Sustenance And Success In Philip Levine'sWhat Is Work?

Hard work has gone unappreciated and avoided by society, as the toil associated with it are rather unpleasant. However, in avoiding hard work, society manages to avoid the many satisfactions that accompany it. In Home of the Free, Wendell Berry discusses how although he is a novelist, poet, and essayist, Berry’s greatest satisfaction comes from the labor he does on his farm. Berry states how society has moved past the struggles of physical labor to avoid labor’s uncomfortable difficulties; thus, society has rejected the unique satisfactions of labor that he finds fulfilling. I agree wholeheartedly with his interpretation that labor and its unique qualities can derive much satisfaction. I find the satisfactions of labor as the most fulfilling

The poem titled Boss’s son, by Michael Cleary, is a poem about a young man who works for his father while attending college. This poem is written in first person, and the narrator feels that working for his father is hard work. He acknowledges, “The first few weeks were the worst… among beer drinking, beer trucking men” (Cleary 429). Through the voice of the narrator, Cleary describes how difficult it is to be the boss’s son; therefore, Cleary claims that to be accepted by the workers is strenuous, but to become independent while seeking his father’s affection is even more challenging.

This summer my workplace was nannying for two kids that live down the street. It was not a life-changing experience like Jesse Bent had, but it did impact my life in many ways. I started making money which caused me to not fully rely on my parents for everything. In the article Jesse Bent says, "The job gives me a paycheck. A purpose. A chance to buy things for himself, which recently is a 1999 Honda Civic." He says he is feeling like more of a man than he used to and he is more proud of himself. I can relate to this because with the job I am able to go out with my friends or pay for gas and not have to ask my parents for money. With the job, I have to be more responsible and I gain a lot of independence. Bent and I relate in this way because he also has to be more responsible and he has to use the money he earns for things he needs, not drugs. He has gained more control over his illness by working at Hyvee. The workplace is a place in the society where people are learning traits that they would only learn in this agent of

American entrepreneur, Steve Jobs, once said: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Some people may take a job out of necessity rather than being passionate about their work. You have to love what you do as you spend more time working than being with loved ones. In Studs Terkel’s Working, adapted by Harvey Pekar, the reader is presented with visual adaptations of the lives of ordinary Americans that show how they feel about what they do for a living ranging from farmers, miners, barbers, box boys, and a hooker are some of the jobs mentioned in the novels. The author gives the

Workers today are people who exist between life and death because everyone lives in a “repetitive loop of work and consumption.” Workers no longer have a passion for what they do. Workers go to work to earn money, and then use that money to buy things for their kids or spend it on holidays. Jobs today tell you to be yourself, but in reality, they only say that to sound nice. As soon as you start the job, you have to transform into a whole another person to fit their criteria. That is why workers today are people between life and death. Workers are physically there, but they are all mentally gone.

The profession one holds and the work that one does is extremely crucial to the livelihood of an individual. It provides purpose, giving meaning to life and a reason to wake up each morning, as wonderfully stated by Sayers, “[I]s that work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God,” (Sayers 194). An individual’s worldview effects one’s view of work as well – one’s perspective could alter the world and effect the response and reaction to situations. Both aspects are foundational to the profession

In this way, it seems to be unacceptable for us to regard people’s blind pursuit of work as merely a way of earning for their families. Thus, in order to explore the true reasons why people do work and how they value work, both authors give out their own explanation. Arlie Russell Hochschild, a professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, observes in her reading of “From the Frying Pan into the Fire” that no longer people value works as purely family obligations that encourage people to work for supporting their families, people right now tend to value doing work as ways to have satisfied lives. And Kenji Yoshino, a professor of constitutional law at NYU School of Law, describes in his writing of “Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights” that covering is “work,” meaning that in order to be accepted by others who may come from different environment, people tend to cover some of their distinctiveness by using their emotional and physical

These three characterizing traits are what Morris believes are necessary for work for they set proper guidelines to ensure work is beneficial for not only oneself but also their community and environment. Of the three, the most influential is the hope of product. Work must be something that produces and gives back to the world what one has taken from it. Work that produces nothing but requires resources is a waste for it goes against the very reason for work; to better oneself and their community. This useless work stems from the problem of a hierarchy of social classes where the rich produce little to none and consume enormously, while the middle and lower classes produce the most yet struggle to consume enough to survive (Morris 2-3). If all social classes were equal in engaging in useful work, then there would be enough produced for all people regardless of social economic status. The other two motivations, hope of pleasure and hope of rest, go hand in hand for they portray work as necessary for an end goal. Morris says “We must feel while we are working that the time will come when we shall not have to work” (Morris 1) Proper work will not only bring pleasure to the worker for it will satisfy their needs and needs of their community, but it will also give that worker solace in that one day he or she

Showing that he is a part of a group or age group that is undeserved in what they currently have. From this he is at a loss of actions in the world that stands before him, feeling as though those word phrases that are so well known. That anyone can change the world before them for the greater good; anyone could be capable of doing the work of many or protecting the many. “I realize this may be a shock but “Happiness comes from within” is a lie and “Money will make me happy.” Suddenly trapped, realizing that all that has been told is a lie and from this the author branches off into the reality that has just begun a path of self-loathing. Unrestricted now he curses at happiness before him and replaces it sorrow, claiming happiness no longer comes from within one’s self, but comes from what a person makes, having a large bank account is all that matters to him at this point. All of this thus far has described in such a way that can only be seen as an author showing his views of the world with many I’s this is a first person perspective of an author truly sad with how change has differed the world he lives in. Often feeling the need to show how much he does not belong to the rest of his generation and may be in the wrong one entirely. With an addition to the fact that he questions if family is any more important than work, if his employer knows that he thinks of his job first rather than second. “Families stayed together, but this will not be true in my era, This is a quick fix society” Continuing the argument that of how the world has truly changed as families are no longer as they once were, not bonded, less attachments and work is above all. Today’s world is a fast world where everything has to be done and done quickly no one can take a moment to themselves and think for a moment or take a moment in. “30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my

The author, Professor Fleming, teaches Business and Society at City University, London. He has been studying capitalism, and his mission how to show that capitalism is still in our country. His book talks about how, “Work has turned our society, into a factory that never sleeps. It also shows the Critical theory, and it exposes accounts of job related suicides and fear of relaxation moments” (The University of Chicago Press Books). To prove his point he used many appeals to demonstrate his idea of work addictions. The appeal that was demonstrated the most would be pathos, he uses pathos to helps us understand that “a job is no longer something we do to achieve socially productive goals in society. An activity among other pursuits. No, a job today I something we are...preferably 24/7. Working unpaid overtime therefore seems natural. Self-exploitation looks like personal freedom” (Fleming). He is using pathos to help us feel a certain way about self-exploitation. We all know that it is bad, and working unpaid should not feel normal or natural for a person. Consequently, making people rethink their lives and if people are truly living for their career and not for themselves. He uses many credentials to show his point using the next appeal as

Work is meaningless. This is only true to some extent, as it is a half truth. The meaning or lack there of with work is determined by where we fix our gaze in this life. To the non believer work is life and life is wrapped up in work. Their satisfaction, joy, fulfillment, sadness, anger, and so many other emotions all center around their performance in the workplace. As the Bible states work is to be our toil and painful labor.

Indeed, all of us feel immense pressure to conform to society’s cyclical work ethic. We are expected to do well in school, go to a competitive university, and get a well paying job so that we can ultimately be successful in life. This focus on an unwavering work ethic to achieve materialistic goals is explored in The Metamorphosis, as Gregor is overworked and unhappy with his job but still tries to keep it after his transformation, and in our daily lives. The pressure to confine ourselves to a cyclical life in which exertion and discontent is commonplace, squanders our individuality and spirit. Yet, capitalism dictates that everyone conforms, or else one can’t sustain themselves or their loved ones. This dichotomy further isolates the individual, as one dissociates themselves from their life when they yield to capitalist

Whether we realize it or not, work is a part of our everyday lives. From running errands to children going to school, it is all work—things that we do to keep busy. But for most people, work is synonymous with money. It is the money, after all, that goes on to pay the bills, feed our families, and of course, buy us whatever it is we want. This, for the most part, is how society works. As a result, it is only natural for one to equate work with normality—that to work meant one was normal, and more importantly, that one was successful. Such a case can be seen in Roddy Doyle’s novel Paula Spencer and the 1999 film Rosetta, where both women—who come from impoverished backgrounds—view work as a way to integrate into society and gain a sense of normality within their unconventional lives. Work is a way for these women to feel as if they belong, and that they aren’t any different or worth less than other people. Work, to them, is a status symbol that represents conformity. That is, to work is to conform. And to conform, of course, meant that they were normal, and that they were just like everybody else.

This book has broadly speaking topics, and my opinion about this book I believed that was important to me. Therefore, here is my brief review of the book. What, if we are not working in today's society? What should be the result of not working? It could have many negative things in our lives. For such result, Volf gives us a foundation based on the significance and historical transformation of work. I believed as a Christian and theologian I will agree with authors’ suggests that says, “from the vocational understanding of work developed within the framework of the doctrine of creation to a pneumatological one developed within the framework of the doctrine of the last things” (Volf ix). A pneumatological theology of work is “based on

The Sunday Night Blues: a case about 59% of Americans come down with every Sunday night before starting the work week ahead. These people absolutely dread going to work every week, the majority of them wishing they could be able to quit their jobs and chase after their passions. A highly credible philosophical professor named Dr. Gordon Marino, made an entire article arguing why it would be inadequate and unethical for someone to quit a job that is necessary in order to provide for something bigger than oneself, that working or indulging in comfortable positions makes people miss out on the traditional connection of talent and duty. In Dr.Marino 's article, " A Life Beyond Do What You Love", he creates an effective argument about the traditional standard of self-fulfillment which is the capability of being able to avoid indulging in personal interests in order to serve something bigger than oneself. He builds his main argument by using anecdotes and hypophora 's to introduce the central investigation of his article, then addresses strong counter-arguments to his stance, and finally, uses highly credible historians to appeal ethically to the audience. He adopts a philosophical tone in order to appeal to similar experiences or thoughts his adult audience may have.