Adversity In Hamilton, Seabiscuit, And

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The Power Of Adversity The effect of adversity on an individual is determinant, depending on the circumstances and environments that the person in question as experienced throughout their life. In some cases, adversity can instill motivation that would not have surfaced otherwise. For some, previously unexperienced trauma that occurs to them may instead cause despair and apathy.Horace’s claim is a broad one that excessively generalizes a complex topic. The examples present within Hamilton, Seabiscuit, and letters circulated between Alexander Hamilton and supports my position. An example of Horace’s claim being applicable can be observed through the life of Alexander Hamilton, a bastard child born in the Caribbean whose parents would both orphan him due to differing circumstance. He worked briefly as a clerk before inspiring masses with his cheeky literary rhetoric in response to various political decisions. He became involved in these very politics himself, serving as a successful lobbyist, compatriot of George Washington, …show more content…

The same can be seen with an impoverished boy, Thomas Dowell, in Seabiscuit. Dowell was discovered by a policeman with various miscellaneous items in his pockets. The text states, “While the officer was gone, Dowell slipped his belt off, coiled it around his neck, and hanged himself.” Under the pressure of a bleak future and stress coalescing rapidly, a boy collapsed under despair and committed suicide cide. This is undoubtedly a case of Horace’s philosophy being incorrect. Horace’s claim of adversity bringing the hidden qualities to surface in people differs on a situational basis. Alexander Hamilton prevailed because his struggle was surmountable, he had talent with with to overcome. Dowell, on the other hand, was a wayward child with nothing to look forward to. Jockeys in this era were essentially slaves and this was a life with no

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