Kewauna's Ambition By Paul Tough And Michael Lewis

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What does success mean? Success can be defined as, “the gaining of wealth, respect, or fame”, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Everyone has different ideas on what success is and how to become successful. In this Essay I’ll be comparing how two authors think success is achieved. Paul Tough and Michael Lewis has completely different ideas on how success is achieved. Paul Tough’s idea that success requires hard work, dedication, and determination means success can be achieved by anyone who is willing to put forth the effort. In, ‘Don’t eat Fortune’s cookie”, Michael Lewis repeatedly talks about this thing called “luck.” Well what exactly is luck? Luck can be defined as,”success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than …show more content…
“Kewauna’s Ambition,” is about a troubled teen who is now trying to change so she can become successful. Success isn’t something that’s just handed to you, you have to work hard for it, and Paul Tough main character, Kewauna, proves this. When first getting to class she introduced herself to her professors, and sat in the front. In the second paragraph it states, “her biology professor used a lot of scientific terms in his lectures the Kewauna wasn’t familiar with. So she came up with a strategy: every time he used a word she didn’t understand, she wrote it down and put a red star next to it. At the end of the class, she waited until all the other students who wanted to talk to the professor had taken their turns, and then she went through each red-starred word with him, one by one, asking him to explain them. Kewauna spent a lot of time interacting with all her professor, in fact. She was a regular at office hours, and she e-mailed them whenever she wasn’t clear on assignments. She also tried to make one or two acquaintances among the students in each of her classes, so that if she needed help with homework and couldn’t reach the professor, she’d have someone to ask.” This is a sign of true hard work and dedication. She is determined to succeed based on the effort that she put forth. No one is going to be willing to sit at the front of the class, create a relationship with professor, stay after class for better understanding and stay up late nights for nothing. People who are willing to go the extra mile and do whatever necessary are the people who truly deserve to succeed. Succeeding isn’t anything that comes easy, your hard work will eventually pay off as long as you’re willing to put forth the effort. “No matter how overwhelming it is, no matter how exhausting it is,I’m not going to give up.” Success doesn’t

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