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Literature and the Workplace
The relationship between literature and the workplace environment is primarily one of human emotion and interaction. How a person feels about their work, or the issues faced within the workplace are fodder for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry alike. The majority of the working masses actually have a relatively small number of experiences. Though the work itself may be different, and the specific situations unique, the overall anxiety, fears, and concerns are generally the same. This means the audience for this type of literature is wide.
Some of the common themes that are found in the literature of work might include finding one’s vocation and pride in work. These are two of the most positive experiences, and the focus of this paper. The works we will be discussing are the short story, “My Lack of Gumption,” the essay, “Pablo Picasso: Living in his own Shadow”, and the poem, “Old Men Working Concrete.” Each of these works speaks to the pride and passion of the characters doing the work.
Literature is a form of expression that allows a greater range of feeling and emotion to be experienced than any other form. Theater must rely on body language and spoken dialect to form a picture and convey feeling. The written word allows insight into the mind, to see and feel what the individual is thinking at the time. Through this work, each person can relate the work to his or her own situation. In this way, literature is interpreted in many different ways depending on the experience and background of the reader.
Workplace literature today...
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...les; “Mary Poppins” may provide the inspiration to work with children, brining joy into their life. Young teens may find themselves drawn to Detective stories and pursuing a career in Law Enforcement.
The majority of literature has some aspect of human psychology in it. If those humans are employed, there will be an element of work that the reader can relate to and perhaps apply to their own experiences. From technical guides to the literary brilliance of “Moby Dick”, literature shapes the lives of every reader. It has a place in every environment, be it the workplace or home. Pick up a book, settle under the blanket, and curl up with the mind of the writer – you are sure to find a piece of yourself there.
Reference
LaRocco, C., & Coughlin, J. (1995). The Art of Work: An anthology of Workplace Literature (one Ed.). Columbus, OH: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.
Studs Terkel published a nonfiction Working which consists many interviews among different people’s descriptions of their jobs. Through this book, Terkel demonstrates the meaning of work to different people and how their work experiences shape their attitudes about their lives. Among these interviewers, Maggie Holmes is a domestic while Dave Bender is a factory owner. Although their wages are different, Maggie Holmes and Dave Bender’s attitudes about their works are contradictory. People who love their works are passionate and happy about their lives and express less complain than those people who do not like their jobs.
I recently read the text “Blue-collar Brilliance” which was notable to me as it provided a very strong argument. As I reflect on it, I noticed that the idea of the article was categorized under “Work”, although it could easily be listed under other sections in the book I read it in, such as “Identity”.
Currently, human beings are thinking more on the line of they need work in order to make a living. For that reason, work has become meaningless, disagreeable, and unnatural. Many view work as a way to obtain money and not a meaningful human activity that one does for themselves. The author states that there are two reactions of the alienated and profoundly unsatisfactory character of the modern industrial work. One being the ideal of complete laziness and the other, hostility towards work. Fromm believes the reason why people have animosity regarding work is due to their unconscious mind. Subconsciously, a person has “a deep-seated, hostility towards work and all that is connected to it” says Fromm. I believe what Fromm is saying to be true, after all I witness it everyday. Millions of people each day goes to a work which they are dissatisfied with and that can negatively impact their attitude
In life everyone grows up trying to decide what to do when it comes time to take on a job or a career. They take in factors of what would make their friends and family proud of them, or what kind of job to achieve to make them seem vital to society. In both Charles Finn’s essay “The Dignity of Work” and Alden Nowlan’s poem “Warren Pryor,” they go into the different aspects of how “work” is viewed. They also point out a very important lesson that people should do what they enjoy in life without regard of others expectations.
Most working adults can agree that they have seen their fair share of dysfunctional relationships in the workplace. Often, we can find some humor in the actions and events that cause these relationships to become dysfunctional. In the sitcom The Office, the focus was to exaggerate the actions of dysfunctional relationships in the workplace. The show makes light of the employees who are stuck in dead-end jobs, with mundane lives and their office mishaps. Daniel Orozco’s short story “Orientation” is about a current employee providing a new employee with too much personal information about other employees and the office environment during a new hire orientation. The “Orientation” by Daniel Orozco and the NBC sitcom “The Office” give a humorous and exaggerated glimpse of dysfunctional relationships within office environments.
Weeks (2011) proposes to challenge not only the economic and political organization of work but to confront its normativity and moralization. She examines the dominant idea of the “ethic of work”, which implies work is essential to individual growth, self-fulfillment and keeps status and social recognition within society (p.11). Hence, in a struggle against work issues the central claim should be to refuse to work instead of struggle to get better wages.
People read literature an abundance of times, but yet many don’t actually undergo the appreciation of the novel. Some overlook pieces of the novel and consider it insignificant to the whole story because those readers are inexperienced. The book, How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, allows readers and students to fully comprehend the meaning behind the book, making them assured to read “like a professor”. Letting the reader to go further in depth surely helps their analytical thinking to flourish. Having no boundaries when analyzing, Foster sure provided plenty of creative imagination discussing about archetypes and how we should consider the character’s perspective.
A successful writer is he who is able to transmit ideas, emotions, and wisdom on to his readers. He is cable of stirring emotions and capturing the reader's attention with vivid descriptions and clever dialogues. The writer can even play with the meanings of words and fuse reality with fiction to achieve his goal of taking the reader on a wonderful journey. His tools are but words, yet the art of writing is found in the use of the language to create though-provoking pieces that defy the changing times. Between the lines, voices and images emerge. Not everyone can write effectively and invoke these voices. It is those few who can create certain psychological effects on the reader who can seize him (or her) with inspiring teachings, frightening thoughts, and playful games with the language. These people are true writers…
In Factotum, the subjective state of the worker is explicit through Chinaski’s everyday activities. He leads a very unconventional lifestyle. He has no aim in life. The only thing that motivates him to work is when he has absolutely nowhere to stay or mainly when he can’t afford a drink. Nothing really upsets him or makes him happy. His addic...
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. 7th compact ed. /Interactive ed. Boston, Mass.: Pearson, 2012.
As she becomes more entrenched in her work, her mind is filled with madness and perplexity. To express the confusion she is experiencing, she describes her mind as “a badly organized file,” (Piercy 8) and “a switchboard where lines crackle,” (Piercy 9-10). Being a secretary involves so many tasks, making it hard to have a clear mind. Like the secretary, the speaker in Philip Levine’s “What Work Is” understands the confusion that comes with a workload. When it begins to rain, the speaker says the rain is “falling like mist into your hair, blurring your vision,” (Levine 9). This suggests that like the secretarial job, being a male in the workforce was demanding as well. The speaker from “The Secretary Chant” cannot control the dehumanization she is experiencing, like the speaker from “What Work Is” cannot control things becoming
Literature has many purposes, and opens doors to unique worlds. Through Literature, we discover ourselves and world time and again.
Literature has had a major impact on society, and, also our history. Literature has reformed and shaped civilizations, changed political systems, and has exposed injustices (3). Our literature has changed and developed as we have, keeping up with our society. “...literature is crucial for the advancement of society (3).” With literary works, we can convince others to view things a certain way, share our opinions, and more. Literature is greatly intertwined with our society and everyday lives, and they would not be the same without it. Literature plays an irreplaceable role in our
This paper is about my occupational story, on how I started and how I am continuing. From social sciences perspective, this individual short story offers an experience and maybe it would be helpful for the beginners and undergraduate students.
Literature is rarely, if ever, merely a story that the author is trying to tell. It is imperative that the reader digs deep within the story to accurately analyze and understand the message the author is trying to portray. Authors tend to hide themselves in their stories. The reader can learn about the author through literary elements such as symbolism, diction, and structure. A good example of this is Robert Frost’s poems The Road Not Taken and Nothing Gold can Stay in which he uses ordinary language unlike many other poets that became more experimental (Frost, Robert. “1.”).