Robert Warren once spoke of the difficult necessity of self-knowledge. What does this mean exactly? What does it mean to know ourselves? And does it really matter if we stay true to ourselves? In the story The Patented Gate and the Mean Hamburger by Robert Warren, Jeff York is a hard-working farmer who must choose between keeping his farm or buying the inn his wife wants. He ultimately chooses to sell his farm and buy the inn. Unfortunately he kills himself shortly after. Jeff York was a man who knew his place in society, where he came from and what he had accomplished in his life. However, because he ultimately fails to stay true to himself, he sells out his dreams and his life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Jeff York was a man with a strong identity, he knew his place in society and where he came from. When the York family was in town, Jeff York stood on the corner with all the other old farmers not because he had to but, as the story goes, because his father had been with their fathers and his grandfathers with their grandfathers, or with the men. like their fathers he accepted his place in the country and in society, and was comfortable being with the other old farmers just as his ancestors had done before him. Jeff York came from a tradition of hard-working people who had to work hard just to survive, and he knew the curse that followed them. They only knew the life they knew, and that life did not belong to the rich lands of the bottom, where the sugar cane was grown. with their heads held high... So they passed by those places and looked for the place that was like home and where they could resume their old life, with the same feeling in their bones... Jeff York was quite aware of the results he had achieved during his life, and he was rightly very proud of it. While Jeff stood with the old sharecroppers on the corner, one thing made him different, he broke the cycle of sharecropping and got his place. It had taken him more than thirty years to do it, from when he was just a little boy until he was fifty. It had taken him from one sun to another, year after year, and all the sweat in his body, and all the force of denial he could muster... The work he did for this place was another testament to the His fortitude when he bought the place wasn't very good. The land was degraded from years of neglect and abuse. But Jeff York placed brush in ravines to stop the wash and planted clover on degraded fields. He repaired the fences, rod by rod. He patched the roof of the cottage and shored up the porch, purchasing the lumber and shingles almost piece by piece... The final step in realizing his dream was when he assembled his patented gate. The gate was the seal that Jeff York had put on all the years of sweat and rejection. He could sit on the porch on a summer Sunday afternoon, before milking time, and look down the hill, along the winding dirt road, to the white gate beyond the clover, and know what he needed to know about all the years passed. Unfortunately, Jeff York betrays himself and his dreams when he sells his house to purchase the Dew Drop Inn. Jeff York was a good man and cared for his wife and family. He didn't want to deny his wife her dream of owning the inn. Jeff York decides to sell his house and land. It wasn't an easy decision for a man who has gone through so much and worked so hard to achieve everything he has. The banker in the story tells the reaction.