Work is a word that one hears on a daily basis on multiple different levels; work out, work at school, go to work, work at home, work for change. Society today is made of people that work hard every moment of their day from sunrise to twilight, these workers work for food, housing, family, education, and transportation. Essentially in today’s world if one wants something they must work for it, gone are the days where handouts are common and charity is given freely. The question then arises, who speaks for these voiceless workers that are often working so hard they have no time to voice an opposition? The authors Levine and Baca speak very well for these workers and for society in general, their narrators speak of not only work but of the world …show more content…
and the issues in it as well, which are timeless. Levine’s narrator in “What Work Is,” appears to be the person waiting for work and knows the hardships that happen at home if one does not obtain work that day.
This narrator is sad and burdened by the lack of work and by the lack of people that actually know what work is. “You know what work is----if you’re old enough to read this you know what work is, although you may not do it. Forget you.” (Levine 1036) The narrator is waiting for hours in the rain to be lucky enough to get work, however at some point he knows he may be turned away, “to the wasted waiting, to the knowledge that somewhere ahead a man is waiting who will say, “No, we are not hiring today.”” (Levine 1036) The narrator then goes on to also describe the work that relationships require, the one in the poem is between the narrator and his brother. The narrator speaks of a brother that works nights and that he is now disconnected with, he has never said that he loved him, nor kissed his cheek, “You love your brother now suddenly you can hardly stand the love flooding you for your brother, who’s not beside you or behind you or ahead of you because he’s home trying to sleep off a miserable night shift at Cadillac so he can get up by noon to study his German.” (Levine …show more content…
1036) Phillip Levine admits that this is one of his poems that is actually autobiographical, in an interview with Kristen Dupard he stated that he did wait outside for two hours in the rain at Ford until he did get an interview, by then he was so angry that he was mouthy and blew his chance at getting the job. Ford made workers wait for two hours to weed people out, if the workers wanted the job bad enough they would wait. Also at this point in his life he was not seeing his twin brother related to differences in life and marriage, Eddie’s wife did not appreciate Phil and so the two were not very involved with each other. ("Philip Levine and Kristen Dupard Discuss “What Work Is”") Levine also goes on saying that when he wrote this poem he was very disappointed in his city of Detroit and the people that he grew up with. The writing was about the time in his life from 19 to 21 years of age and then also incorporates his emotions about the Vincent Chin crime that occurred in 1982. ("Philip Levine and Kristen Dupard Discuss “What Work Is”") “What work is was written in 1991 but can easily take a person back to that wait in the rain and also delivers them to 1982 when Vincent Chin was killed for looking like a Japanese American when he was in fact a Chinese American. The crime occurred while having his bachelor party at a bar, a father and step-son beat him with a baseball bat until his head cracked screaming, “It’s because of you that we are out of work.” (Wu) Knowing those thoughts really connects this poem with the poem that was read earlier as well, “In Response to Executive Order 9066” by Dwight Okita. That particular poem was not a “Doing Justice” theme but one of “Freedom and Confinement”, which after reading all the poems those themes are very similar for the fact that one is first confined before they have an option for freedom. How many times at work are people confined by the jobs that they do or the people that are in charge of those jobs? How many times are people left in the rain cold and hungry because they cannot support their family with the job that they have? How many times are people hurt because of their race based on one person’s ignorance? There is a trend in America and the World that will never change, the trend of oppression. Speaking of oppression let us now look at the poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca, “So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans.” This poem is an issue that was written about by Baca in 1979 but is still very current in today’s society.
“I hear Mexicans are taking your jobs away. Do they sneak into town at night, and as you’re walking home with a whore, do they mug you, a knife at your throat, saying I want your job?” (Baca 1039) Baca is very intent with his speaker who obviously sympathizes with the Mexicans in this story, most likely the narrator is of Mexican descent and does not agree with the thought that Mexicans are stealing jobs. “The rifles I hear sound in the night are white farmers shooting blacks and browns whose ribs are jutting out and starving children, I see the poor marching for little work, I see small white farmers selling out to clean-suited farmers living in New York, who’ve never been on a farm.” (Baca 1039) Baca like Levine could easily be considered as the narrator of the poem, he speaks from a place in his heart that he knows well. The poem was written the year that Baca was released from prison, Baca spent five years in prison while teaching himself to read and write. Baca as a writer and as a person fits the image and profile of being confined and finding freedom which as previously stated relates so closely to justice. There are powerful moments in this poem where it relates so closely to the previous theme, “What Work Is,” the Mexicans know what work is,
the back breaking work that the Caucasians refuse to do, the work that is below them. The poem eludes to the fact that Caucasian’s “don’t know the look of hoof or the smell of a woman’s body bending all day long in fields.” (Baca 1040) The problem that this poem also looks closely at is that by unwillingness to do work and the lack of being able to share work is killing our society and killing our children. On one aspect we have children that do not know how to work because they are in love with video games and their parents give them everything with no required earning. The other aspect is that there are children that know how to work but are under privileged and starving unable to feed themselves by the wages that they earn. How is it as a society that we will fill one pocket with money that is already full by taking from a pocket that is almost empty from the start? Levine and Baca are both great poets of their time and have suffered related to what society was willing to give them whether it be waiting in line for two hours for a job that was terrible to begin with or a jail sentence for crimes that were committed. These two poets gave workers a voice that they typically wouldn’t have, these writers put the readers in the workers shoes so they can feel the muscle aches, the sweat, and the injustice of the job. As readers we are along the farmer’s fence line getting shot at, we are on the side of the road being accused of stealing jobs, and we are put in the dangerous factories of Detroit where at any moment if we are neglectful we can lose and limb. These poems are timeless since the struggles of the American workers will never end, the workers will always struggle to feed and house their families along with the new age struggle of healthcare and being able to provide proof of insurance. We are a society of American workers, minority or not, and we will work until we die; or die trying to provide the American dream.
The female, adolescent speaker helps the audience realize the prejudice that is present in a “melting-pot” neighborhood in Queens during the year 1983. With the setting placed in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, the poem allows the audience to examine the experience of a young immigrant girl, and the inequality that is present during this time. Julia Alvarez in “Queens, 1963” employs poetic tools such as diction, figurative language, and irony to teach the reader that even though America is a place founded upon people who were strangers to the land, it is now home to immigrants to claim intolerance for other foreigners, despite the roots of America’s founding.
This made her unsure of how the move to California was going to go. I never once thought about where this poem focused, but it made sense because Mexico is directly under California, which is where most of the Latinos come from. So while I was thinking that this poem was about racism, it was actually about politics. She continued on to explain that in Los Angeles all yard work is done by Latinos and the people of the city want the Latinos there, but then again don’t, and this is where the poem was being political. In the first four lines of “Bilingual Instructions” it says, “Californians say No to bilingual instruction in schools; Californians say No to bilingual instructions on ballots…” Mullen made it clear that the people of California want the Latinos there so they can eat their food and have their lawn mowed, but don’t want their children going to the schools. I found this poem to be very inspiring because it is completely true. This happens all over the United States, not just in
In today’s society you either have to work hard to live a good life, or just inherit a lump sum of cash, which is probably never going to happen. So instead a person has to work a usual nine to five just to put food on the table for their families, and in many cases that is not even enough. In the article, “Why We Work” by Andrew Curry, Curry examines the complexities of work and touches on the reasons why many workers feel unsatisfied with their jobs. Barbara Ehrenreich writes an essay called, “Serving in Florida” which is about the overlooked life of being a server and the struggles of working off low minimum wages. Curry’s standpoint on jobs is that workers are not satisfied, the job takes control of their whole life, and workers spend
He begin by introducing a town where people struggle for job to support themselves. Schultz provide a quote "Every day now more men stand at the railroad station" (3), This quote means a lot in poem because they were chosen for work. In the poem Mr. Schultz who is the speaker talk about Hispanics people get jobs first before white and black people because they owner knows Hispanics will take less money and will do all work. This in itself is already a class versus class issue. This shows how lower class are getting used for business; and the lower class people know but they are frightened and concerned about future. In the Unites States, society and class defines people based off of wealth and in this case, the Hispanics are known to be in the lower class. On the other hand the speaker talk about upper level class. Wealth plays a big role in terms of class and perspective. The problem here is that many people are looking for jobs in the United States and the Hispanics are taking the jobs of the Americans for lower wages. The lower class is worried about the money they get which is hard. The wealthy also has their own stuff to worry about which is losing their homes to banks. Just like in the first poem, it is not only about class but perspective. The wealthy has their own problems while the low class has theirs as well. Both classes have their own problems to deal
The 1990 poem “I Am Offering This Poem” by Jimmy Santiago Baca is themed around the life of a prisoner who has nothing else to offer except poetry. As one learns, more about the author’s background, the context of the poem becomes clearer. Examine this piece of information taken from the biography of Baca, “A Chicano poet, Baca served a ten-year sentence in an Arizona prison and his poetry grows out of his experience as a convict” (Baca). Baca’s experience as a prisoner reflects in his writing in that prisoners are often deprived of their rights and many of their possessions while serving a sentence. In his poem, “I Am Offering This Poem”, Baca speaks from the point of view of a prisoner having nothing to offer his love interest except the
The opening sentence of the poem clearly states the fact that “the beer company did not hire Blacks or Puerto Ricans” so his father protested by joining “the picket line.” This establishes the defensive
In “So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from Americans,” Jimmy Santiago Baca defends and shuts down the stereotype of Mexican workers. Many Americans hold resentment towards Mexicans presence in the work force, and believe that they are taking jobs away. However, many Americans don’t realize that these Mexican workers fill jobs that others do not want and are usually paid less than an American would be paid. In the beginning of the poem Baca addresses the American stereotype of Mexicans taking jobs from Americans in a very sarcastic manner. He then continues by telling the truth, that Mexicans are actually not taking jobs. He explains how Mexicans come to America to make a living for their family, which they aren’t able to get in Mexico. The poem is full of imagery, and symbolism to illustrate the American hypocrisy.
After reading the poem entitled “Youth”, I felt that James Wright was not only describing the life of his father but also the lives of the many other factory workers in the Ohio Valley. Many of these workers had either dropped out of school or went straight to the factories after high school, never really getting a chance to enjoy their lives as young `````adults. I think that has something to do with the title of this poem. It’s clear that Wright knew his father and the other men were not satisfied with their jobs and just chose not to speak about it. These factory workers slaved away and then came home “quiet as the evening” probably because they were content to just be relaxing at home with their families. They knew that this was their way of life and they had to do it, even if they had big dreams to someday get away. I think that Wright was also trying to make a point that these men who worked so hard every day were not valued as much as they should have been. These men did not have the education to get a higher paying job but they did have the proper skills and knowledge to work in the factories. I like that James Wright mentioned Sherwood Anderson in this poem as I enjoy his work. Anderson left his Ohio hometown for Chicago to pursuit bigger and better things because he knew if he stayed in the area, he would be unhappy. However, it is a little ironic that Anderson one day just got up and left in the middle of writing and was said to have a mental breakdown.
Miller’s Death of a Salesmen and Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath show the correlation between work and the development of human rights, human interaction, and the value of the American family. The Loam and Joad families exemplify how work can shape the a family‘s value and community interaction. The constant pursuit of a better life through the stability of work demonstrates a common goal that both families strived for. Work not only affects the lifestyle of a community, but also its ethical and moral attitude.
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
...ites a short 33-line poem that simply shows the barriers between races in the time period when racism was still openly practiced through segregation and discrimination. The poem captures the African American tenant’s frustrations towards the landlord as well as the racism shown by the landlord. The poem is a great illustration of the time period, and it shows how relevant discrimination was in everyday life in the nineteen-forties. It is important for the author to use the selected literary devices to help better illustrate his point. Each literary device in the poem helps exemplify the author’s intent: to increase awareness of the racism in the society in the time period.
Baca’s poem describes the white Americans’ feelings of animosity because they thought were being displaced by Mexicans. Reasons to be surprised by the correlation of the poem "So Mexicans are taking jobs from Americans" and its title is because it shows sarcasm, it is ironic, and it relates to today's society.
The difference between living to work and working to live is a great one. As times change and the amount of jobs available grows so does the need people feel to enjoy their day to day jobs. It is not only a need in society to support their families but also to be happy in both family time and work time. In “Under the Lion’s Paw” you have a family ecstatic to have a home, food, clothes, and each other. In the poem “Assembly Line” you have a worker that has clothes, food and shelter, but is still unhappy with life simply because of their job. In the photo I chose men are working in a field, dirty clothes, sweaty, and most of the men have no shoes. The one thing they do have is a smile on their faces. As time goes on being happy naturally becomes harder and harder, and the desire to fulfill that in every way possible has increasingly more important in the workplace.
The poem, “What Work Is” by Philip Levine is an intricate and thought-provoking selection. Levine uses a slightly confusing method of describing what work actually is. He gives the idea that work is very tedious, however necessary. It is miserable, however, it is a sacrifice that is essentially made by many, if not all able-bodied members of society. Many have to sacrifice going to a concert or a movie, but instead works jobs with hardly a manageable salary. This poem seems to have a focus on members of the lower-class or middle-class who live paycheck to paycheck and are unable to put money away for a future for their children or for a vacation and how difficult life can be made to be while living under this type of circumstance. Levine
The manager is put into the novel to show how the adaptation to uncivilized life can be very costly, while the poem exemplifies on that idea and that these “hollow men” are missing something vital to life. However both characters express the same uncaring personality, despite the fact that they unappreciated meaning and initiative, they seem to embrace that fact that everything happens for a reason and they accept it for the way it is.