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Social obligation
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In the contemporary world, a person’s success is usually determined by their job and because of this social norm, most of one’s life is spent attempting to live up to this expectation. Individuals around the globe possess vast dreams to hold high ranking jobs and be content while doing so. However, the harsh reality is that people do not always necessarily reach this social obligation. There are several factors as to why, under certain circumstances, one cannot hold an affluent occupancy and be fruitful. In accordance to the poems regarding this notion, labor is portrayed in a negative manner where success cannot be won. For example, in “We Did Not Fear the Father,” by Charles Fort, the severity of toil is explored. In “What Work Is,” by Philip …show more content…
It is extremely unfortunate that hardworking people who attempt to acquire jobs fail to do so because of the lack of positions that are open for employees. In the poem by Levine, the difficulty finding a job is shown. Levine writes, “this is about waiting,” (line 6) clearly displaying the idea that work is not always available as the character in the poem continuously waits in line at Ford Highland Park just to hear that they are not hiring. Additionally, in the poem by Oliver, the thought that some individuals are forced to hold certain career titles because of the fact that enhanced ones are unavailable is explored. Oliver inscribes, “a woman knelt there, washing,” (line 4) explaining the fact that the woman in the poem is forced to clean bathrooms in an airport because it was the only vacant job. As much as people want to live up to society’s idea of “success,” they simply cannot. While unavailability is an important aspect as to why it is tough for one to fit society’s view of triumph, the brutality of a profession can additionally be a chief …show more content…
In relation to the poem by Oliver, the woman’s “beauty and her embarrassment struggled together” (line 15) explaining the idea that because she has to clean bathrooms in an airport, she is embarrassed and does not prefer to keep that occupancy. In the poem “Blackberries,” by Yusef Komunyakaa, the character whose job is to pick berries sees “a girl my age, in the wide back seat, smirking” (line 22). The man is utterly embarrassed at the fact that his job is to pick berries. In the poem “In Creve Coeur, Missouri,” by Rosanna Warren, the embarrassment work produces is explored as a firefighter fails to save a child in a burning home. Warren states “though it couldn’t revive her” explaining the idea that because the firefighter couldn’t complete his job, he became embarrassed thus causing him to possibly quit and lose his title as a “successful” person. Embarrassment in the work field is a leading factor as to why citizens cannot possess high ranked jobs that make them society’s definition of
The narrator who saw the woman cleaning in the airport did not like the scene due to the fact that she believes that there are better jobs and options out there. However, we do not know whether or not the lady actually cleaning feels the same way. Oliver states in the poem, “Her beauty and her embarrassment struggled together, and neither could win”. (Line 13). Even though this situation seems to be very sad Oliver tries to turn a sad situation into a hopeful and joyful situation. The speaker sees how the woman is struggling, but she thinks she is beautiful. Furthermore, the perspective of the speaker shows that the cleaning woman has a right to “stand in a happy place”, which means everyone deserves a good job. Oliver mentions, “Yes, a person wants to stand in a happy place, in a poem, but first we must watch her as she stares down at her labor, which is dull enough” (line 16). This quote shows that the narrator dislikes the fact that she is doing such a low job and yet she thinks she is beautiful. The author did not understand her perspective, she has to do this job for a
In her poem entitled “The Poet with His Face in His Hands,” Mary Oliver utilizes the voice of her work’s speaker to dismiss and belittle those poets who focus on their own misery in their writings. Although the poem models itself a scolding, Oliver wrote the work as a poem with the purpose of delivering an argument against the usage of depressing, personal subject matters for poetry. Oliver’s intention is to dissuade her fellow poets from promoting misery and personal mistakes in their works, and she accomplishes this task through her speaker’s diction and tone, the imagery, setting, and mood created within the content of the poem itself, and the incorporation of such persuasive structures as enjambment and juxtaposition to bolster the poem’s
...e family’s life style; that they live in poverty and go to church on Sundays. The poem is centered on one question: “what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?” The majority of the poem is examples of “love’s austere and lonely offices”. One such example would be when the boy polishes his shoes, probably getting ready to go to church. The father, although poor, still passes on good values to his son by going to church on Sundays. Another example would be the father waking up earlier than the rest of the house to get it warmed up. He deeply cares and loves his family and doesn’t want them to suffer in the cold and darkness as long as possible (only suffer at night). Another example of the father’s love is when he wakes up earlier and gets the wood from the cold outside weather to keep the family and house warm instead of enlisting for help from his family.
Everyone wants to fill the void within themselves, and most humans try to accomplish this by finding jobs they enjoy, but it seems that most of them ultimately fail. When you are younger you look to your parents to show you the way, but as you approach adulthood you start to feel more of a sense of rebellion toward them instead of the admiration you once had. The writer makes the poem universal by saying he didn’t want to end up like his father, something most children in north america could relate to. It’s also easily linked to our society in north america because of the way our schooling system is set up, in a way that you must commit to what you’re going to do for the rest of your life when you’re still too young to vote, and our system being this way makes it easy to end up regretting what you choose. Humans in modern society are expected to make many commitments for a range of things- relationships or sports teams, even major life decisions, and it’s obvious that our natural need for commitment is prevalent in our everyday life. Consequently, this need for making commitments can end up leaving people making poor decisions or at least taking a route you’ll end up wanting to renounce in the
Sinclair emphasizes the unfairness of capitalism within the struggles of the working class which helps bring most of the attention to the laborious lives th...
Just like the sounding of your alarm every morning, adversities are ultimately inevitable in life. A Roman poet named Horace once said, "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." Horace examines the role that adversity plays in the growth of a person’s character and understanding of burdens and times of difficulty. In these times, when adversities are encountered, one’s real character is exposed. The true depth and intensity of human nature is disclosed, but true talent is not always found. But, what is found, is the truth behind that person’s character, and the strength they truly posses.
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
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.
In poems, authors always express their ideas, attitudes, experiences, and emotions throughout their poetry to make the audience focus exactly on the author’s thoughts. Many of these are shown throughout Marge Piercy’s poem, “To Be of Use”. Words such as “hard work” and “heavy labour” may have a negative impact on some people, but in this narrators poem, it is the opposite. The poem demonstrates that satisfaction, enjoyment, and self-fulfillment can be succeeded by using one's ability to serve a useful purpose in life. The narrator uses figurative language/rhetorical devices, reflective tone, and structural devices/sound to develop this idea throughout the poem.
Weeks (2011) proposes to challenge not only the economic and political organization of work but to confront its normativity and moralization. She examines the dominant idea of the “ethic of work”, which implies work is essential to individual growth, self-fulfillment and keeps status and social recognition within society (p.11). Hence, in a struggle against work issues the central claim should be to refuse to work instead of struggle to get better wages.
In a society determined to identify and correct every one of the never ending inequalities and injustices of life, Rosemary Dobson provides an alternate perspective. Dobson’s poetry creates the concept of equal opportunity. This is the idea that in fact, everyone on Earth that has ever existed has been born into their lives with an equal and proportionate chance at achieving success and happiness, within their given circumstances. Reading on this topic intertextually allows the concept to be explored in greater depth, reinforcing the concept to readers, whilst appealing to different audiences through the different forms of poetry. Rosemary Dobson’s poems,
The diction that the author chooses to use also emphasizes the meaning of the poem. The structure of the poem is one long running stanza, rather than it being broken into multiple stanzas. The poem also does not contain any sort of rhyme scheme either. This could indicate an underlying meaning of what work is and what it is like trying to find work. Especially for people who work full-time at their jobs, it is one long and tiring day working with not much time for fun or creativity. The lack of a rhyme scheme relating to the fact that there is not really any room for pleasure or for being a having a creative mind; it is more geared to indicate that people should clock in, do their job, and clock out. As for diction, the word, “waiting” (lines 2, 6, 18, and 20) is mentioned quite a few times, showing how waiting is also a big part of finding a job or working. There is a lot of waiting involved in finding a job. Waiting for a call back for a job opportunity, or something like waiting until instead of receiving a, “No, we’re not hiring today” (lines 20-21), there is a, “Yes, we have many opportunities available right now.” While being employed, employees wait for their final hour of their shift, waiting for their next promotion, or waiting for their next paycheck, in which they will put all of it to the house and family. This further proves to add to the idea
The more educated and diverse a society is, the better society’s job market is served. This social economic separation of class is both good and bad for society. Many workers at the lower levels of employment are both pleased and displeased with many aspects of work. Though this fact also holds true with most any job at any level, pay scale often compensates for endurance of a particular job type. The security of a person’s job is also an issue that in today’s economic times forces one to be prepared for change.
Wykoff, Simon. "Unemployed And Working Hard." The Composition of Everyday Life. Ed. John Mauk and John Metz. Brief ed. Vol. 4. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2013. 395-97. Print.
Exhausted, bitter, and miserable is the way that many people feel when they wake up in the morning to get ready for work. Even the very thought of work puts some people in a bad mood. Others may not mind work but still do not look forward to going. It is a rare occasion to find someone who is completely satisfied with his or her career. However, for one man, work is bliss. In “Quality” by Galsworthy, Gessler, the shoemaker, is shown to be a man of integrity and of complete dedication to his work.