Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of the speech “Smile or Die,” she uses this speech to inform her listeners about the ideology of mandatory positive thinking and how it is not always the answer. Ehrenreich talks about what people are forced to learn and how they are forced to think: if they want something bad enough, no matter what that thing may be, that wishing for it and having a positive attitude will put it in their possession. Wanting something bad enough is all it supposedly takes, yet Ehrenreich has an opposite perspective and she educates her audience on her opinion of “thinking positively” using her own personal experiences such as cancer, background knowledge and real-life examples. She wants people to understand that being positive …show more content…
In America Ehrenreich 's use of sarcasm and humor would have been better understood, but she wasn 't in America, so some of the things she said when translated into English was not legible to people who do not speak English. For instance, Ehrenreich uses a scenario of a woman wanting a diamond necklace she saw in a shop window, “The next thing you see is she’s wearing it. She “attracted it to herself” is the explanation. Actually, we call that burglary.” (page 3) Now to an English-speaking audience we may snicker and laugh because of course you call that burglary, but to an audience who does not speak English they probably looked at that remark as just a regular statement in which case her attempt to engage them using humor failed completely. Ehrenreich made another sarcastic remark when talking about breast cancer and people 's idea of having the illness being a gift that should be appreciated she says, “In fact, if your idea of a gift is cancer, get me off your christmas list right away.” (page 1) There is a good chance her spanish audience did not understand that comment after it had been ran through translation. Ehrenreich did do a great job at addressing her audience in the fact of not knowing if her book had been translated in Spanish, but her constant sarcastic remarks may have been thoroughly lost on the
The majority of her witty remarks were used in a sardonic way. This was to present the hopelessness of her situation. On page 109, Ehrenreich speaks of how unskilled her job really is. "But why complain about not being paid when those people at the Buddhist monastery pay with their own money to do the same kind of work?". Ehrenreich continues to sarcastically illustrate the hopelessness of her position on page 151 when she describes the hotels in which she is forced to stay in. "To say that some place is the worst motel in the country is, of course, to set oneself up for considerable challenge. I have encountered plenty of contenders in my own travels--the one in Cleveland that turned into a brothel at night, the one in Butte where the window looked out into another room. Still, the Clear view Inn leaves the competition in the dust." Her condescending and ridiculing tone leaves no doubt that she is using sarcasm to help paint a clearer picture. Humor turned out to be a very successful way in illustrating just how poor her living conditions were throughout her journey. Finally, on page 160, Ehrenreich continues on her sarcastic path. "Tonight, I had the ne sensation, Survivor, on CBS, where "real people" are struggling to light a ...
There are several inconsistencies about the situations that Ehrenreich placed herself in and the real li...
Ehrenreich’s “biting humor” gives off the sense of her stereotypical views, bluntly stating her biased opinions. Some of these views are understandable, and sometimes even excusable, considering her background of high education and/or lack of personal experience that is like majority of the people she encounters throughout her journey. However, there are points in which her wisecracks go too far. During her time in Florida, there is a point when four of her tables fill up at once. When a customer from a table of British tourists complains, she states, “Princess Di refuses to eat her chicken strips with her pancake and sausage special since, as she now reveals, the strips were meant to be an appetizer.” (p. 47). She also refers to another table of customers as “yuppies” (p. 47). When making these stereotypical judgments of people, she puts herself on a pedestal, almost as if she disregards the fact that she may fall under the same category of those whom she is making the comments about. When she references the food at the location of second job she takes in Florida, she begins describing it with: “Picture a fat person’s hell, and I don’t mean a place with no food.” (p. 29)....
Award-winning author Mandy Hale once stated, “Without negativity, life would be amazing.” However, this statement does not always prove to be true. Today’s modern community generates a judgement that negative experiences will ruin your life, but studies show that negativity can actually result in positive change. For example, negativity can positively change teenagers actions, introduce teenager’s to more supportive environments, and help fix broken relationships.
In the poem Happiness by Jane Kenyon, the main idea is that happiness comes in many forms to our lives and it is very difficult to see it, rather we need to experience it. The poet also conveys to treasure the happiness in our lives, even if it occurs in its miniature forms. Happiness is an emotion that is unique to an individual, rather than an event. Additionally, the poet tries to point out that happiness comes to everyone and everything – even though we are not aware of it. The poet effectively utilizes the parable of return of the prodigal son to explain what happiness is, then suddenly takes a turn to claim “happiness is the uncle that you never knew about.” Now the scene is set with the uncle arriving in his plane and to find you “asleep
She argues that a positive outlook will not make one cancer free, give one a job, make one wealthy or do you constantly happy. The beginning of the book made me realize that the balance of positive and negative thinking is the most important life lesson. She shows the readers how staying positive through her battles of cancers is going to make it easier, but Ehrenreich is trying to explain to the readers that it is okay to be negative. Ehrenreich gives the readers more of a negative side and thinks being positive is beginning to harm us. I can understand why she was thinking so negative while she was battling cancer, she was told by a cancer patient, “I know that if I get sad, or scared or upset, I am making my tumor grow faster and it will have shortened my life” (Ehrenreich 43). Ehrenreich sure did give the audience a way of understanding as to how people rely too much on positivity. She tells us that one will need to
The biggest appeal that Ehrenreich makes is after she ends up walking out of the housekeeping job/waitress job because she cannot handle it anymore." I have failed I don't cry, but I am in a position to realize, for the first time in many years, that the tear ducts are still there and still capable of doing their job." (Ehrenreich, 48) This is the biggest appeal because Ehrenreich is quitting on the whole project. She is basically telling the readers that it is impossible for her, a "well-off", woman to live the life of a low wage worker.
Society pressure themselves to be happy; they often ask questions like, “does that make you happy?” What they fail to understand is that sometimes doing the right thing, for the moment, might not seem to bring happiness in one’s life, but after trekking the ups and downs of life, happiness might be waiting on the other side. From time to time people also judge good and bad through happiness. “If something is good, we feel good. If something is
In the featured article, “Beside Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy,” the author, Judith Butler, writes about her views on what it means to be considered human in society. Butler describes to us the importance of connecting with others helps us obtain the faculties to feel, and become intimate through our will to become vulnerable. Butler contends that with the power of vulnerability, the rolls pertaining to humanity, grief, and violence, are what allows us to be acknowledged as worthy.
Author Christine Mitchell’s “When Living is a Fate Worse Than Death” told the story of a girl Haitian named Charlotte. Charlotte was born with her brain partially positioned outside of her cranium which had to be removed or she would have not survived. Her skull had to be concealed by a wrap in order not to cause further damage. Charlotte was born with less brain cells which allowed her only to breath and not feel much of the pain. Charlotte’s parents thought that the doctor’s in Haiti did not know what was best for their daughter. The doctors in Haiti thought Charlotte should not be resuscitated, undergo anymore horrible treatments and die peacefully. Charlotte’s parents were not happy with the doctor’s guidelines and thought the United States medical care would have better technology and could save their daughter. Charlotte’s parents bought her a doll which
While reading “The Ordinary Life” by Barbara Crooker, one is able to understand the dramatic irony of the poem and the irony of her ordinary day being rather interesting. In the first line, Crooker states that nothing happened that day, however she later goes on to contradict herself. When reading the poem, one can see her describe a day full of activities, such as: cleaning the cupboards, taking care of her baby, making dinner for her family, and a few other pastimes. Additionally, Crooker uses strong descriptive language to illustrate what the mother sees as an unremarkable day. For instance, “[...] sat in a circle of sunlight,” (line 9) and “[...] a long slow kiss, tasting of coffee and cream,” (lines 26-27) show the depth of her awareness
Ehrenreich is a privileged author, who didn't need to work a low-income job to live. Therefore, she uses very advanced and distinguished language when explaining her ideas, advanced and distinguished language that is critical and condescending. "The regulation poster in the single unisex rest room admonishes us to wash our hands thoroughly, and even offers instructions for doing so, but there is always some vital substance missing..." The manner that Ehrenreich uses "admonishes" in this sentence is very condescending. However, it seems condescending to her because she grew up with money and now leads a privileged lifestyle. Eighner is more accepting of people because he had to live the lifestyle that Ehrenreich was just experimenting with. Eighner was forced to live the impoverished lifestyle, he was homeless. Therefore, Eighner uses more accepting and optimistic language compared to Ehrenreich. "I live from the refuse of others. I am a scavenger. I think it a sound and honorable niche..." The manner that Eighner uses in saying, "a sound and honorable niche" he is very accepting of the people who scavenge, like he does himself. He is more accepting in this manner because he was homeless for three years. The different languages that they use is their appeal to logos and the reason they use those languages is the appeal to ethos. The languages that the
Death is inevitable; if you want happiness in life, try A. Margaret Atwood, the author of “Happy Endings,” uses six separate short stories to depict outcomes with different scenarios. The author practices the use of flash fiction which adds to the entirety of each version. Though this short story has portions of unusual context, the content can teach a reflection on life. As the reader analyzes all six versions, the gender roles are evident as the story progresses. Atwood starts the short story by introducing the two main characters, John and Mary, and then proceeds to tell a variety of options as to who they are and what happens to them. In Margaret Atwood’s short story, “Happy Endings,” the central theme of fiction provides several different
“You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person,” was once said by a man named Scott Sorrell. In today’s modern world and age, everything seems to be progressing and getting larger at a mind blowing rate. This includes people’s attitudes on themselves, on other people, and on the world in general. Many people are insecure and spiteful towards their physique or their overall worth, and bitter and disconnected from other people. Scott Sorrell’s quote is conveying that one can make the world a better place both for themselves and for other people simply by changing their attitude and being positive. I agree with Scott Sorrell’s quote because by choosing to be happy from within, people’s positive attitudes can reach other people and eventually the world, making it a “better place”.
These phycologists have wondered if there are more optimist or pessimists in the world. They have made an attempt to find out what approach is greater or better. There are some advantages to optimism because it makes people feel better about life, however, there are also some advantages to pessimism in that looking at the unfortunate side of things can help some pessimists cope better with the world. Both optimism and pessimism have important roles to play the lives of everybody. Being optimist permits people to go after their goals in a positive way, to dream bigger and better dreams, which they can strive to work towards. Optimist also tend to respond better to positive feedback, and a part of being an optimist may be producing this feedback for themselves, example, thinking positive thoughts. While on the other hand, being pessimistic may help people to better acknowledge negative feedback and reduce their natural anxiety to perform better. Once again, part of the reason why pessimist generates negative thoughts is that it helps them perform a lot better. People tend to utilize both optimism and pessimism in order for them gain out of their advantages. People who are mainly concerned with growth or advancement often manifest an optimistic view, whereas those who are concerned with safety and security, or avoiding negative outcomes, focus more on pessimism in order to improve their