In this story of a twisted huckster using a disowned ugly child to create money, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. Understand that if someone is trying to help you make a living, they don’t speak badly about you. You should be able to tell the difference between someone stating something and someone marketing something. Just because the most important person to you left you, it doesn’t mean you should immediately trust the first person that asks to take you away.
Someone that cares about you doesn’t speak badly about you to make people interested in you. You don’t talk badly about someone to spark people’s interest then say you like the person you are speaking badly about. Ross uses Joseph’s ugliness to draw attention and money and doesn’t even acknowledge him as another human being he says: “Then pay me nothing. Enter sir. Merrick, stand up. Ya bloody donkey, up, up.” He treats Joseph as if he is nothing more than a livestock that produces money and puts him into a box and makes him sit on the hard ground. He doesn’t even give him anything to do while he waits for the customers to come and see him. This shows how uncaring Ross actually is in reality. Ross should be more caring to Joseph and make the room a little more comfortable at least or at best go do a different business entirely. He should think about his life choices and why he decided not to go to a different line of work instead of scamming people for life and using someone else and not your own skills. Caring for someone isn’t a person that insults your features to make people like you.
It is important to have the ability to differentiate someone informing someone else and giving good detail and someone that is saying nonsense to get attention. This is important because you can tell what person has intelligence and will also make a good, hard worker. Ross is over exaggerating things, saying absolute nonsense like: half man half elephant and wrath of mother nature, and also not even describing him properly. Treves, on the other hand, writes an entire long paper about his physical appearance; look how detailed his description of Joseph’s head is: “The most striking feature about him was his enormous head. Its circumference was about that of a man’s waist. From the brow there projected a huge bony mass like a loaf, while from the back of his head hung a bag of spongy fungus-looking skin, the surface of which was comparable to brown cauliflower. On the top of the skull were a few long lank hairs.” This shows that he is observing Joseph in a matter of science, not in a matter of advertising. There is extreme importance in the ability to know if someone is telling the truth, or advertising.
Trusting someone right away is not a very good decision. If someone thinks that you are a good person, that’s a compliment, but if they insist you should go with them somewhere, then don’t trust them. Ross is not a very trustworthy person, but Joseph couldn’t tell when he was 3 so now Ross abuses him for money. Just look at this: “Sir, I’m Ross. I look out for him, get him his living. Found him in Leicester workhouse. His own ma put him there age of three. Couldn’t bear the sight, well you can see why. We—he and I—are in business. He is our capital, see. Go to a bank. Go anywhere. Want to borrow capital, you pay interest. Scientists even. He’s good value though. You won’t find another like him."He is only talking about money and only cares about money and doesn’t even care for Joseph enough to tell him what is happening to him. Joseph should be treated better; Ross should get the thought “I need to make money” out of his head sometimes because he doesn’t even care for Joseph anymore and only cares about money. If you think someone isn’t trustworthy, it is not a good idea to test that theory in real life.
We may learn many important things from this tale of an obsessed corrupt businessman who makes money by using a disowned unattractive child. Caring for someone doesn't mean insulting their features to make people like you. It's important to differentiate between people who are telling the truth and those who are exaggerating things. Ross's treatment of Joseph, treating him as a livestock for money, is uncaring. Treves' detailed description of Joseph's physical appearance is more accurate. Trusting someone immediately is not a good decision, as it's not a good idea to trust someone who only cares about money. Treating someone better and focusing on making money is crucial for building trust.
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