Essay On Fat Acceptance And The Culture Of Overwork

A story has the power to influence someone’s emotional state. Funny stories can make people laugh. Tragic stories can break the readers’ hearts. And romantic stories can cause someone’s heart to pound, making him or her to fall in love with an imaginative character. These effects are due to the atmosphere or mood created by the author, using different ways. The author generates the mood through his or her tone. The diction or choice of words also develops the mood in writing. Furthermore, themes, which specify the author’s perspective, cultivate the mood of the story. In these essays: “Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer” (“Acceptance”) by Cynara Geissler and “The Culture of Overwork” (“Overwork”) by Judy Rebick, the authors both desire for change, so whoever reads one of these written pieces will be able to sense the author’s feelings. Geissler wants to convince the reader that being fat is not bad. A person must accept himself or herself no matter what their body figure looks like. Rebick, on the other hand, wants to persuade the reader to raise the issue of overwork in Canada. Geissler

and Rebick both deliver inspiring messages; however, the mood of Rebick’s story is better than Geissler’s.
The reader observes the attitude of the author towards the subject being discussed, so the author’s tone may change the reader’s interest. For instance, in “Acceptance”, Geissler says, “Pervasive rhetoric – capitalist, religious, economic – tells us that suffering and self-sacrifice pave the way to success, and allow us to explain away injustice, to believe that swallowing a daily dose of shit is acceptable, part of the game” (331). Her tone creates an angry feeling. This helps the reader to feel the personal situation that she has been through and understand the purpose of her story. Conversely, Rebick’s tone in “Overwork” creates a serious tone. She talks about facts and current events to support her topic. Rebick mentions, “A Statistics Canada report from November 1999 says that one-third of those aged 25 to 44 describe themselves as workaholics” (427). An information like this alerts the reader that there is a severe issue, and it needs to be addressed.
Another factor that builds the mood is the choice of words.

Because Geissler expresses anger in “Acceptance”, she uses informal, combined and complex words such as “shit”, “lazy-science-and-blanket-judgment”, “cacophonous” and “panopticon” (330-332). Using these kinds of words are acceptable as long as they are limited. Nevertheless, “Acceptance” contains too many difficult and perplexing words – that can be compared to a code that cannot be deciphered. In “Overwork”, Rebick uses formal and simple words which help the reader to completely understand the main idea. Reading “Overwork” is like reading a news report; the details are clearly stated. For example, Rebick writes, “But Ontario is going in the opposite direction with the proposal to extend the workweek to 60 hours if the employee and the employer agree” (428). This statement obviously implies Rebick’s opinion about the

issue.
Finally, the way the theme is presented contributes to the overall atmosphere of the story. Both Geissler and Rebick introduce their themes starting at the essay’s title. In “Acceptance”, the title gives the reader the idea that the essay will tell an important lesson about being physically overweight. While in “Overwork”, the title provides a hint that there is a problem in people’s belief regarding overwork. Additionally, both authors’ essays are based on their personal experiences, and that is an effective way to connect the story to the reader’s imagination. In “Acceptance”, Geissler reveal her past when she says, “Back when I was punishing my body with four-hour workouts…” (332). Telling her own experience, she explains the subject well and impresses the reader. Similarly, Rebick’s way of telling her own experience is remarkable. She tells her story in the introduction with this ending sentence: “…I had decided to break from the workaholic behaviour that was driving my life” (426).
Geissler and Rebick are respectable professional writers. Their writings bring inspiration to the reader. But because of the difference in their styles, they show a variety of moods that affect the reader’s interest. As a reader of their works, I am impressed and inspired with their messages. In “Acceptance”, I have learned that each person’s body and figure are unique, and the comments of other people about it should not provoke a person to start abusing his or her own body. In “Overwork”, I have learned the importance of knowing employment rights. Every person must ensure that their rights are being respected in the workplace. Both Geissler and Rebick successfully delivered their message to me. Rebick’s ideas in “Overwork” flow smoothly from the beginning to the end, and I felt comfortable reading it. On the contrary, I had to spend a long time understanding “Acceptance” because of the large number of difficult words included in the story. I felt tired reading it couple of times. This makes Rebick’s “Overwork” better than Geissler’s “Acceptance”.