The Fallacy of Success

The essay’s title sets the foundation of readers’ expectations. In philosophical discourse, a fallacy is an error of reasoning. Before his first sentence, Chesterton puts his readers in a position of suspicion, though not toward himself. Rather, somebody somewhere is thinking of success incorrectly, and it is Chesterton’s task to identify who that is and to explain the nature of the fallacy to his readers. The title thus signals the essay’s persuasive nature.

Chesterton makes use of the literary device of argument throughout his essay: He cannot merely state his position but must defend it to convince readers and earn their allegiance. He first identifies a nebulous category of authors of various books and articles about success as those responsible for fallacious reasoning about success. In what follows, Chesterton’s argumentative strategy evolves from a logical refutation of the relevance of the idea of success, to a practical refutation of books about success as useless, culminating in an ethical refutation of the ideal of material success as morally degenerative.

Considering Chesterton’s rhetorical context—writing for an illustrated journal marketed to a broad audience of ordinary people—his commitment to writing an essay structured on argument is not without risk. Argumentation can be dull, dense, and seemingly pointless—much like the very writing Chesterton is criticizing. To avoid turning off readers, “The Fallacy of Success” therefore uses various rhetorical strategies to spark interest. Of these, paradox is notable as a derivative of argument. The title, for example, suggests a contradiction: “Success” would seem by definition to preclude “fallacy.” Such apparent inconsistencies aim to keep readers alert and engaged by introducing unexpected knots in the thread of his argument.

The essay’s paradoxes are sporadic, however. Chesterton’s choice of tone betrays his own beliefs about what will most effectively and consistently complement good argument to secure his readers’ agreement. As in his other writings, Chesterton presents himself not as a distant scholar condescending to reveal an esoteric truth to the “ignorant masses,” but as a close, intimate friend happily and humbly sharing a commonsense truth. Contributing significantly to Chesterton’s amicable, accessible tone is his vernacular diction and his use of first-person plural pronouns to allow readers to imagine themselves as personal acquaintances of his who share his sensible opinions. Many passages do both, avoiding using academic or technical language while letting his readers pretend to share his insight and associate with his cause: “[W]e see quite clearly what is really at the bottom of all these articles and books” (7). His framing of his position as sensible, plain, and “perfectly obvious” contributes to the effect.

Chesterton also uses humor throughout his essay to seem friendly and confident and to make his readers feel comfortable. Humor makes discourse informal and even personal; it is typically friends who share jokes with each other, not strangers. Chesterton justifies his use of humor by remarking that the subjects of his essay, books about success, are “the silliest ever known among men” (1); the implication is that they cannot be treated with a straight face. However, where books about success are unintentionally comical, Chesterton knowingly deploys techniques such as parody, satire, and sarcasm. This again fosters intimacy with readers because they are in on a joke.

“The Fallacy of Success” incorporates several emergent themes that add depth to Chesterton’s overarching argument against books on success. The most important is The Complexity of Falsehood and the Simplicity of Truth. Chesterton repeatedly strives to persuade his readers that he is not merely criticizing error but exposing falsehoods that have been mischievously concealed. Books about success are not merely wrong, nor their authors merely ignorant. Rather, these authors deliberately rely on verbosity and emotional appeal to maintain a pretense of authority and credibility. By contrast, Chesterton writes concisely, plainly, and without self-aggrandization because he believes his is the side of truth and that readers will appreciate his frankness and understandability.

Chesterton’s transition to spiritual themes in his discussion of mysticism marks the beginning of a second theme: The Instinct to Worship. While Chesterton implies that all humans have a religious impulse, this is not in and of itself a good thing, even to a Christian writer. Since instinct is innate, not learned, it may coexist with ignorance. Chesterton identifies in the author of “The Instinct that Makes People Rich” an attitude of worship that is both instinctive and grounded in spiritual ignorance, which Chesterton calls mysticism. Chesterton explores the relationships between these concepts while leaving room for readers to ponder whether a different form of worship might be possible—one grounded in awareness rather than ignorance.

The last important theme of “The Fallacy of Success” is The Viciousness of New Values. In reality, Chesterton suggests, these values are not truly original; books about gaining wealth and status may be new, but Chesterton brands the ideal underlying them with the old religious label of “avarice.” Nevertheless, he recognizes and reacts aggressively to the parading and promoting of this value (formerly condemned as immoral), a celebration that is indeed new. By associating virtue with ancient myth and traditional religion and vice with trending, current publications, Chesterton casts suspicion on the new ideas of his time.