Grit and The Great Gatsby
The key to success? Grit, by Angela Lee Duckworth was about how education and success relate more with effort than intelligence. At the age of 27 Angela left her job as a consultant to become a seventh grade math teacher. Then soon after she quit to become a psychologist. Her key argument is basically that the ability to learn is not fixed it can change with effort. Doing well in school and in life depends on more than one’s ability to learn quickly and easily. She began to study children and adults in all kinds of environments like which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out, which child would go the farthest in the spelling bee, and which of the salesperson would keep their job. In each research the predictor of success wasn’t IQ, but Grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for a goal. Also grittier kids were more likely to graduate high school in a research, which asked juniors to take grit questionnaires. This could be tide into the discussion of the book The Great Gatsby because one of the major themes in the novel is indeed success and prosperity. In the novel F. Scott Fitzgerald explains how Gatsby grew up as a poor boy but with effort and determination to win Daisy over he became rich and successful. This is great example of how Angela mentions that hard work and passion can help fulfill any dream or goal. Fitzgerald states the Gatsby wasn’t always so wealthy: “For over a year he had been beating his way along the south shore of Lake Superior as a calm-digger and a salmon-fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food in bed” (Fitzgerald 98). Gatsby started out working for Dan Cody, a wealthy man, who inspired Gatsby to work really hard and put in the effort to be just as rich and successful. Gatsby had grit, which allowed him to achieve his goal, which would have been impossible without some sort of effort. I strongly agree with Angela because you do not have to be born a mad genius to be successful in life but what you do need is determination. Similarly Gatsby did not have to inherit money to be able to become wealthy because he proved that even though he grew up poor he took his life into his own hands and made something out of himself, which is one of the reasons why he was Great. After the Ted Talk video I feel changed, and I am leaving this video with a lesson that will stay with me forever. That no matter what your goal or American Dream is to become successful in this world anything is possible with enough effort, dedication, and perseverance.