What Are You Going To Choose?

Professor Lucy Hartley

English 31928 March 2007

By: Tyrone Schiff

- 2 -What are You Going to Choose?The process of bettering oneself can take one of an infinite amount of paths to getto its final location. During the 19

century, and in particular the year 1859, two prolific books broached the idea of improvement via considerably different means. SamuelSmiles, the author of

Self-Help

, argued that motivation and determination were corecomponents of individual progress. He placed much of the burden of success or failure onthe individual. His book worked to illustrate the industrious nature inherent to man andthe great success that can be enjoyed from hard work. To Smiles, it was a conscious, personal decision that one made in order to better their lot. On the other hand, CharlesDarwin, the author of

The Origin of Species

, developed a new concept that turned out to be quite radical for the timeframe in which he presented it. Darwin established the idea of natural selection in which one’s environment would, over great periods of time, eliminatethose who did not coexist successfully with those surroundings. This concept espousesthat the fate of an individual’s achievement is entrenched in the harmony of the individualand their environment. These views are strikingly similar in how they both promoteimprovement. Smiles is far more proactive in his approach to improvement by focusingon the individual, whereas, Darwin takes a slightly more passive approach relying on theenvironment. Yet, it is clear if an individual chooses to adjust favorably to his or her ownenvironment then one can and will improve based on these adaptations. The reason thatthis occurs is in order to weed out the weak from any population. Further, Smilesillustrates how the choice in behavior of a few can spread almost like a virus, infecting allaround with a will to develop themselves. Darwin rather detaches the idea of choice fromthe individual. The main question is to determine whether the actor is the individual or

- 3 -the environment. Answering this question has striking ramifications, as choice impliesfreedom, whereas, reaction and adjustment imply coercion. Thus, this paper will revealthat Smiles asserts choice as a means to improvement, while Darwin attributesimprovement as effectively adjusting to an environment.Smiles believed very much in the worth of the individual. He put a great deal of trust in people to find the will within themselves to work towards a better life andgenerally improve themselves. Smiles depicts the fruits of one’s labor in saying, “Manowes his growth chiefly to that active striving of the will, […]; and it is astonishing tofind how often results apparently impracticable are thus made possible. An intenseanticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but the precursors of the things which we are capable of performing” (149). Smiles makes itclear that it is individual choice that promotes his or her own improvement. Additionally,it is significant to notice the responsibility that Smiles places on the individual. He doesnot point to potential obstacles that may keep one down such as class, but rather advocates that the individual is in charge of their own improvement. This contrasts, in part, to what Darwin suggests. Darwin attributes this improvement to minor differencesthat build on each other from inherited qualities from parents:Whatever the cause may be of each slight difference in theoffspring from their parents and a cause for each must existit is the steady accumulation, through natural selection, of such differences, when beneficial to the individual, thatgives rise to all the more important modifications of structure, by which the innumerable beings on the face of