Analysis Of Blue Collar Brilliance Mike Rose

In any successful work of non-fiction, authors employ the use of rhetorical analysis to articulate their main points and ideas. Mike Rose’s essay, “Blue Collar Brilliance,” focuses on the fact that looking down on blue-collar workers is a common occurrence in America and people fail to understand how a person can be intelligent if they had dropped out of school. Throughout the essay, he refutes this notion and explains why blue-collar intelligence may be different from the intelligence gained by years of schooling but it is of the equal stature, since it helps them in their occupation. Rose uses pathos and other rhetorical devices to inform the audience of his belief: blue-collar workers are under appreciated and overlooked as many people fail to see the difficulties and cognitive demands involved in their daily routines at work.

One might argue that without formal education a person has low intelligence. Some people might say that blue-collar work is for the uneducated or for the lower-class society. Both of these opinions are challenged in Mike Rose`s writing Blue-Collar Brilliance. Rose uses multiple rhetorical methods within is reading to prove that blue-collar work is not for unintelligent workers. Rose reflects on his childhood and early adult hood with many references. Rose also uses many different tones throughout the duration of Blue-Collar Brilliance. Rose uses strong evidence to clearly show his opinion of blue-collar work.

Time or Talent: Can someone be born gifted or do they have to ‘earn’ their talent? In order to be successful, 10,000 hours is required to become professional; however, in order to be successful one must be born in the right time and place. Malcolm Gladwell makes this argument by providing evidence that Bill Joy, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs were all born from 1952 and 1958 and now became some of the most successful people in the world by their twenties. In the chapter “The 10,000-Hour Rule”, Malcolm Gladwell uses tables and anecdotes of famous people in order to create a logical argument and effectively boost his reliability (ethos). However, in the process of using charts and anecdotal evidence, Gladwell creates many logical fallacies, which makes both his logos- and ethos-based arguments ineffective.

Employees in coal mining are more likely to be killed or get a non-fatal injury or illness and often do not see the sun for days at a time. On the other hand, Rudy would have to work at a steel mill. After high school, Ruettiger went to work at a steel mill but after his best friend died at work there, he knew it was time to get out and chase his dream of playing college football. If this did not work out for him, of course, he would have to return to work at the mill. These two men worked hard to reach their

Pete Rose was born on April 14, 1941 and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio with his parents Harry and LaVerne Rose. His father Harry could be described as hard-working, tough, and hard-nosed, especially when it came to sports. Harry played semi-pro football and always pushed Pete to give 110% at all times. This attitude and effort that Pete was exposed to growing up with a man like Harry stuck with Pete his entire life and as a result he earned the nickname “Charlie Hustle”, although it was not originally meant to be a compliment. In spring training of Pete’s rookie year, he got walked by Yankee legend Whitey Ford. Instead of jogging to first base like everybody else in baseball, Rose sprinted to first

Over many centuries, society tends to frame the obscene differences to antagonize and alienate each other whether it's about a political or religious view, social reasons, or financial situations. In “Blue Collar Brilliance”, Mike Rose provides an invigorating story to persuade his audience to understand that having a blue collar job compared to a white-collar job does not determine how smart someone is. Rose uses anecdotes, rhetorical question, and logos to show that blue-collar workers learn just as much without a formal education.

Andrew Davis started his career in journalism in Spain, as a freelancer. He then got a staff position with Bloomberg and now is a reporter for Bloomberg in Honk Kong. Although he started his career many years ago, his experience was very interesting to me, since he manage to make the transition from freelance journalist to staff correspondent. He was at the right place at the right moment: Bloomberg was starting its operation in Europe in that period, and, as Davis said, “It was desperately looking for reporters in Spain.” He also has many connections in Europe, where he worked for several years as a correspondent for the news agency.

The secret to success is arguably one of the most sought-after pieces of advice worldwide. According to Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers, the “10,000 hour rule” is a technique that has been practiced by many professionals in their respective areas. However, some authors, such as Jared Sandman and David Bradley, disagree with the notion that 10,000 hours of practice will make you a professional. Both authors present valid points in their respective arguments, yet Sandman’s argument comes across as clearer, more decisive, more down to earth, and therefore more effective. Sandman has credibility as a published author, he is constant with his

The 1961 short story by Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron,” details a dystopian future in which the mediocre and average are lionized, and the exceptional in society are marginalized and treated as though they are handicapped and/or criminal. The plot of “Harrison Bergeron” revolves around the plight of its title character, an adolescent boy who is 7’1” tall, extremely good looking, and has a genius-level I.Q., to boot. In the story, Harrison has been placed in jail in order to protect society from his exceptionality. In the society of 2081 America that Vonnegut depicts, the United States government has installed a fascist government that punishes people for falling above the norm in any instance. As the story progresses, the reader learns that Harrison’s mother is actually of below average intelligence, and this has rendered her into an “ideal citizen.” Harrison’s father, on the other hand, possesses above average intelligence and is subject to constant monitoring by the government, so as to ensure that he does not use his superior abilities to act outside of the norm, in any way. Ultimately, “Harrison Bergeron” is a Marxist critique of the late capitalist society of the twentieth century United States, which celebrates the “average” and the “mediocre,” while demonizing innovation.

Combs’ research in “The Duality of Race and Gender for Managerial African American Women: Implications of Informal Social Networks on Career Advancement,” “Due to the duality of race and gender, African American women in managerial and executive positions may be forced into out-group status in terms of informal social networks” (Combs 1). Even though Watson is not in a managerial or executive position she can still relate to this statement. Being a black woman in an industry full of white men she has been forced to be ostracized or in other words forced to be an outsider at work. Her colleagues ignore her at all costs: ignoring her hard work that got her where she is, her method of inspecting elevators, her credentials, etc. The only people that actually talk to or acknowledge her are people who are labeled as outcasts for other reasons. Her duality of race and gender is the reason why she was an introvert in college and also why she has so much in common with James Fulton, the creator of Intuitionism. He was a light-skinned which allowed him to get by racially, however the lie he was living was eating him up. Fulton knew that if he made it known that he was African American he would no longer be accepted. Upset with this idea, he decided to create the concept of the black box as a joke. Watson and Fulton are both outsiders; both of them have to fight against a system that tries to deny and restrict them from progressing. Just like Fulton,

articulate. The statue coincides with Williams’s class theory that is “acquired [through] a special association with education” (Williams 61) as if educated upper class individuals are unable to depict reality seen through disadvantaged interpretations of stagnated working men.

Even though Harwell did not come from a family whose members were skilled in the construction of utility lines, she was confident in her ability to do the work. Being able to perform as good if not better than her co workers allowed Harwell to realize her self actualization “which is the motivation to develop one’s full potential as a human being.” (Santrock, 2006) Harwell knew that she wanted to work for this company that consisted of mostly men with ties to the business and she did not allow anyone or anything to deter her from doing

If you really think that the case of Derrick Rose is real, it's just all about money!

Henry knows that he is a terrible worker and that he is simply too lazy to attempt to try at being mobile and impressive in the professional world. Even during his career at the post office for ten years he did the least amount of work required, he did the bare minimum and was still unhappy about working. During his shifts he would go and drink, come back, and still be unhappy with himself and what he was doing, the alcohol which had a tendency to make him happy could not work its magic. “The appropriation of labor makes the worker suffer; the more the worker works, the more the worker produces, the more the worker suffers (167).” All-in-all Henry produces very little, with a bad attitude, and is still unhappy about the fact that he has to attend work on a daily basis at a decent time.

And we wonder why we’re not living in another renaissance?” This quote relates to a larger theme of genius due to the fact, genius is unexpected and can not be planned. Some of the most life changing inventions were made by mistake. Sir Alexander Fleming invented penicillin by accident and almost threw it away. Percy Spencer was trying to make a new vacuum tube but made a microwave instead. If Fleming and Spencer had not failed the medical and food industry would be very different as well as having fewer breakthroughs. With this in mind, not all genius are extremely smart or follow traditional standards. For instance, Leonardo Da Vinci was dyslexic and illegitimate to society “If Had he been born "legitimately," Leonardo would likely have followed in his father's footsteps and become a notary or a lawyer. But those professions' guilds refused entry to illegitimate children. Leonardo couldn't become a doctor or a pharmacist, nor could he attend university. By age thirteen, most doors were already closed to him.”(Weiner 111). Likewise, in 1921 Lewis Terman launched a study to track one thousand children with high IQs but even though those children were smart they “produced little in the way of genius” (Weiner 292) and “Terman’s experiment failed to detect two future Nobel prize winners, Luis Alvarez and William Shockley.”(Weiner