Benjamin Franklyn coined the concept of "Self-Made Man", applying it to himself, the poor son of an unknown candle-maker who made his way up in society. The concept was further developed by Frederick Douglass. But in fact it goes back to the Roman concept of novus homo: who achieved a seat in the Senate without familiar precedents, such as Cicero.
A self-made man own his destiny and time and self. He is authentically free. The opposite is being slave. A self-made man struggles to free himself, the slave resigns to his fate.
Opposites tend to look similar...
Bobby Carlyle, Self-Made Man
Michelangelo, Bearded Slave (1525-1530)
2 comments:
It is, however, evident in these two sculptures that the "self-made man" has a hammer and a chisel and the slave doesn't. Education, virtue, determination are the tools that the former use to free himself that the latter lacks of...
Great entry, by the way.
Agree!
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