A Steady Run Analysis

There are many ways that people can look at life. Some people can think of life as a race while others think of it as a steady run. The people who see life as a race are more determined on success to prove things to other people and the people who see life as a steady run are more determined to focus on success for themselves. The race can be a goal that someone has set for themselves to achieve to show others how great this person is. This can be a bad and a good thing. We need competitive people in our society so others want to continually become better. But, this can also be a bad thing because massive competitiveness can cause a society to collapse. Smith explains this well when he explains, “The work didn’t break me; if anything it made me stronger in many ways, and the governor knew, when I left, that his dispute had got him nowhere,” (Page 1230). The amount of races we have throughout our life has to be balanced with steady runs to make sure everything stays in place. The steady run can also have strengths and weaknesses. While a …show more content…
Without these failures and success from the races and steady runs, he would not be the same character. During the story, Smith explains that he personally likes the steady run better because he can think for himself and about what he wants to accomplish. People, like Smith, would agree that while they are running there is too much time for them to think about things that concern them. For example the whole time Smith runs the race he realizes that, “that as far as I was concerned this feeling was the only honesty and realness there was in the world and I knowing it would be no different..” (page 1225). This lonely thought process is what makes him realize why he should protest. This inner conflict from the steady run is what makes the story so valuable. Without goals we set for ourselves, we can be self