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Through life, one must make choices in their personal and professional lives in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Through the plays Bull, Waste, Little Eyolf, The Homecoming, and the musical Kinky Boots, it is evident that creating a distinction between one’s personal and one’s professional life is essential to living a healthy life. When one’s personal life and professional life overlap completely, trouble ensues. In the play Bull by Mike Bartlett, the protagonist Thomas fails to distinguish his personal life from his professional life, and at the end of the play, Thomas reaches his lowest both professionally and personally. The overlap of Thomas’s personal and professional life is seen when Tony pressures Thomas to answer questions about his background. Thomas responds …show more content…
stating that he wants to keep his personal life private, but Tony continues to pry and Thomas reluctantly reveals his answers. Ultimately, his colleagues use his answers against him to make him feel paranoid and doubt himself. In the end, Thomas is fired, which not only hurts his professional life but his personal life as well. For instance, Isobel discloses that she followed Thomas and his ex into a coffee shop to gather information on him. Using the information learned, she hurts Thomas even more by reasoning that his personal life will be affected by his professional failure, as his friends and family will probably be annoyed that Thomas lost his job and that his ex will not want Thomas to see his son so he does not negatively impact his future. Furthermore, in the production at the Young Vic Theatre, the pivotal moment of Thomas’s professional and personal demise is shown when he is lying on the floor with the water cooler on the ground leaking around him. The striking image shows Thomas at his lowest point both professional and personally since he is now unemployed and his personal life will subsequently be impacted as well. As shown, Thomas cannot escape his personal life in his professional life as Isobel and Tony successfully extract personal information about him in a way to professionally undermine him. The distinction between one’s personal and one’s professional life is also tested in Waste by Harley Granville Barker, where the protagonist Trebell puts so much focus on his career that when his professional life fails, he kills himself. In the beginning of the play, it is revealed that Trebell has never been married and is not interested in having a relationship. His main goal in life is to win over the Tory party and disestablish the Church of England. Since Trebell is not concerned with having a personal life, his professional and personal life are enmeshed as one. For instance, when Trebell and Amy have an affair and Amy gets pregnant, attempts an abortion and dies, Trebell’s personal life is in shambles causing his professional life to suffer as well. Trebell’s professional life changes after a dispute between the members of the Tory party in which they decide that Trebell is not an adequate politician and not to support him. In the end, Trebell cannot deal with his professional loss and he commits suicide. Furthermore, in the production performed at the Lyttleton National Theatre, Trebell’s outward appearance matched his inner desolation as he appeared less polished and more disheveled as time went on. Through the performance and reading of the text Waste, one can see the consequences of not distinguishing ones’ personal and professional life since Trebell’s are one in the same and this lack of balance leads to his demise. A lack of a work-life balance is also examined in the play Little Eyolf by Henrik Ibsen, where the character Alfred’s personal and professional life overlap when he decides to give up his professional goal of being an author to devote his life to helping his handicapped son Eyolf. When Eyolf dies, Alfred’s personal and consequently his professional life has been destroyed. In the production at the Almeida Theatre, one can Alfred’s desperation and lack of both a personal and professional life when Alfred is sitting by the fiord in a grief-stricken way, lamenting that he will from then on only think about Eyolf. Since Alfred did not distinguish his personal life from his professional life, he feels the weight of his failure in both areas of his life on top of his grief. The distinction between one’s personal and one’s professional life is also evident in The Homecoming by Harold Pinter. Sam’s occupation is a chauffeur, and while working years ago, he witnesses Max’s wife have sex with another man. For a long time he is able to compartmentalize and separate his professional life from his personal concern and empathy for his brother, but in the last scene of the play Sam collapses and admits to the family about the affair. In the production played at Trafalgar Theatre, Sam is so struck by the information that he held on to from his professional life that he struggles to say his line about the affair and falls to the ground, not getting back up for the remainder of the production. Although it seemed like Sam tried to separate his professional life from his personal life, it backfires on him since his relationship with his brother will be forever changed. Through this representation of the distinction between one’s professional life and one’s personal life, the audience can see that the two are not mutually exclusive. In the musical Kinky Boots by Cindy Lauper and Harvey Fierstein, Charlie becomes consumed with his desire to make his career successful that he ends up hurting relationships in his personal life.
In order for Charlie to cope with his insecurity and trying to live up to his father’s expectations, Charlie puts pressure on himself to succeed professionally that he ends up overworking his workers, disregard his fiancée, and verbally abuse Lola . When Charlie hurts his personal relationships, his professional life suffers as well because the workers and Lola decide to quit after Charlie’s mistreatment. In the production at the Adelphi Theatre, the audience could see the harmful effects of projecting the difficulties of one’s personal life into one’s professional life when Charlie becomes hurtful. However, Charlie is able to recognize that his hubris and desire to succeed hindered his personal relationships in the song “Soul of a Man”. Unlike other plays tragic endings, Charlie is able to come to terms with his personal insecurity and distinguish his professional life from his personal life, win back the support of the workers and Lola, and goes on to maintain a healthy work-life
balance. As one can see, there is a certain necessity in having a professional and then a personal life. When there is not a distinction between the two, trouble in one’s personal life affect one’s professional life and vice versa. Out of all of the shows mentioned, the only instance when there is a distinction between one’s professional and personal life is seen at the end of Kinky Boots. In the remainder of the shows, there is lack of distinction between the two and subsequently tragedy and hardship occurs. Through reading and watching these shows, a lesson to take away is to cultivate a work-life balance and distinguish one’s personal life from one’s professional life in order to live a fruitful life.
Tim Kreider’s “The ‘Busy’ Trap” from The New York Times (June 30, 2012) explores the different worlds of both, the busy and the free. His article evaluates and persuades the American working class to stop for a second and reassess their constantly busy lifestyles. His knowledge comes from his own and other’s life experiences. Relating on a personal level, Kreider encourages his audience to recognize that being busy may make them feel important, but they are sacrificing all their valuable time life has given them. In fact, he influences them to think about how much stress their work is, and how it most likely won’t amount to anything. He does this through logos, providing personal anecdotes and common knowledge; ethos, demonstrating that he
The inability to achieve “work-life balance” has become a major focus for workplace equality activists. When this topic is brought about it is primarily used to describe how woman cannot have a work and home life but instead are forced to choose. Richard Dorment took on this point of interest from a different perspective in his article “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All” published with esquire. Going against the normal trend he describes how women are not the only ones put into the same sacrificial situations, but instead that men and women alike struggle to balance work and home. Dorment opens up by saying “And the truth is as shocking as it is obvious: No one can have it all.” In doing so Richard Dorment throws out the notion that one
Bull is what psychologists call an alpha male. Bull Meechem has a self-confidence problem he must constantly establish his dominance over his family. When Mary Anne tries to condone Bull on his loss instead of saying thank your or just ignoring her he tell her “ Get out of here before I start knocking every freckle off your face” This comment was obviously unnecessary and offend Mary Anne deeply. Another horrible side to Bull is his physical abuse to Lillian and the kids. Countless times Bull has struck either Lillian or the kids. Though Lillian denies it Ben reminds her and the reader that Bull has struck her in the past. “‘Your nose was bleeding and that’s how I ruined this T-shirt. I’ve kept it, Mama, because I wanted it as proof. This is your blood, Mama. Your blood’” “ ‘He never hit me’ Lillian insisted”. These tantrums by Bull only alienate his children and his wife from him but he can still obtain their utmost respect and discipline.
The movie, The Outsiders, starts with the Curtis parents on their weekly, Saturday evening drive to the baking store to buy some ingredients for their boys’ favorite Sunday morning, breakfast treat: chocolate cake. The Curtis boys love their chocolate cake for Sunday breakfast not only because they love it, but also because they appreciate how hard their parents have to work to save the monies necessary for the morsels that put smiles on their faces!
Previous generations have a strong belief of keeping work and home life separate; that work is for work and home is for play (Rampell, 2011, para 21). Today’s professionals do not seem to abide by similar beliefs, constantly crossing the borders of one into the other. While many recognize this as an issue that could result in employees being less productive, it has actually resulted in them accepting that their work may run late into the evening or even into the weekend. I agree with this completely in that I grew up being taught that business is business and personal is personal; you leave your home life at the door. But now times have changed, and my weekends are no longer dedicated to my home life, but for work, because I attend classes during the week. Also, in my line of work in the Allied Health industry, it is a requirement to work off hours. Long gone are the days of working nine to five, Monday through Friday; technology and the demand of wanting affairs done and done as soon as possible, has made it so the “work week” is now 24-7. “Jon Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard Institute of Politics, said, ‘Some experts also believe that today’s young people are better at quickly switching from one task to another, given their exposure to so many stimuli during their childhood and adolescence’” (Rampbell,
In this level, we are switching from individual behavior to group behavior. A group is define as two or more individual, interacting and interdependent who are initially coming together to achieve particular objectives (Stephen P.Robbins, Timothy A.Judge, 2014). There are two types of group which are formal group and informal group (Stephen P.Robbins, Timothy A.Judge, 2014). Group can bring a lot of advantages to all the group members. For instance, work as a group is able to generate positive synergy through coordinated effort that allows organization to increase performance.
Usually in novels grappling with identity crisis, there is a downfall like for Brick’s struggle to be true to his sexual identity in Tennessee Williams’s play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It was in a time when America did not tolerate same sex relationships, so each character acted in accordance with the sexual identity given to their genders. For Seymour, he is heavily praised like some kind of God for his...
changing attitudes toward life and the other characters in the play, particularly the women; and his reflection on the
Now that the play, “Post-its (Notes on a Marriage),” could make the audience react to feel distanced and questionable of the actions of the characters, how can that relate to everyday life? traits of the play Post-its (Notes on a Marriage) through staging and conversation,
Willy Loman, one of the few tragic heroes in the modern era, is not very different from other tragic heroes which precede him. Willy, similarly to other protagonists in Aristotle’s tragedies, has a tragic flaw which leads to his eventual downfall. However, Willy’s demise in the 1940s play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, cannot be contributed purely to Willy’s own faults, but also to the actions of surrounding characters. These characters will go on to push Willy into a corner, making it even harder for him to overcome his circumstances, eventually playing a part in the tragic end of Willy Loman. By the end of the play, it is Ben, Biff, and Charley who contributes the greatest to the ultimate demise of Willy Loman.
The pointedness of the play is created through a distinct plot path. The observer is lead through the story, seeing first how greatly Amanda Wingfield influences her children. Secondly, the play-goer notes how Tom Wingfield desperately struggles and writhes emotionally in his role of provider- he wants more than just to be at home, taking care of his all-too-reminiscent mother and emotionally stunted sister. Tom wants to get out from under his mother’s wing; his distinct ambitions prevent him from being comfortable with his station in life. Lastly, Laura struggles inside herself; doing battle against her shyness, Laura begins to unfurl a bit with Jim, but collapses once again after Jim announces his engagement and leaves her, again. Each character struggles and thrashes against their places in life, but none of them achieve true freedom. This plot attests to the fact that true change and freedom can only come through the saving power of God Almighty and Jesus Christ, and by letting go of the past.
Within the play, Death of a Salesman, one can deduce that people surrounding the main character Willy, shaped the dreams and life of Willy and the next generation. As Willy’s goals were carved by others, he forgets about his own desires. His astray ambitions oriented his life towards deceit, delusions, failure, and finally death. As he taught the same erroneous philosophies to his progeny, he unintentionally set them up for a failure. Due to misguidance and following other’s dreams, the lives of Willy and Biff are sacrificed for their fathers’ dreams. Although having dreams in life can drive one forward, following wrong dreams can lead to a disaster.
Fight club is a drama that is based on the novel “Fight Club.” There are two main characters, the narrator and a character named Tyler Durden. The narrator doesn’t have a name and is played by Edward Norton. The character Tyler Durden is played by Brad Pitt and is suppose to be who the narrator wants to be. The movie is about a man who has insomnia and is trying to find a way to help him sleep. When he visits the doctor, the doctor tells him that he isn’t suffering my insomnia and he should visit a support group. So the narrator starts to go to these support groups and there he lets go and cries. He realizes that him crying and letting
The only way to become a truly happy person is to surround yourself with the things that make you happy. Setting logical goals and pursuing dreams is going to lead to a successful life. In the play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy use self-deception as a means to mentally escape the reality of their lives. Biff is the only character who becomes self-aware by the end of the play. He realizes that his whole life has been a lie and that Willy’s standards for Biff’s achievements in life are simply unreachable. Happy is too caught up in himself throughout the play to realize that his father is in need of an escape from his dysfunctional life. Willy has lived his whole life setting these goals for himself that he simply can’t attain. Happy makes it known at the end of the play that he is planning to follow in his father’s footsteps. This foreshadows the downfall of Happy’s life to come. Linda is constantly reassuring Willy that the decisions he has made are the right choices. She finds out about his possible suicide attempts and she refuses to seek help for him. She constantly tells his that he is doing great when in reality his career is going nowhere and his relationship with his sons gets worse as the days go on. Willy was a man who claimed to have a good sense of pride. He believes that he thrived in his times of struggle. He lost the battle for his life and ended his life due to the constant disappointments and failures that he had to live with every day. Willy refused to see the truth in his life and continued to feed off the lies. He got so caught up in his lies that he lost what the truth really was.
Along with ethics, the human condition of tension also arises because if ethical beliefs are not lived up, one’s life is a disorganized mess. Willy’s battle of certain shortcomings and “idiosyncrasies” disclose “that he has a futile effort to resist reduction and atomization” and his continuous escape from his isolated state mirror the global desire for individual conquest over the influences that contradict independence and regularly endanger to weaken mortality (Centola). It is intrinsic in the compound interrelationship between contrasting allegiances and standards in Willy’s cognizance that stimulate every facet of his dialogue and personality. The condition of tension and stress can also be understood in the play’s unfamiliar style. This