from Something "I MEAN to be somebody, and do something useful in the world," said the eldest of five brothers. "I don't care ho
w humble my position is, so that I can only do some good, which will be something. I intend to be a brickmaker; bricks are always wanted, and I shall be really doing something." "Your 'something' is not enough for me," said the second brother; "what you talk of doing is nothing at all, it is journeyman's work, or might even be done by a machine. Nol I should prefer to be a builder at once, there is something real in that.... This is what I call something." "I call it all nothing," said the third; "not in reality any position. There are many in a town far above a master builder in position. You may be an upright man, but even as a master you will only be ranked among common men. I know better what to do than that. I will be an architect, which will place me among those who possesses riches and intellect, and who speculate in art...." (from "Something" by Hans Christian Andersen) What is the theme of this passage?
