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Andrew Braaksma Some Lessons From The Assembly Line Analysis

Decent Essays

In "Some Lessons from the Assembly Line," Andrew Braaksma explains his experience working as a college student in various factories over his summer breaks. Throughout the essay, he contrasts the factory life to his college experience and documents the daily stress and struggles of the factory workers. Braaksma uses his firsthand experiences working in the factory to convey the benefits, and therefore importance, of a college education. Braaksma’s conversational essay becomes a very effective persuasive piece in support of higher education through the sometimes stark contrasts he conveys, the first-person narrative in which he shares his experiences and the words he chooses to tell his story.
Braaksma's use of contrasts in his essay is successful …show more content…

In explaining the value of the opportunity to work in the factory he writes, "My lessons about education are learned at the expense of those who weren't fortunate enough to receive one" (Braaksma, 2005). This passage carries an almost sentimental tone, while also conveying the guilt he feels for his opportunity, that is accomplished through his use of “expense” and “fortunate enough.” He is assigning a value to the lessons that he has learned from his co-workers and his word choice conveys that he recognized that he has not paid that expense, but instead it is paid by those who have not had his good fortune with regards to higher education. When describing the physical environment, he uses stark and sterile words to mirror the factory while opting for more pastoral words to describe his campus. These strong and colorful words add emotion to otherwise inanimate subjects. His word choice also ensures that the article does not belittle those without an education, but instead serves as motivation for those who want to pursue a degree. Had he selected words that tended towards condescending or conveyed that he was mocking his co-workers for their lack of a formal education the impact of the piece would have been immediately decreased. His potential audience, readers who do not have a higher education but are interested in pursuing one, would immediately be on the defensive and potentially insulted. Instead, by conveying respect and appreciation, he invites readers to a safe place where he is not judging those without a college degree but instead expressing profound appreciation for their struggles and highlighting the alternative that a degree can

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