ESSENTIAL QUESTION
Which is more important–honest, hard-won effort, or easy success?
CONTEXT
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was the 26th US President, serving from 1901-1909. He became President upon the assassination of President William McKinley and later won a term on his own. Previously he served as the governor of New York and was a leader in the Republican Party.
Born in New York, TR, as he was often known, was a sickly child and worked hard to build himself up physically. He attended Harvard College, served in the Spanish-American War, and became an active naturalist, conservationist, author, statesman, and explorer. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.
After returning from an 11-month African safari in 1910, he and his wife embarked on an extended tour of Europe. As a world-wide celebrity, he received many invitations while on the trip, including one to speak at the Sorbonne in Paris. This text is excerpted from his speech made there on April 23, 1910, entitled “Citizenship in a Republic.” It is often referred to as “The Man in the Arena” speech.
TEXT
…Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that queer [strange] and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as a cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one. The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes second to achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities—all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority, but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affectation of contempt for the achievement of others, to hide from others and from themselves their own weakness. The role is easy; there is none easier, save only the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat...
INQUIRY
- In 1912, while giving a speech in an unsuccessful run for a third term as president, Roosevelt was shot in the chest in an assassination attempt from 12 feet away. The bullet passed through his steel eyeglass case and a 50-page handwritten copy of his speech, before it lodged in his chest muscle. Roosevelt proceeded to deliver a 90-minute speech with blood seeping into his shirt. Doctors later determined that the best course was to leave the bullet in his chest as it had not punctured his lung, and TR carried the bullet the rest of his life. He returned to the campaign trail two weeks later. How does this event provide an example of Roosevelt’s “man in the arena”?
- In 1913, after losing the presidential election of 1912, Roosevelt left on an expedition to explore to its source the “River of Doubt” in the Brazilian Rainforest. While on the expedition Roosevelt suffered a leg wound which progressed into a life-threatening sickness. Roosevelt lost 50 pounds but survived the expedition. In what ways did this expedition provide an example of his “man in the arena” philosophy?
- How does TR define a “cynic”?
- According to TR, what are the signs of cynicism? Why should it be avoided?
- How can one avoid the cynical attitudes TR describes?
- How does TR describe the man in the arena? What images and verbs does he use? What are the effects of his word choice?
- How does TR compare success and attempts?
- Do you agree with TR’s ideas about success and honest effort? Why or why not? Give examples.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-sorbonne-paris-france-citizenship-republic
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard (published 2006)
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