William Lowell Kane - Motivation

Motivation

William Lowell Kane was born into a family of established wealth and status. As far as William’s father was concerned, the expectation, in fact the reason for his birth, was for William to assume the position of president and chairman of the family bank. In order to understand the actions of the character of William Kane, one must understand the motivations involved.

Motivation can come from many diverse sources. One of the strongest motivators in human nature is that of a parent’s influence and expectations. William’s beloved father died aboard the Titanic when William was only six years old. His earliest memories were of his father preoccupied with the family business. The usual routine was for Richard, William’s father, to put business before family. Richard was an unemotional, distant man. The only way William was able to connect with his father, either emotionally or physically, was to show an interest and aptitude in finances. As a young child, William practiced mathematics, and even complained to Richard of only having a small portion of his studies devoted to mathematics. William viewed his father as omnipotent. When his father died, young William fully expected that his father had survived, in spite of the North Atlantic Ocean. Of course, this was not the case, and William eventually was able to put his grief aside. He focused instead on becoming his father.

Without Richard himself to guide William, he had to depend on the recollections of his father’s family, friends, and business associates. When friends and business associates spoke of Richard, William paid rapt attention to the details spoken about his father. After death, it is not uncommon for the deceased to take on exaggerated, larger than life attributes. The negative traits are quietly forgotten or tucked away in hidden corners of a mind. They collect dust and are rarely, if ever, seen again.

Such was the case with William’s memories of his father, as well as those of his Grandmother Kane, William’s paternal grandmother. The remembrances of a mother for her dead child are undoubtedly biased on the side of perfection. She was a strong influence in William’s development. She influenced his behavior from an early age. This influence began by Grandmother Kane giving him a ledger for maintaining a record of his money. William knew that