The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is a story of the colonization of Mars through many expeditions from earth astronauts. It evolves through history just as earth did, and the people from earth build towns on it similar to towns in America. Eventually thousands of people move to Mars. Many of the martians were killed in the earlier expeditions because the first astronauts had brought chicken pox to the planet. Eventually, Earth goes into a nuclear war and many people die. In the end, a family saves a rocket from the government and decides to go to mars. The final chapter discusses the father of the family burning all his old documents and ending his old way of life before their trip. Finally he introduces his son to "the martians" which was really nothing but the family's reflection in the canal water.
Bradbury's writing techniques and word choice illustrate the American Dream. The people from earth explored mars and colonized it in the same way that early pioneers moved west and colonized it during "Manifest Destiny". He also makes references to how exploring and colonizing new places can be harmful and destructive, such as the astronauts killing the martians with chicken pox, similar to how early Americans killed Native Americans with small pox. Bradbury uses very descriptive writing to describe the beauty of planet mars, and then later uses dialogue to show how little the people from earth cared that they had destroyed the planet, such as children exploring the ruins and playing with the martian's ribcage bones.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a war novel and tells the story of World War I through the eyes of a German soldier named Paul Baumer. The narrator describes in detail all the horrors of trench warfare and the changes that he undergoes as a person. Paul's view on war changes slightly in every chapter. At first, he seems accepting of death and observes that when on the front the soldiers are less human and rely more on "animal instincts". Later on Paul questions what his purpose in life might be after the war, because war has changed him so much and his memories before the war begin to fade. As death occurs more often around him, Paul seems to become more compassionate about others. In chapter 8, Paul sees the Russian prisoners and wonders how men so similar to him can be his enemy, and he feels sorry for them and gives him the food his mother sent him. In chapter 9 Paul shows even more compassion when he bandages an enemy soldier after stabbing him. In the end, after losing all of his friends to the war, Paul finally dies with a peaceful expression on his face, as if he were"almost glad the end had come”
I found a lot of the dialogue in the book to be interesting and most effective in illustrating the narrator's character development. "Comrade, I did not want to kill you. . . . But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. . . . I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade." This quote by Paul shows how although the war has been brutal and he has seen many of his fellow men killed and injured, he can also show compassion towards his enemies, who he feels he doesn't know well enough personally to be enemies with to begin with. Paul's dialogue with the dying French soldier shows that he feels sympathetic and guilty about killing men he doesn't know.
I found a lot of the dialogue in the book to be interesting and most effective in illustrating the narrator's character development. "Comrade, I did not want to kill you. . . . But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. . . . I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade." This quote by Paul shows how although the war has been brutal and he has seen many of his fellow men killed and injured, he can also show compassion towards his enemies, who he feels he doesn't know well enough personally to be enemies with to begin with. Paul's dialogue with the dying French soldier shows that he feels sympathetic and guilty about killing men he doesn't know.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Nickel and Dimed
In the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehremreich, the author experiments with living the life of a lower class American in 1998. Ehrenreich's book shines a light on many struggles and difficulties the working poor have to face, such as finding housing, jobs, and food on a minimum-wage budget. She worked a variety of different minimum wage jobs, such as a waitress, housekeeper, maid, and Wal-Mart employee.
Throughout the book Enremreich experiences an entirely different treatment in life than she is used to be cause she is now at the bottom of the American social hierarchy. When she works as a maid in Maine, she notes that when wearing her uniform she is treated as if she were "invisible", even by other "6 dollar an hour gals" such as waitresses and convenience store clerks. This illuminates the difficulties of being "looked down on" when belonging to the lower class. Another example of this mistreatment is when she finds out that homeowners will purposely leave money and valuables out in the open with hidden cameras, as if they thought the maids were more likely to steal just because they have low paying jobs.
Yet another struggle Enremreich faces is the problem of finding places to live. Her low budget makes it very hard to find housing in every town she moves to. Often she has to spend over a week living in small hotel rooms while calling every apartment complex she could afford, and many times her calls were not even returned. Any time she settled on a place to stay, it was often in a small, cramped space with no luxury at all. In Maine she lives in a cottage where her bathroom was inches away from her kitchen space.
Finding jobs so she could support herself was also not an easy task for Enremreich. As part of the experiment she did not put any information about her education or past employment experiences (even though she has a Ph.D, worked as an assistant professor,is a well known journalist and a feminist activist) on her job applications.She acknowledges in the book that because she was looked at as a middle aged, poor woman, potential employers treated her differently than they would have otherwise. After applying at Wal-Mart she notes the emphasis on how against drugs the company was.She has to pass a drug test to get hired there, which, as she points out, shows that many employers care more about drug use than any good qualities an employee may have. "It rankles-at some deep personal, phsyical level-to know that the many engaging qualities I believe I have to offer-friendliness, reliability, willingness to learn-can all be trumped by my pee."
Question 12-How does managers' scrutiny-"time theft" crackdowns and drug testing-affect workers' morale? How can American companies make the workplace environment safe and efficient without treating employees like suspected criminals?
American companies can make the workplace environment safe and efficient simply by doing a background check on people if they seriously consider hiring them. They could try a Social Security scan, a criminal record check, employment verifications, ect. A drug test can cost anywhere from 25 to 100 dollars, which is a waste of the employer's time and money especially because most people who apply for jobs pass them. Even if they are considering someone with a criminal record, perhaps they should take into consideration the seriousness of the crime. Someone with a drug possession charge would probably make a more honest employee than someone who has assault or theft charges on their record. It's obnoxious and degrading for these companies to treat everyone who actually wants to work for them as if their some low life criminal just because they're applying for a low paying job.
It effects the workers' morale by making them less enthusiastic about working for the company, because the company is already making assumptions about the quality of that person's worth ethic simply based on whether or not they use drugs.
Throughout the book Enremreich experiences an entirely different treatment in life than she is used to be cause she is now at the bottom of the American social hierarchy. When she works as a maid in Maine, she notes that when wearing her uniform she is treated as if she were "invisible", even by other "6 dollar an hour gals" such as waitresses and convenience store clerks. This illuminates the difficulties of being "looked down on" when belonging to the lower class. Another example of this mistreatment is when she finds out that homeowners will purposely leave money and valuables out in the open with hidden cameras, as if they thought the maids were more likely to steal just because they have low paying jobs.
Yet another struggle Enremreich faces is the problem of finding places to live. Her low budget makes it very hard to find housing in every town she moves to. Often she has to spend over a week living in small hotel rooms while calling every apartment complex she could afford, and many times her calls were not even returned. Any time she settled on a place to stay, it was often in a small, cramped space with no luxury at all. In Maine she lives in a cottage where her bathroom was inches away from her kitchen space.
Finding jobs so she could support herself was also not an easy task for Enremreich. As part of the experiment she did not put any information about her education or past employment experiences (even though she has a Ph.D, worked as an assistant professor,is a well known journalist and a feminist activist) on her job applications.She acknowledges in the book that because she was looked at as a middle aged, poor woman, potential employers treated her differently than they would have otherwise. After applying at Wal-Mart she notes the emphasis on how against drugs the company was.She has to pass a drug test to get hired there, which, as she points out, shows that many employers care more about drug use than any good qualities an employee may have. "It rankles-at some deep personal, phsyical level-to know that the many engaging qualities I believe I have to offer-friendliness, reliability, willingness to learn-can all be trumped by my pee."
Question 12-How does managers' scrutiny-"time theft" crackdowns and drug testing-affect workers' morale? How can American companies make the workplace environment safe and efficient without treating employees like suspected criminals?
American companies can make the workplace environment safe and efficient simply by doing a background check on people if they seriously consider hiring them. They could try a Social Security scan, a criminal record check, employment verifications, ect. A drug test can cost anywhere from 25 to 100 dollars, which is a waste of the employer's time and money especially because most people who apply for jobs pass them. Even if they are considering someone with a criminal record, perhaps they should take into consideration the seriousness of the crime. Someone with a drug possession charge would probably make a more honest employee than someone who has assault or theft charges on their record. It's obnoxious and degrading for these companies to treat everyone who actually wants to work for them as if their some low life criminal just because they're applying for a low paying job.
It effects the workers' morale by making them less enthusiastic about working for the company, because the company is already making assumptions about the quality of that person's worth ethic simply based on whether or not they use drugs.
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