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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: what he had saved by his cheap meals and room and went to Boston with
it, and for a few hours thoroughly ceased being ascetic. Yet Oscar felt
meritorious when he considered Bertie and Billy; for, like the
socialists, merit with him meant not being able to live as well as your
neighbor. You will think that I have given to Oscar what is familiarly
termed a black eye. But I was once inclined to applaud his struggle for
knowledge, until I studied him close and perceived that his love was not
for the education he was getting. Bertie and Billy loved play for
play's own sake, and in play forgot themselves, like the wholesome young
creatures that they were. Oscar had one love only: through all his days
whatever he might forget, he would remember himself; through all his
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