Andrew Carnegie Is Not A Hero Essay

454 Words2 Pages

A hero is someone who does a meaningful deed, worthy of remembrance and selflessly. Andrew Carnegie was a wealthy man. After he sold his steel company in 1900, he devoted the rest of his life giving money to charity. Did Andrew Carnegie’s generosity make him a hero? Andrew Carnegie was not a hero. Carnegie is not a hero because he took money, only gave to other wealthy recipients, and contributed largely to his own. Andrew Carnegie took money away from deserving people. Carnegie cut the wages of his workers to donate money elsewhere. In document D, there are two images of Carnegie, one is giving a wage cut notice to the workers and the other is giving a check to Scotland and donating a library to Pittsburg. Carnegie’s employees were working hard and trying to survive in a tough economy, their wages did not deserve a cut. Andrew Carnegie could have let his employees keep their wages and worry about donations later. Taking money away to invest it somewhere else is not helping, because the people …show more content…

Carnegie was not a hero, because a hero does a deed selflessly, but he thought a lot about himself. 184,400,000 dollars was spent on big-name corporations and associations that would honor him by naming a meaningful belonging after him (Doc C). Carnegie was a man who wanted to feed his ego but should have donated money to help the community, not make himself known. Andrew Carnegie was not a true hero. Many may say, going from rags to riches makes Carnegie a hero. Going from rags to riches makes someone a role model to others, to show how life can be improved through any situation. Andrew took money from good people, he only gave to other wealthy associations, and contributed mainly to his own company. A hero performs acts to help the community, discreetly or anonymously; Andrew Carnegie did