Question

Please help ASAP!! You will write one well-developed paragraph of at least 7-8 sentences. In your paragraph, identify one major idea in the memoir "No Gumption." Then identify one sentence in the passage that directly develops or refines that main idea. Explain how that sentence develops the main idea you identified. (I just need an answer for guidess, I have no intention of copying it!)

Answer 1

The tone of Russell Baker's memoir "No Gumption," originally the second chapter of his autobiography "Growing Up," is gently and comically nostalgic, although he describes difficult economic times. He recounts his mother's attempts to make him an economic success.

Baker's humorous tone turns ironic as his mother brings in a smooth-talking salesman from the "Saturday Evening Post," who asks "have you the grit ... the never-say-die spirit it takes to succeed in business?" Russell winds up peddling magazines out of a satchel, but his mother sees it as a golden opportunity. Russell "bowed to superior will and entered the world of journalism with a heavy heart."

Answer 2

One of the main ideas that the author presents in this paragraph is the need to have "gumption." Gumption refers to a type of resilience or resourcefulness that allows us to navigate the world and fend for ourselves. This is the quality that Baker's mother wanted him to have in order to triumph in the world. This is conveyed throughout the story in various ways. For example, when Baker's mother tells him: "The Lord helps those who help themselves." Baker is tormented by his lack of gumption, and he cannot find a way to be that his mother is happy with. However, this does not stop her. She is determined to help him become more decisive. "She would make something of myself whether I wanted to or not," the author tells us.