9/01/09 Post, Previously Posted Under Comments

The narrative Carnegie offers in the middle portion differs dramatically from the earlier part of the book in context and direction. While Carnegie originally places emphasis on his youth and his “boyish” joy in work, he dramatically shifts his focus and effort to more procedural and managerial tasks in business as he climbs the "corporate ladder". Carnegie shifts away from "it was the proudest moment of my life" and more towards pride in responsibility and efficiency, as he seems to develop a more mature and efficient approach to work rather than just a joy out of working to work. Carnegie’s narrative seems to morph from an inexperienced teen that enjoys working and contributing to the family’s well being, into a shrewd and experienced businessman who derives joy from out performing and being more efficient than his fellow colleagues.

What I found most interesting from the beginning to the middle of the novel was Carnegie’s reference to his fellow colleagues and acquaintances. Throughout the beginning of the novel Carnegie refers to his fellow colleagues more in terms of a reverence or as a mentor. Carnegie shares a wide variety of his early experiences about networking and meeting influential people from presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant to local leaders. Carnegie demonstrates the great respect he draws from these men and their ability to connect with the “everyday” worker rather than just the millionaires. However, once Carnegie ascends the “corporate ladder” he begins to stress his relationships with everyday man or his lower employees rather than his higher and more influential connections. Carnegie seems to strive to connect with members of other classes, and he places different emphasis throughout the book on these connections by always connecting to a different class in relation to himself.

Carnegie lost me with his continual reference to building materials and his changing business preferences. Carnegie assumes an underlying familiarity with the current events from 100 years ago along with knowledge of the steel industry, which was more accurate when the book was originally published. However, the background knowledge of the current events is lost in translation and adds a reading comprehension problem when reading a substantial portion of the biography.

I believe Carnegie focuses so much on banking and finance because it plays such an integral role in his life. I think banking and finance unconsciously works its way into his everyday discussion along with the fact most of what Carnegie discusses in terms of business has to do with securing banking loans and financing individual projects.