preview

The Pleasures And Sorrows Of Work By Alain De Botton

Decent Essays

It is made evident that the ultimate approach used by non-fiction writers is to revolve their text around a thesis or salient idea which over rules each individual choice in their writing. To produce a successful non-fiction text, the work requires unity, being the salient idea, like the way ribs are structured from a sternum. Alain de Botton reveals the sense of unity in both of the extracts picked from his work: “The Pleasures And Sorrows Of Work”. The first extract’s salient idea wraps around the idea of society feeding false toward the work force. When referring to de Botton’s second extract, his theme revolves around the central theory that work is considered as punishment rather than pleasurable which de Botton sees as out of line. His …show more content…

He’s done this by using factual and straight forward statements such as “next day” and “twenty-five middle managers” had lost their jobs, to describe the setting of his writing. This gives the reader the idea on where the non-fiction occasion has taken place and the “twenty-five middle mangers” involved. When Alain introduces the ‘motivational’ seminar which is shown to the redundant workers, it reveals his criticism of what is being done to the individuals. The content of the seminar which is projected on to a screen by a man, Symons, consists of phrases and quotes, where the direct use of cliches are used, such as, “I can do anything if i put my mind to it,” etc, shown to a bunch of sacked workers. De Botton then ministers a list of more cliches in his first sentence of the next paragraph: “None of this was easy to watch”. This implies the optimism of the seminar is a …show more content…

De Botton immediately brings in contrast between the first and second paragraph of the extracts by beginning the second paragraph with “It was not always this way”, which he then states historical allusion, showing how society has manipulated the meaning of a natural part of like (employment). De Botton refers back to his salient idea by saying; “Aristotles’s formula has been turned on its head” and stating more and more factual statements to back up his idea of the changing mentality towards the need to

Get Access