The amount of money that a job pays shapes countless aspects of a person’s life. C.E.O.’s of billion dollar companies can live luxurious lifestyles, while minimum wage workers sparingly spend their incomes, unable to afford extravagances. Ehrenreich’s Serving in Florida recalls her experience of working two low income jobs. Unlike others, she willingly chose to live this way, as she wanted to experience the hardships and expose social injustices. In this essay, Ehrenreich echoes her exhausting work in two jobs, both in which she was treated unfairly. Her rhetorical devices and appeals strengthen her argument, which is prominent through narration. Varied syntax and diction create tone, which helps the reader connect with the author. Her purpose is to show the world the daily struggles of low income workers and to bring about change Overall, she achieves this purpose by reflecting on her own experience and incorporating her co-workers’ lives.
The mode of narration appeals to both ethos and pathos. Narration forms a bond between her and the reader, so it is like she is telling the story to a close friend. This is an effective appeal to ethos, as she seems more credible and readers are more willing to believe her. She also builds on credibility at the beginning; her choice to leave her comfortable middle class life to experience poverty already influences readers to believe she is an honest, altruistic person. In addition, her strong appeals to pathos strengthen her argument because readers feel empathy for the lower class. Comments such as “For six to eight hours in a row, you never sit except to pee” (143) and “If the manager catches you in a idle moment he will give you something far nastier to do” (137) convey the brutal conditions of low-income jobs. In these quotes, she expresses the managers’ desire to make money, ignoring the over-worked waiters’ pains. Ehrenreich’s simple yet powerful sentences appeal to pathos by showing how basic activities, such as going to the bathroom, are sacrificed. Instead of listing monotonous sentences about her jobs, she effectively adds power and meaning to her statements by incorporating ethos and pathos, therefore achieving her purpose.
The Term Paper on The Relationship Of Engagement And Job Satisfaction In Working Samples
The present study explored the factor structure of engagement and its relationship with job satisfaction. The authors hypothesize that work engagement comprises 3 constructs: vigor, dedication, and absorption. Using structural equation modeling, the authors analyze data from 3 archival data sets to determine the factor structure of engagement. In addition, they examine the hypothesis that ...
Throughout the essay, Ehrenreich develops a critical, sometimes sarcastic tone, to achieve her purpose. Her figurative language, literary devices, diction, and syntax all shape her tone. For example, she criticizes her cruel managers who can sit “for hours at a time if they want – but it’s their job to see that no one ever does, even when there is nothing to do” (137).
She effectively juxtaposes her unjust managers with waiters and waitresses who vacuum, clean, and serve. In this statement, she attacks the malicious managers who don’t work, but make money off those who do. Furthermore, her implied ironic thought – managers who sit around and force others to work still make more money than the hardworking individuals – builds on her idea that low-income workers experience injustices. Another brilliant technique is her repeated use of appositional phrases that reflect her critical tone. For example, when she describes her co-worker’s life, saying, “Billy, who at $10 an hour is the wealthiest of us, lives in the trailer he owns, paying only the $400-a-month lot fee” (139), the appositional phrase informing readers of his wages emphasizes irony. Her tone is evident, as she wants readers to know that even though he makes the most money, ten dollars an hour is still insufficient. The “wealthiest man” still lives in a trailer, which lets readers wonder just how much better off he is. From just one simple phrase, Ehrenreich compresses a multitude of information to inform and influence readers. Another example of her appositional phrase is in the sentence, “The job isn’t the worst part – the housing, or lack of, is” (139).
The Essay on Readers Tone Poetry Sidelight Poet
Tone is the reflective attitude the poet attempts to evoke in her reader. When a person speaks they are able to bring to mind both a literal meaning (denotation) as well as a connotative meaning. The connotation of a sentence spoken is noted by "body language, intonation, word choice and many other subtle nuances that allows the speaker to effect a desired reaction from her listener. The poet must ...
The “lack of” emphasizes the continuous struggle of low-income workers, especially those who are homeless. She continues to illustrate the hardships of her co-workers’ by cataloging their living conditions, such as people who live on boats, cramped apartments, or even cars. To further convey the sufferings, she uses antithesis in the statement, “There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs” (140).
In this statement, she critically attacks the cliché thinking that the poor has developed a special method to support themselves. She points out that the poor has to help themselves, because no one else will. Overall, her tone, shaped by her syntax and figurative language, strikes at the injustices low-income worker experience.
Ehrenreich’s clever techniques are what make this essay effective. By incorporating tone, figurative language, and varied syntax into one narration, she achieves her purpose. Ethos makes readers listen; pathos is what urges readers to bring about change. Crushing common misconceptions, her honest, first-hand experience shows the reality of low-income workers. She demonstrates all the factors of life that minimum wage affects – housing, relationships, transporation – all in one well-written essay.
