Otter and Crocket
Crockett considered life as an absolute saga, coupled with the added charisma of undeniable reality and his virtue was that he was willing to devote his life for his loved ones and fellow countrymen. However in spite of his virtues there were also dubious elements involved in Crockett's activities, hence he cannot be considered as a completely virtuous person. Again with regard to William Otter, virtue was in relation to setting things right. However he attempted to dubious means to achieve his ends which raises doubts about his idea of virtue. Finally we shall attempt to have an understanding of the antebellum period and discuss Crockett and Otter in relation to it.
We shall first have a discussion about David Crockett and his understanding of virtue and whether he was virtuous. Crockett considered life as an absolute saga, coupled with the added charisma of undeniable reality and his virtue was that he was willing to devote his life for his loved ones and fellow countrymen. David Crockett had very humble beginnings and the home where he spent his early days was more modest than what one can think of. It was the height of impoverishment which, compared with advanced sense of societal existence, is considered indispensable to secured living. The Indian tent offered as much shelter from the environment, and had proper furnishing, as the cottage of wood where his father's family used to dwell. What appears from his humble beginnings was that David Crockett had hardly anything to wear during his younger days. These grim realities of his childhood days need to be kept in mind, which will help us in comprehending the situations in which his personality was shaped. He lacked any education whatsoever in belief, ethics, conduct, or intellectual discipline. We cannot take for granted that his uneducated father and mother were very well mannered in maintaining a well-balanced household culture, or that their precedence could have been precious enough for giving David an edge in building him for the grueling battle that is called life. It would be next to impossible to locate any person, in a civilized country, who could have had diminished scope for ethical culture compared to what Crockett got in his childhood days. (Andrew, pp: 14-16)
Immediately after he started his primary education, Crockett fled from home to avoid getting rebuked by his father. Crockett described this behavior as a calculated departure, which persisted for the years when he started earning a living for himself as a worker on daily wages and also performed other errands to take care of himself. The impulsive chap, uninitiated about the snowballing effect, was determined to try to surmount any danger, despite every opposition. He ignored adversity and pulled on in high spirits weathering every obstacle. He was able bodied, possessed an excellent temperament, and was resilient to any type of job. There was no looming threat of him getting ravenous; and endurances, which most would think adversity, didn't dodge him down. Without getting appalled, he wandered, clutching on to whatever job he could secure for himself, till he had made him some provision of outfits and only some money in his wallet. On his coming home, his fortunes had changed to such an extent that his family members failed to identify him initially. But ultimately when they could identify him, he realized that the past has been pardoned. David responded to their kindness by engaging in a job for nearly one year to pay off his family's loan and thereafter resumed schooling. (Andrew, pp: 45-48)
We shall now take a look at some other events wherein we can find his virtue by means of his love for his fellow countrymen. David during his younger days was not a petulant person and he stayed clear of scuffles and hostility. There had been no incident in his life to measure his guts till he joined the Army. Even though hunting thrilled him, however little threat was present in it. Stags and smaller animals didn't pose any threat. However, the carnage held at Fort Mimms stirred up and rekindled the courage within him. He could gauge immediately with the sense that if the barbarians are not rapidly vanquished, they would devastate the entire area; and that it will lead to fallout of not just his family, but all the others as well. It was his instinct that each and every person was destined to resort to weapons for the purpose of safeguarding oneself. Crockett's...
Otter -- Crockett -- cook Is William Otter's a History of My Own Time a rags-to-riches success story? To what extent does it conform to the themes associated with the Cult of the Self-Made Man and to what extent does it deviate? William Otter's autobiographical work A History of My Own Time (1835) is truly what one would call a "rags-to-riches" tale, yet it can also be viewed as being quite the
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