Essay Prompt Two
Guilt and remorse are two common themes from “What Work Is” by Philip Levine and “Now We Are Five” by David Sedaris. These themes lead the reader to understand the cruelty of materialistic society and the important of family bonding.
In growth it is clearly seen in the poem that the health conditions of the workers were very pathetic while the work was tiresome and very difficult. The author therefore shows the cruelty of the society in treating its workers ruthless without taking consideration the amount of labor and productivity they are contributing to the state or country. The employers are subject to the poor working conditions the laborers or workers. These conditions in the industries leads to many difficulties and toil in the job place which translates to emotional stress on the workers (Levine, 1992p. 22). The difficult or unhealthy work conditions are also a ill8ustration of the high levels of ignorance and neglect of the workers leading to deterioration of productivity. The poem describes the nature of the men working in the industrious and the way the hard and unhealthy conditions reduced them to the status, which is inhuman as they work for long hours like robots. The workers or laborers are therefore subjected to very difficult and dirty conditions making their skins very dark due the grease they work with i9n the industries and to make the matters worse they are paid very low and this translates to torture and stress. The workers are also subjected to hot conditions due to the high amounts of temperature in the factories burning their skins as well as leading to very poor health conditions making the lifespan of the individuals short.
The difficult and tough working conditions described in this poem also translates to unhappiness since the individuals are ever working without resting. The status of the workers in the society is remorseful and filled with guilt and grief. This is a product of the government failing to provide good working conditions in the factories or industries in the general. The author therefore reflects the negative effects of American capitalism where the individuals work extremely hard in order to earn a living (Levine, 1992p. 32). The effects of capitalism are also seen from the high rates of unemployment making them work for long hours and extreme conditions putting their lives at risk of diseases door to poor and unhealthy working places. The poem also reflects the high levels of exploitation of working class by their employers make them remorseful and stressful all through.
The cruelty of materialistic society is therefore clearly elaborated in the poem where the workers accept to work at very unhealthy conditions at the expense of money. They also accept the high levels of exploitation at the work place in order to gain some earnings. The cruelty of the employers is clearly seen by the way they treat their employees by exploiting them through hard labor and low earnings. The long working hours of toil and labor as well as unhealthy working conditions translates to cruelty and the materialistic nature of the society. The poem also elaborates the high levels of struggle between the upper class and the middle class in relation to the work practices. The upper class takes advantage of the middle class as shown by the fact that the narrator could not get enough time to rest while his brother could not get time o practice the songs due to long hours of labor in the factory.
The themes of cruelty materialistic society are also clearly reflected from the way the children were worried and remorse about the working conditions of their parents, fathers in particular. This made the children have very little time to spend with their parents lacking the parental guidance and care since they are mostly not at home (Levine, 1992p. 39). The fathers also arrive home while tired making it difficult for the parents to spend time with their children. This may therefore lead to poor parenting and the retardation of morals in the society when children lacks the parental support as well as a feeling of isolation leading to emotional abuse of children. The children may also feel neglected or abandoned by their parents making it difficult for them to live in the society comfortably.
“Now We Are Five” by David Sedaris:
The literature prompt on “now are five” touches on the essence of the theme that illustrates the thesis on the theme of guilt and remorse. It made the reader to understand about the book in itself and the society we live in. the scenario bring s us to the explanation of the characters in the novel.
David Sedaris explains the essence that made her sister to commit suicide. If there is, anything to go by the attitude displayed in the context shows the essence of seeing a strong woman growing. The children wish to get back at their parents as they claimed that they were left on their own by the parents. It is in this scenario that they plot to make one of them to be run over by a car. As the claim states that, they wanted to get attention from their parents (David, 2013p. 14). The theme of guilt and remorse is displayed when the parents realized the motives their children had plotted; they feel remorse and a feeling of guilt. They are remorseful due to their loose of their daughter who committed suicide, the poor child tiffany would do anything just because of her naivety in thinking; she does this because she graves for affection. The parents feel guilt as they find it had to believe and feel that they are responsible or the occurrence of the fateful tragedy.
The incidence that teddy had taken her own love during the 50th birthday raised eyebrows her brother knows little about her sister as he was about to board the plane when he learned about the news. Sedaris reveals the occurrence of the events in a regrettable manner. The narrator explains that he had had a sporadic. Her last will show the essence of the constrained relationship with the family. The article, states that they are now five as they have lost one family member. Her will was rather weird as it stated that her family should not attend her burial.
The issue of the book illustrating Tiffany taking her own life depicts the problems the societies face. As an adult, we face various challenging issues that results in being frustrated and feel like ending it all. The parents of tiffany had failed on their part, as they had been reluctant in giving attention to their children. If at all the parents had been, showing love and affection to their siblings the issue of their daughter would be adhered. Parents need to be considerate not to be away for too much from their own children simply they need to be humane enough to show love to their children. Every family member was remorseful for their loose of the sister as she had been with them. The essence of being remorseful is evident as each asked why someone could live them of all the people.
The basis of the novel illustrate the way the family feel guilt and responsible for losing one of their own in an unfair way as each wished that they had talked and stopped her from taking her own life (David, 2013p. 24). The Sedaris needed to pulled close together in their own Sedaris as tiffany had left them therefore they could become their own specific. The incidence o f tiffany shows the family relation and the way tiffany was portrayed before her death. he had been a great child even before yet she had some funny traits for example she had once thrown thrush and made chaos then created a shrunk and made a mosaic out of which was stunning. On one occasion when she receives allegations, she would react instantly and show the essence of being (David, 2013p. 29). The theme of the novel on remorse is in the people who all the people who leaved with and knew tiffany as her obituary was posted in the newspaper though she appeared to be old and had her own house. The basis of this concept points the ability of literature to show the instance of involving characters.
The family members were six and this novel states that they turned out to be five as they lost tiffany. In brief, the two articles touches closely on the essence of guilt, as individuals tend to regret of failing to perform their work and show the instance of being irresponsible on their part. In the part of feeling remorse each part is remorseful for lose, as the individual cannot be brought back to life in order to correct the mistakes.
Works Cited
Levine, Philip. What Work Is: Poems. New York: Knopf, 1992. Print.
David, Sedaris"Special Edition.: David Sedaris: "Now We Are Five"." Special Edition. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
