Ida Tarbell
In my experience, a hero can often be described as someone who sacrifices, and puts others before themselves, which is what many people did in American History. Specifically during the progressive period, many big names contributed to the growth of social and political reform. One person that contributed in some way to this booming idea was Ida Tarbell. Family history, and curiosity to achieve something great pushed Ida Tarbell to be the change she wanted to see in her lifetime. Selfless acts done to see this change is a prime example of a hero.
Growing up Ida was surrounded by business, and lived in an era which many people were driven to become the change the world needed. For example, Ida’s desire to observe and understand led her to research deeply about …show more content…
To add, an even more important driving factor was the fact that her dad’s small oil business was shut down because of the lack of business it received caused by Rockefeller’s monopoly (3). No one likes to fail, and it’s even worse to have to watch a loved one fail. Therefore, anger can also be a motivational factor, which was aimed at John D. Rockefeller. With good motivation, Ida also used preparation to become the change she wanted to be.
With motivation came the preparation, everything that would lead her to success. For instance, Ida used her creative and talented writing skills to work as a managing editor of
Chautauquan magazine (2). As editor, she used her writing to share social or political issues occurring at the time. Tarbell always followed the facts and never wrote anything she didn’t have proof of. Moreover, though Ida did quite a bit of writing on social change, she was against
Ida Tarbell 3 suffrage movements, especially ones that fold to violent protests (4). A hero never intentionally hurts others, but is more peaceful, and that’s what Tarbell was. Preparation was achieved