John Pierpont Morgan, one of the most influential men in America, was diagnosed with rhyinophyma late in his life. Morgan’s nose slowly turned to a large purple bulb which became the sign or his recognition in later stages of his life. In a newspaper article, Morgan is quoted as saying that, although a disease might not be good news for most people, Morgan enjoyed his time with rhyinophyma, and one time he said to an European visitor: “If I come to New York with my nose cured, every street boy will point to me and split his sides laughing. Everybody knows my nose and it would be impossible for me to appear on the streets of New York without it.” Beside pointing to Morgan’s physical look, Doctorow’s reference to rhinophyma when he was talking about his rhinophyma could also be seen as a symbol that was intended to show Morgan’s wealth, while according to Doctorow rhinophyma “was a chronic disease that had colonized his nose” (139). Noting that diction, “colonized,” one can read how Doctorow shows that Morgan himself was a chronic disease that “colonized” every business and he was proud of it as he thought it was “ a touch of god upon him” (139). Morgan didn’t wanted to cure his disease for his look. This choice shows that he didn’t want to get rid of his philosophy of colonizing the economy, perhaps because that was also a characteristic that made him unique and different from others.
By Muheb Esmat
Works Cited
Books: A Nose for Business . The Independent , 11 July 1999. Web. 4 May 2011. <http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books-a-nose-for-business-1105757.html>.
Corey, Lewis. The House of Morgan: A Social Biography of the Masters of Money . 1930. New York: AMS , 1969. Print.
Wepman, Dennis. "Morgan, J. P." In Hoogenboom, Ari, and Gary B. Nash, eds.Encyclopedia of American History: The Development of the Industrial United States, 1870 to 1899, Revised Edition (Volume VI). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, May 5, 2011. <http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVI198&SingleRecord=True
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