Daniel Orozco’s “Orientation”

In the short story, “Orientation”, by Daniel Orozco there is a major contrast in the setting of the workplace and of the detailed descriptions of those who work there. Orozco successfully utilizes the literary elements of tone, symbolism, setting, point of view, characters and structure to emphasize the idea that a workplace does not successfully identify those who are employed. In the story, the narrator is giving a somewhat unusual orientation to a new employee. During the orientation the new employee is introduced to the function of the workplace, as well as, the interactions and lifestyles of those who they may be working with.

For this essay I will analyze the unnamed narrator whom is the protagonist in the story. The story opens up with the narrator describing

​In the story, Orientation, wrote by Daniel Orozco, he captures the true spirit of the stereotypical workplace, by using the lack of dialogue, humor, and repetition. The story conveys a sense of workplace alienation. This story is all about the tension between people’s essential identity, crucial interconnectedness, and collaboration required of workers. He shows a new employee the ropes. It features a deadpan mix of senseless instructions. Orozco describes the absurd work environment, and he shows the readers to see the wide variety of social absurdities that employees can find in the workplace. Orozco gives a lot information about the work expectations and his co-workers’ private life; he also implies some perspectives about bullying in his workplace. He brings out the typical office affair to reflect human relationships.

Many people have seen murder cases on the television or on the newspaper. However, many people fail to recognize one true—epic—murder mystery. In Cold Blood written by Truman capote explores a different dimension of mysterious characters in a Kansas murder case. In order to discover the crevasses the characters, Truman Capote utilizes psychology, through characterization and illusion, in order to create meaning from other texts. Furthermore, Capote mobilizes features such as letters, dream interpretations, psychological disorders, to fully develop the understanding of the characters: Perry, Dick, and Ms. Clutter.

Orozco writes a short story about going through a very detailed orientation on the first day at a new office setting job. Although both of the stories are completely different providing specific instruction on how to carry out their responsibilities proficiently, they are both the go-to people in the writing, and they both exhibit the same type of attitude toward work. One way to compare Invisible man to Orozco’s short story is the use of precise instructions that pertain to successfully complete a specific task.

It is amazing how one person can lead two lives at the same time, one public and the other private. Public life is the aspect of life which is happening in the open, as opposed to the private life which is happening in the closed family environment. The coexistence of public and private lives are what help an individual lead a smooth life altogether. In Daniel Orozco’s The Orientation, the relationship between public and private life is well portrayed. Using setting, characters and point of view, Daniel Orozco cleverly showcases the degradation of the thin line that once separated the two lives and indicates the one may or may not have a strong impact on the other.

Daniel Orozco’s short story “Orientation” is a comedic type of piece written to make you feel like you’re the main character being led through this maze of rules and cubicles and employees, as well as their lives all at once. It’s not really clear who is the narrator in this story, but what is clear is that Orozco chose to tell the story through the eyes of the reader. The whole point of view takes us (the audience) for a ride and makes us a character. If it was written differently and not told the way it has, the story would have lost its humor and quirkiness. It’s a very interesting and different away to incorporate all these pieces of a puzzle that is the “Office Orientation” and

Orientation is an interesting read but brings up serious moral questions when it comes to personal privacy in the work place. The premise of the story involves the narrator walking the reader through an office orientation. Typically, work orientation involves introducing new employees to work practices and co-workers. It is an opportunity for company to put its best foot forward, while helping set the work pace and lifestyle for new employees. However, in “Orientation,” Daniel Orozco takes a serious detour from the normal route and takes the reader on a dark tour through the personal lives of his or her co-workers. Although office romances, inappropriate work practices, and violations of personal privacy often happen in the real world, it is hardly acceptable in today’s society to openly talk about it.

Firstly, our production’s primary theatrical aspect is our plot structure. We begin Woyzeck with scene twenty-nine. Not only does the stage directions describing Woyzeck’s character lend this scene to be the first, the policeman’s dialogue further supports this change. The policeman repeats the word “murder,” therefore, there is no mystery behind who was murdered (Marie) and who murdered her (Woyzeck). Rather, the mystery becomes why Woyzeck murders Marie. Our stasis includes scenes twenty-nine, two, three, one, four, five, and eight in that order. The stasis therefore sets up

The narrator leads the reader through what appears to be an ordinary office by using dull, uninterested language, however interesting the information he or she is relating may be. The same dismissive tone is used to refer to the functionality of the copier machine as well as the serial killer that works in

Overly informed with supposed facts and loaded with gossip, the narrator in Orientation knows an unsettling amount of intimate life details about his co-workers. Odd for an office setting that is portrayed as one so uneventful. He tells a story of one of the workers Anika Bloom, he shares how at the office Christmas party her “left palm began to bleed. She fell into a trance, stared into her hand, and told Barry Hacker when and how his wife would die” (Orozco, p. 9). The narrator also shares information about Gwendolyn Stich. He tells how she is always smiley, always has her door open to the office members and always wishes everyone a good morning. The narrator then tells that she has a deeper side to her private life when he mentions how “she

The short story, “Orientation” by Daniel Orozco will leave the reader with many questions. Think about a horror film. Is there always killing or ghosts? Not always. In this short story we are introduced to a different type of a horror. A horror in the way of control, inhumane thoughts, actions,and, even invading privacy. This story goes into the personal lives of its characters and explains their home lives, who they are in love with, and even one of the characters is expressed as a serial killer. This workplace, will find out information, you as the employer may not want anyone knowing. It is a way of telling the new employer that they don't have much freedom, and that the company will have control over them during the 8 hour work shift. And,

The “Orientation” could show us, in a way, the work day an average worker goes through day in and out, working in an office job. Each reader has a different way to interpret a story, but the one thing most readers should be able to acknowledge, there are many issues within this short story. One of these issues can be seen in the phrase “Feel free to ask questions. Ask too many questions, however, and you may be let go”(citation). The word free can be seen as having an issue with definition. The meaning can be seen here as an opposite meaning, saying the characters are not really free to ask questions because if too many questions are asked they will be fired. Another issue seen within the story can be seen when the author mentions John LaFountaine

In one place the narrator goes so far as to switch to the first person in the middle of a sentence for no immediately clear reason. After he has arrived on Martha's Vineyard, his host Libbie, and her husband Sissler are caring for him, "Sissler was trying to make Moses feel at home - I must seem obviously shook up" (96). Such sudden shifts to the first person after calling Herzog either Moses or he, obscure the identity of the narrator. Is the narrator a third person narrator with direct access to the minutiae of Herzog's thoughts, a narrator who uses the first person to avoid awkward attributing clauses? Or

In Daniel Orozco’s Orientation, a nameless character is shown the ropes of the inner office workings as a new employee. The conflict is the surprising contrast between what appears to be normal, monotonous office procedures with the disturbing insights into the personal lives of the employees that work there. This conflict affects everyone in the story by the sheer discomfort of knowing everyone else’s businesses, while maintaining the facade of not knowing or “you may be let go” (Orozco).