculiarities of Chestertons life and his points of view there. The researcher states the fact that Chesterton became interested in the issue because of his own success and his own ideas connected with the way to achieve it (Alquist para. 12). Chesterton describes the book which suggests readers the way of enrichment which was used by Rothschild. However, he notes that it is impossible to do it as people do not know all Rothschilds motifs and hidden remedies. This statement introduces some discussion as it is possible to say that Chesterton could say it resting on his own experience.
The last point of view on this work which is going to be mentioned here is connected with Marxist criticism. According to it, literature reflects some ideas peculiar to society at the moment and shows class struggle (Galvin para. 6). With this in mind, the work The Fallacy of Success can be taken as Chestertons attempt to analyze the ideology which dominates in society and which makes people write and, moreover, buy such sort of books.
Having analyzed three different approaches to the work The Fallacy of Success by Chesterton, it is possible to make certain conclusion. It should be said that existentialist perspective on the issue of success seems to be the most understandable, clear and logic. There is no use denying the fact that every human being is a unique creature that is why there is no universal method to achieve success. With this in mind, all these books can be taken as useless.
Works Cited
Alquist, Dale. Who is this Guy and Why Haven’t I Heard of Him?. n.d.. Web.
Chesterton, Gilbert. The Fallacy of Success. 1909. Web.
Crowell, Steven, “Existentialism“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2015. Web.
Galvin, Dan. The Fallacy of Success by G. K. Chesterton. 2012. Web.
Pilpel, Avital. “The Fallacy of Success“. The Times of Israel. 2012. Web.