Confectioner 1 Zenia Confectioner Professor Tull English 101B 1 October, 2014 Similarities and Differences Between Job History and Romero's Shirt Both of the short stories Job History by Annie Proulx and Romero's Shirt by Dagoberto Gilb cover the topic of a person who is working as hard as they can to stay afloat as they go from job to job to job working for meager wages. Leeland Lee from the story Job History is a man who his entire life spends time jumping from job to job never sticking around with it that long. Mainly due something bad happening but it also happens due to his own attitude and incompetence. He also has a hard time keeping his family afloat and raising his children right. Romero's Shirt is a story about the titular character and how he also goes from job to job trying to keep his family afloat as well. He is a person who takes his work seriously and takes pride in how little he wants anything. He does his best to make sure his family lives a decent life. The shirt might seem like an ordinary object to the reader at first but later on the story reveals as to why that shirt is so …show more content…
significant to Romero. Both of the short stories by Annie Proulx and Dagoberto Gilb each feature two characters with work ethics that are similar and at are times different from each other. Both Leeland Lee and and Romero go through lives filled with seemingly endless hard work. Romero “has had jobs in factories, shops, and stores. He has painted houses, dug ditches, planted trees, hammered, sawed, bolted, snaked pipes, picked cotton, and chile and pecans and all for wages” (Gilb). Leeland goes from a job pumping gas at Egge's Service Station” to owning a “local ranch supply store”, to leasing “the old gas station and convert it to a motorcycle repair shop and steak house” (Proulx). Leeland Lee and Romero both share the quality in which that they work hard and never give up no matter how difficult the times might become for each of them and the families that they Confectioner 2 want to support. They both seem to be the type of people that just bounce back if something does not go their way. This is the case especially with Leeland. Unlike Leeland, Romero seems to be a sort of more stable person overall. He does whatever he can to make his family happy such as getting “an assortment of clothes for his daughter, lots of toys for his sons” (Gilb). Leeland on the other hand, seems to be out of touch with his family even more especially after his wife Lori died because “No one knows how to reach the oldest son” (Prolux). While most of Leeland's family seems to be out of his life, Romero's family is the one that is there and they still live with him. Romero and Leeland do share similarities to each other when it comes down to certain attitudes sometimes.
Even Romero eventually becomes distant from his family over a long period of time since “He so often was disappointed, so often dwelled on the difficulties of life, that he had become hard, guarding against compassion and generosity. So much so that he'd even become spare with his words, even with his family” (Gilb). “After quitting that job for an inability to get along with the foreman, Leeland begins working at a meat processing plant” (Proulx). They both sometimes have attitude issues due to all stress and difficulties that they have to put up with and it ends up causing them to sometimes cope with their issues in unhealthy ways such as distancing themselves from their families or even becoming incapable of working with or dealing with their boss at
work. Unlike Romero, Leeland is a person who just does his work to attempt to keep making any form of steady income. By the end of the story, after so many years of his life passing by, Leeland finally comes to the realization that he has some undiscovered talent for something unexpected: cooking. “He is good with meat, knows how to choose the best cuts and grill or do them chicken-fried style to perfection. He has never cooked anything at home and everyone is surprised at this long- hidden skill” (Proulx). Despite all this, he never seems to take pride in what he is capable of doing, yet tt is implied that he seems to have enough confidence to make another attempt at a business venture and open a Confectioner 3 steak house with the help of his eldest son. On the other hand, Romero takes pride in himself for working hard, and his shirt that he has
It is safe to say that work comes in many different forms. Whether it be a fast food or a corporate, the people that surround an individual make a great impact on the way he or she may work. Singapore, by Mary Oliver, is about a young woman working as a custodian in an airport who although works alone, enjoys her work and the people she meets. Dorianne Laux’s What I Wouldn’t Do, introduces another young woman reviewing the jobs she has had throughout time and reflects on those that she liked and disliked. Hard Work, by Stephen Dunn, exemplifies a young boy working in a soda factory during his summer break. Searching for happiness in life and work is just what these individuals are doing.
The novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich shows the hard working, fast paced environment of the work place. Even the smallest jobs can take a toll on a person. Along with taking a toll, the novel also references the main point of workers showing compassion on the job. From the story, Barbra talks with one of her co-workers, and tries to help her out. “ ‘Her back has long since given out but she’s leaving now because she’s scheduled for knee surgery in a couple of weeks. I know this because I offer her a ride home that day when it appears that her us...
We all know that most people hate their jobs. Work is seen as something we have to do, and very lucky few seem to find a job that we enjoy. How we feel about work, and what we do for a living, in many ways helps to define who we are and who we are going to become. Having seen actual people share their perspectives and view points on “working for a living” helps us see ourselves and rethink our future. Overall, Studs Terkel helps flash- back into America's history and see the changes that America ans it’s people have gone through.
Growing up in the village of Wade, McLaurin speaks about the setting in which he grew up. Wade was a small community of laborers whom of which worked on either farms of at the saw mill. McLaurin’s family did not farm or work at the saw mill and were known to be one of the more affluent families in the village. But he also talks about the times of to me seems like depression. The reason it seems like depression because his grandmother is sent away to the state mental hospital and his grandfather sometimes drank heavily. All of this happened even though his grandfather’s store seemed to do well in the village. Even when McLaurin’s grandmother got out t of the mental hospital his grandfather lived in part of the store that he owned and Miss Alma, McLaurin’s grandmother, and Olivia, McLaurin’s aunt, lived with McLaurin’s father and mother, at the time pregnant with their first child. McLaurin’s grandfather had no desire to rebuild the dream of a family; the store he owned was his life. He didn’t...
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
One does not need a great deal of dedication to maintain their job. O’Keefe mentions in her essay that the only requirement for maintaining a job is to able to take a pay cut, proven by her statement, “Americans who have lost their jobs…are having to adjust to the idea that the next [job] they find is likely to involve a pay cut” (O’Keefe 207). This shows the reader that it is not necessary to devote large amounts of their time or energy to maintaining or getting a job. O’Keefe also talks about how she tried to maintain her career as an author, and how much she had to dedicate to maintain her career. O’Keefe states that, “I sought to adjust to my shrinking income by progressively relocating to areas of the country with cheaper…costs of living” (O’Keefe 207).
The poem describes workers to be “Killing the overtime ‘cause the dream is your life, / Refusing to take holidays or go home to your spouse, / But for many the overtime comes, ‘cause the work is not done. / Deadlines to be met. So you continue to dream like a war vet, / Having flashbacks to make you shiver and scream” (Jones, stanza 7, lines 2-6). Jones reinforces that overworking for an incentive of money does not give one a sense of gratification, and it also distracts them from the values that should matter more to them than anything else. Both Kohn and Jones have a similar approach to showing the reader the effect that overworking can have on a person, and how it will change their values in life, causing unhappiness. Many students go through school dispirited and do not join various clubs and activities for their own enjoyment. A friend of Kohn’s who was also a high school guidance counsellor had a student with ‘…amazing grade and board scores. It remained only to knock out a dazzling essay on his college applications that would clinch the sale. “Why don’t we start with some books that
Maya Angelou once said “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”(http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/maya-angelou-quotes.html) Most of these defeats that we encounter come from our choices, and whether they are good or bad, we learn something from them. Accordingly, Manny Hernandez, the hard-working, perceptive title role in the Parrot in the Oven by Victor Martinez, has his fair share of difficulties thrown his way: difficulties that show him who he is, and how to become the best person he can- a vato firme.
Poverty and low wages have been a problem ever since money became the only thing that people began to care about. In Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, she presents the question, “How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled?” This question is what started her experiment of living like a low wage worker in America. Ehrenreich ends up going to Key West, Portland, and Minneapolis to see how low wage work was dealt with in different states. With this experiment she developed her main argument which was that people working at low wages can’t live life in comfort because of how little they make monthly and that the economic system is to blame.
From the beginning of The Metamorphosis Kafka offers a comical depiction of Gregor’s “squirming legs” (Kafka 13) and a body in which “he could not control” (7). Gregor’s initial reaction to this situation was the fact he was late to his dissatisfying job as a salesman, but Gregor knows that he has to continue his job in order to keep the expectation his family holds upon him to pay of the family’s everlasting debt. When Gregor’s family eventually realizes that Gregor is still lying in his bed, they are confused because they have expectations on Gregor that he will hold the family together by working. They know if Gregor was to quit his job there would be a great catastrophe since he is the glue to keeping their family out of debt. The communication between his family is quickly identified as meager and by talking to each other from the adjacent walls shows their disconnection with each other. Kafka introduces the family as lacking social skills in order to offer the reader to criticize and sympathize for Gregor’s family dynamics. Gregor’s manager makes an appearance quickly after experiencing the dysfunction within the fami...
People will argue that having a low-paying job and freedom is better than a high-paying job and a 60-hour workweek. However many including myself, don’t share the views of Hal Niedzviecki’s essay’s “Stupid Jobs Are Good to Relax With”. Having a higher paying and longer hours provides much more income and allows for a lot more financial freedom. This freedom can help bring much more happiness into your life compared to the lower paying workweek. Hal Niedzviecki mentions many benefits to the easy jobs with low-paying workweeks in the following statement
They keep away from him and will not even look at him. Now, because they are afraid of Gregor, at least two people. always stay home together. Lifestyles that they used to change. No maids want to stay in. "
“Born worker,” by Gary Soto, is composed of a short story of how a lower-middle class boy, José, learns a lesson by involving himself with his cousin, Arnie, and his ideas. While most people around have the money to buy new things often, José’s family only has enough to survive; they must work to get rewarded. Arnie, however, is spoiled with many valuables inaccessible for José, and lacks integrity within himself. After saving the life of Mr. Clemens, José realizes that your actions speak for what you need to be proud of yourself for.
People want their family to love and support them during times of need, but if they are unable to develop this bond with their family members, they tend to feel alone and depressed. In the novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Kafka describes the theme of alienation and its negative effect on people and their relationships with the people around them. This theme can be shown through Gregor Samsa, the main character in The Metamorphosis. After Gregor’s metamorphosis, or transformation, he is turned from a human being into a giant bug which makes him more and more distant from the people in his life. The alienation that Gregor experiences results in his eventual downfall, which could and would happen to anyone else who becomes estranged from the people around them. Gregor’s alienation and its effect on his relationship with his family can be shown through his lack of willing interaction with his family members due to his inability to communicate to them, the huge burden he puts on the family after his metamorphosis, and his family’s hope to get rid of him because he is not who he was before.
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