30 pages • 1 hour read
The Greatest Salesman in the World
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Chapters 13-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary: “The Scroll Marked VI”
The sixth scroll stresses the importance of mastering one’s emotions by mastering one’s actions. By thinking and acting with positivity, one can overcome doubt. As nature does, human moods follow a cycle: By understanding this cycle within oneself and others, a person can exercise control, compassion, and optimism. According to the scroll, a person can forgive hate by knowing that tomorrow will bring another side to people.
Chapter 14 Summary: “The Scroll Marked VII”
The seventh scroll discusses the need for happiness and humility. Someone who is able to laugh at themselves and the world can be happy by knowing that nothing that happens today is necessarily significant in the big picture. From a medical perspective, laughter increases longevity. Being able to laugh at oneself, at both successes and failures, allows one to maintain perspective.
Chapter 15 Summary: “The Scroll Marked VIII”
The eighth scroll is about multiplying one’s contributions and potential and never settling. It illustrates these ideas with a grain of wheat, being planted and producing a thousand grains. A person who wants success must live this way, allowing their potential to sprout and grow over time. They must set goals for today, tomorrow, a month later, and a year later—and these goals must be high. Finally, announcing one’s goals to the world encourages a person to live up to them.
Chapter 16 Summary: “The Scroll Marked IX”
The ninth scroll stresses the need to live and act for today. It repeats the phrase “I will act now” (95), reinforcing the message that there is no tomorrow in which to pursue success. Procrastination comes from a fear of failure and must be banished: A successful person acts quickly and intentionally. They see days as opportunities, motivated to fulfill each day’s potential—rather than risk “failure, misery, and sleepless nights” (97).
Chapter 17 Summary: “The Scroll Marked X”
The 10th scroll details humankind’s purpose and relationship with God, as well as the need for God’s guidance to achieve success. It states that all creatures call out to divinity in times of need and that one need not be religious to have this instinct. However, a person should only seek guidance for strength—never fame or wealth. If one’s prayers are unanswered, this is an answer in itself. According to the scroll, the previous scrolls’ principles can only be realized with God’s guidance.
Chapter 18 Summary
Three years have passed since Hafid began awaiting his destined successor. One day, a beaten man in rags appears at Hafid’s palace. Erasmus hesitates to let him meet Hafid, but the man is insistent. Erasmus guides the man to Hafid, who naps in his garden. He wakes Hafid and presents the man, who introduces himself as Saul or Paul, who hails from Tarsus and Rome. As a Jewish Pharisee, he was instructed to find Jesus’ followers and send them to Jerusalem to be punished. However, he saw a bright star and began spreading the word of Jesus. Paul tells Hafid the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and presents one of Jesus’ remaining possessions—a red robe. Hafid is shocked to find that the robe is the one he gave to a newborn baby in Bethlehem. Paul confirms that Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem, and Hafid confirms he witnessed a bright star while returning to Pathros. The two men embrace and cry. Hafid realizes he has found his successor and bids Erasmus to give Paul the 10 scrolls.
Chapters 13-18 Analysis
In Chapters 13-18, Hafid’s remaining scrolls reinforce the importance of internalizing the previous ones. In order to live up to the mantra of “I will become a master of myself” (82), one must be in full control of their emotions. One must understand natural cycles and moods and, with them, the need for laughter. This knowledge and openness makes it easier to form relationships and therefore sell, find love, and more. The scrolls stress the importance of meeting every negative emotion with a positive action. This contradiction pushes the brain to adjust to one’s actions: For example, “If I feel depressed I will sing” (80). By acting happy, one can become happy to a degree. By sharing this happiness, one can inspire others to share interest. Again, this idea is meant to inspire but oversimplifies mental struggles like clinical depression.
Like the third scroll’s use of a desert, the eighth scroll equates realizing potential to a grain of wheat: “One grain of wheat when multiplied a hundredfold will produce a hundred stalks. Multiply these a hundredfold, ten times, and they will feed all the cities of the earth” (92). While persistence remains key to success, both scrolls use natural imagery to reinforce humans’ reliance on other powers and responsibility to other people. The 10th scroll reinforces the novella’s religious undertone, as it details a person’s relationship with God and the importance of seeking guidance rather than answers. Fulfilling one’s divine purpose means fulfilling one’s potential, which often requires help. Hafid himself believes his success is owed to the scrolls and his willingness to follow their teachings regarding The Nature of Success. The novella’s twist, in which Hafid’s destined successor Paul produces Jesus’ red robe, may be predicted by those knowledgeable of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Paul’s arrival brings the story full circle, allowing Hafid to fulfill his divine purpose as Pathros did.
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