Importance of Character in Jan Beatty's Poem, A Waitress's Instructions on Tipping or Get the Cash Up and Don't Waste My Time
Jan Beatty's waitress teaches us that no amount of money can make up for poor character. The poem "A Waitress's Instructions on Tipping or Get the Cash Up and Don't Waste My Time" is a plea from a waitress, tired and overworked, to us, her customers. Throughout the first twenty-nine lines, she gives commands on how to tip and stresses the importance of money in the relationship between waitress and customer. At the end of line 29, we would describe the waitress as cold, materialistic, and unattached from her customers. Then, in the final line, she tells us, "If you're miserable, there's not enough money in the world." After reading this final line, we realize that the entire poem exists just to prepare the reader for the climax of that last line. To show the importance of a person's character, she builds up the importance of money throughout the entire poem, and then says that character is more important.
Beatty uses rhetorical schemes throughout the poem to achieve different purposes. The most visual of these is the anaphora that she repeatedly uses, both to highlight the themes in those lines and to stress the line that that follows. Lines 7-9 all begin with "Never." The repetition of such a strong word reminds us of a scolding parent or teacher and serves to grab our attention. Also, as all three lines are closely related in meaning, the anaphora makes the meaning of the lines more apparent; if we missed the point on the first line, we still have two more chances. Following those three lines, the waitress says, "Overtip, overtip, overtip" (10). The repetitive sound of the anaphora in a way lulls us, only to be jolted back by the important command to overtip. Line 10 could sum up the theme of the majority of the poem; its placement following the anaphora helps us to realize its significance. Beatty again uses anaphora in lines 26-29 which all begin with "Don't say." The purpose of these lines is almost identical to that of lines 7-9. They repeat an important point (not to say inappropriate things to the waitress) and, more importantly, create a lulling, repetitive sound that will be shattered by the important line following them.
Similarly, the use of parallelism stresses the importance of lines throughout the poem.
Life is not always easy, at some point, people struggle in their life. People who are in the lower class have to struggle for a job every day and people who are in upper class also have their own problems to deal with. These ideas are very clear in Mary Oliver’s “Singapore”, Philip Schultz’s “Greed” and Philip Levine “What Work Is”. In "Singapore" a woman is likely lower class because she works at the airport and her job is to clean the bathroom. In both “Greed” and “What Work Is”, the speakers make the same conclusion about the struggle in the lower class. “Greed” furthermore discusses how Hispanics get a job first before whites and blacks because they take lower wages. All three poems deal with class in term of the society. The shared idea
The informal language and intimacy of the poem are two techniques the poet uses to convey his message to his audience. He speaks openly and simply, as if he is talking to a close friend. The language is full of slang, two-word sentences, and rambling thoughts; all of which are aspects of conversations between two people who know each other well. The fact that none of the lines ryhme adds to the idea of an ordinary conversation, because most people do not speak in verse. The tone of the poem is rambling and gives the impression that the speaker is thinking and jumping from one thought to the next very quickly.
A dystopia- “an imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror” (Dystopia). Aldous Huxley demonstrates just that in his book Brave New World. In Brave New World Huxley creates a perfectly stable society through using clones. This society achieved this stability through the administering and conditioning of the brain. Huxley an extreme humanist feared this future society because of the work of other extremist with theories that could not be proven (Chunk) Sigmund Freud known as he father of psychoanalysis, was a physiologist, medical doctor, and influential thinker of the early twentieth century” (Thornton), he came up with many strange ideas about the human brain that many psychologist struggled to come to acceptance with, but these theories made him an acclaimed psychologist. His ideas could not be scientifically proven by any means, but that did not matter to the public. They exalted Freud and everything he stood for. Huxley saw how Freud’s discoveries left everybody in apprehension, and that intimidated him, Huxley saw how effortlessly people could be manipulated by one person who had no tangible scientific evidence to back his philosphy up. The gullibility of Huxley’s society not only scared him, but it petrified him. In Brave New World Huxley uses an innumerous amount of Freud’s concepts to show America the consequences of being so easily deceived. In the book Huxley used Ford as a god like figure they would say “our Ford” in place of saying “our Lord” but at times Huxley would perspicaciously change Ford’s name to Freud thus saying “our Freud.” This minor component often ends up getting discounted by the reader because Freud’s name never explicitly gets m...
The poet conveys his attitude toward the character in a detached manner, seeing as the poem is not written in the perspective of the character or someone close to him. The speaker details the actions of the character in a sympathetic, respectful tone, but the choice of actions that the poet chooses to include seem to mock him. Perhaps most representative of this assertion is the choice to make the first word of both the novel and the poem “Cabbage,” immediately indicating that the novel the character has waited years to write will likely not be of good quality (1). Additionally, the poet uses the simile “a trophy pen, / like a trophy wife,” describing the pen that would play such an integral role in writing the novel with a negative connotation (2-3). The repetition of the phrase “not cheap” suggests that the extensive amount of resources the character has invested in the creation of his novel may have simply been a waste. Additionally, the detail that the character “dreamed in free moments at his office” and “excitingly” began writing is undercut by the first word being “cabbage” (17-21). In the event that the first word was more mellow, the tone of the poet would be very similar to that of the speaker. However, the choices in detail as well as the use of specific literary devices keep the tone of the poet and the tone of the speaker on two different
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First, I will tell you about the conspiracy behind the Illuminati. The Illuminati was created by German thinker Adam Weishaupt in the 18th century (“Meet the Man Who Started the Illuminati.”). He created this secret society that nobody knew about, making this a very prestigious group. Adam Weishaupt lived a very conventional life, very average, he went worked as a professor
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
LeMieux, the author and narrator of Breakfast at Sally’s, describes one day during his time living in poverty. He spends money driving a man named C around Bremerton, Washington and spends even more money eating at a Chinese restaurant. During this excerpt from LeMieux’s book, both C and LeMieux are poor, yet they had a nice, comfortable day with extra Mai Tai’s and lots of money spent on gas. The fact that these two men had money to spend on eating out and driving makes LeMieux’s description of poverty less believable and accurate.
Worrying about finances and other adult dilemmas aren’t destined for a teenager, but here’s a boy who does. JR, a boy in the story, The Tender Bar, worries a great amount which is not common for the average teenager. The author, J.R. Moehringer, clarifies that JR is progressing towards a tough and stressing part of his life, at the same time, he’s trying to support his mother and also making sure that she doesn’t overwork herself. JR is the perfect example of an individual who uses the Habits of Mind, because he is observant, educated, and cautious. In the end, JR finds a job at a bookstore as a cashier with “Bill and Bud”, his bosses.
The founder was a man named Adam Weishaupt who had split away from the Catholic Church to form the secret group, The Illuminati. Much of the Illuminati’s involvement and work remained in secrecy. Although, the first claim against the Illuminati was the groups involvement with the Napoleonic Wars, and were also considered by a few to be responsible for the French Revolution of 1789(Stewart). Although these claims vary greatly from wars to secret involvements, it’s hard to know their exact involvement and to trace down the history behind them. Many theorists believe that the Congress of Vienna, which was assembled in November of 1814, was formed by the Illuminati. From there, it is believed that the Illuminati devised a plan for three world wars to occur over the course of the twentieth century that would ultimately form a one world government
One of the most controversial topics that seems interesting, and occurs now on Earth, is that people are being exploited and deceived. Earth is being assaulted and destructed day after day by one organization. The organization was created in 1717. They do not pray only for the father of Hebrew Scriptures, they worship the old gods of old mysteries. They believe that god was human and have created Jesus (Keohane, n.d). They were planning on achieving their goals. One of their goals is "to dominate the whole world by forming one government and to put the whole blame on the Jews in order that people will fall into the trap of following the Brotherhood" Moreover, they're aiming to take on or conquer the temple mount in Jerusalem, reconstruct it, then start what their work on what they are aiming for (Levin, n.d). It was introduced first in North America, but its origins scheme was in England (Stewart, n.d). In addition, it was introduced by the liberal, and planned to vanish the flourishing Romanian lodges (Clark, 2012). This organization is called Freemasonry. Many people are oblivious about this type of believe and doesn't know about this type of organization. Freemasonry is a fraternal organization that traces its origins to the local communities of stonemasons. "Freemasonry isn’t a religion, but when you read about it you'll find information from people who oppose masonry because they believe it’s a religion"(Fannin, n.d), all men of religion is accepted but they must believe in Deity. It’s also a structure of Christianity, and a principle of faith (Hall, n.d). Freemasonry was an old political weapon. It was introduced by the liberal, and planned to vanish the flourishing Romanian lodges (Clark, 2012). The Nature of the life excha...
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