How To Live In Under The Lion's Paw

978 Words2 Pages

The difference between living to work and working to live is a great one. As times change and the amount of jobs available grows so does the need people feel to enjoy their day to day jobs. It is not only a need in society to support their families but also to be happy in both family time and work time. In “Under the Lion’s Paw” you have a family ecstatic to have a home, food, clothes, and each other. In the poem “Assembly Line” you have a worker that has clothes, food and shelter, but is still unhappy with life simply because of their job. In the photo I chose men are working in a field, dirty clothes, sweaty, and most of the men have no shoes. The one thing they do have is a smile on their faces. As time goes on being happy naturally becomes harder and harder, and the desire to fulfill that in every way possible has increasingly more important in the workplace. …show more content…

He comes across a nice family, the Council’s, who offer a warm place to stay for the night and advice as to where to find land near by. The Haskin’s end up buying the land and doing extremely well other than a few set backs. Many times in the story are comparable to the photo I have selected, but opposite of the poem “Assembly Line”. The Haskin’s show many times how grateful they are to have a decent farm and something to provide them with everything they need, no matter how hard the work is. You can tell in this short story when it says “Haskins worked like a fiend, and his wife, like the heroic woman that she was, bore also uncomplainingly he most terrible burdens.” (Garland 69) that this family is thankful for everything has fallen into their hands. No matter the burden the reward for it is far

Show More
Related

  • Andrew Curry's Why We Work By Barbara Ehrenreich

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s society you either have to work hard to live a good life, or just inherit a lump sum of cash, which is probably never going to happen. So instead a person has to work a usual nine to five just to put food on the table for their families, and in many cases that is not even enough. In the article, “Why We Work” by Andrew Curry, Curry examines the complexities of work and touches on the reasons why many workers feel unsatisfied with their jobs. Barbara Ehrenreich writes an essay called, “Serving in Florida” which is about the overlooked life of being a server and the struggles of working off low minimum wages. Curry’s standpoint on jobs is that workers are not satisfied, the job takes control of their whole life, and workers spend

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast How Not To Get Into College 'And'somnambulist'

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem describes workers to be “Killing the overtime ‘cause the dream is your life, / Refusing to take holidays or go home to your spouse, / But for many the overtime comes, ‘cause the work is not done. / Deadlines to be met. So you continue to dream like a war vet, / Having flashbacks to make you shiver and scream” (Jones, stanza 7, lines 2-6). Jones reinforces that overworking for an incentive of money does not give one a sense of gratification, and it also distracts them from the values that should matter more to them than anything else. Both Kohn and Jones have a similar approach to showing the reader the effect that overworking can have on a person, and how it will change their values in life, causing unhappiness. Many students go through school dispirited and do not join various clubs and activities for their own enjoyment. A friend of Kohn’s who was also a high school guidance counsellor had a student with ‘…amazing grade and board scores. It remained only to knock out a dazzling essay on his college applications that would clinch the sale. “Why don’t we start with some books that

    Read More

  • Rebecca Harding Davis's Life In The Iron Mills

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    The family all lives together in two cellar rooms of a large house rented to multiple families. Deborah works as a picker in a cotton mill for a below minimal wage while Hugh and his father work making iron for the railroad as puddlers in Kirby & John’s mill. Hugh and Deborah have a severely impoverished existence of long hours and terrible conditions. Wages are trivial- not enough to save, only to subsist in very poor conditions: “Their lives were like those of their class: incessant labor, sleeping in kennel-like rooms, eating rank pork and molasses, drinking-God and the distillers only know what; with an occasional night in jail, to atone for some drunken excess” (Davis 211). This quote epitomizes their disorderly and deplorable lifestyle. They obtain the lowest class status, and constantly face the strain and insecurity of work.

    Read More

  • kettle bottom

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    The struggles that many face while experiencing poverty are not like any other. When a person is experiencing poverty, they deal with unbearable hardships as well as numerous tragic events. Diane Gilliam Fisher’s collection of poems teaches readers about labor battles within West Virginian territories, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of these battles include the Battle of Matewan and Battle of Blair Mountain. The collection of poems is presented in many different manners, ranging from diary entries to letters to journal entries. These various structures of writing introduce the reader to contrasting images and concepts in an artistic fashion. The reader is able to witness firsthand the hardships and the light and dark times of impoverished people’s lives. He or she also learns about the effects of birth and death on poverty stricken communities. In the collection of poems in Kettle Bottom, Fisher uses imagery and concepts to convey contrast between the positive and negative aspects of the lives of people living in poverty.

    Read More

  • Dorianne Laux's What I Wouldn T Do

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is safe to say that work comes in many different forms. Whether it be a fast food or a corporate, the people that surround an individual make a great impact on the way he or she may work. Singapore, by Mary Oliver, is about a young woman working as a custodian in an airport who although works alone, enjoys her work and the people she meets. Dorianne Laux’s What I Wouldn’t Do, introduces another young woman reviewing the jobs she has had throughout time and reflects on those that she liked and disliked. Hard Work, by Stephen Dunn, exemplifies a young boy working in a soda factory during his summer break. Searching for happiness in life and work is just what these individuals are doing.

    Read More

  • Impressions of My Antonia

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    farms, he is awed by the sight of "nothing but land."  His parents are both

    Read More

  • wild plums

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...a rural farming community in the 19th century South where accents are thick and homes are few and far between. The young girl’s family is privileged enough to own a buggy whereas the Slumps own a simple wagon. The Slumps have a dirt floor to which clearly exemplifies the poor living conditions that they survive in. The girl’s father not only owns better equipment but also has a shed to which he can store the items in to keep them from being exposed to the elements. The little girl acknowledges the diversities between their two lives but doesn’t consider the Slumps as inferior people simply because they live an austere lifestyle. Her concern, as far as she’s concerned, is that the Slumps sleep under the stars, pick plums, and make jelly: a task that is unfamiliar and exciting to her to which she can merely examine from afar with a desire to partake in the amusement.

    Read More

  • Ehrenreich's 'The Not So Arbitrary Matters Of Life'

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example: during her stay in Minneapolis she could have worked for Mountain Air or Menards. Both of these jobs would have paid better than Walmart, yet the tasks they demanded of her were daunting and she was unsure she could fulfill them. Her coworkers also had similar experiences. Because of this, they decided to stick with what was familiar and safe to them. Another issue that prevented the LWW's from switching to higher paying jobs was that they had developed a sense of pride for their occupations. When a persona takes pride in their work, no matter how menial it is, they shall try their best and stick with it as long as they can. This could clearly be seen when Ehrenreich was a maid in Maine. Even though her job as a maid was destroying her health and that of her coworkers they had a fierce amount of pride for their jobs and nothing short of severe injury would stop them from getting it done. Conversely, depression and apathy had the same impact as pride on Ehrenreich's coworkers. The jobs the had in the past had simply beaten the fight out of them either physically or mentally. Between the insecurity a new job elicits, the pride they had for their current occupation, or the apathy they held towards life in general many of the LWWs Ehrenreich worked with simply couldn't bring themselves to change their already

    Read More

  • Dividing Island John Stefler Summary

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    The title of this work comes from a line in Dividing Island by John Steffler. I believe this poem is as close a representation to modern day Newfoundland living as can be. It is a well-known fact among Newfoundlanders that if you want to be successful, it is necessary that you will need to leave the island. There is a sad reality that jobs and opportunities in Newfoundland itself are lacking, which causes for tight budgets or a goal to one day work away. People are required to leave home in order to make a living, and in doing so they are divided between home and work. It is difficult enough to spend time with your family when working full-time, but to be obligated to work weeks away from home at a time, it can become a painful reality for several families.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of What I Lived For

    218 Words  | 1 Pages

    Henry David Thoreau argues that when people are thinking too much and focus on details, “our life is frittered away by detail.” (p.276) People keep working in the bustling world, and forget the beauty of nature and our world. Thoreau also says “As for work, we haven’t any of any consequence”(p.277), what he means is that people are working meaninglessly, they are

    Read More

  • Lennie's Disability In Of Mice And Men

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the late 1920’s, the stock market dropped, leaving thousands of Americans jobless. Many men left their homes and families in search of employment. Two farm workers in California, Lennie Small and George Milton, travel from ranch to ranch searching for work to get them by. In John Steinbeck’s story Of Mice And Men, George and Lennie go through the journey of finding a new job to “get the jack together” and “live off the fatta the lan’.” In with this journey comes obstacles that they may or may not be able to pass through. In Of Mice And Men Steinbeck uses characterization, conflict, and dramatic irony to show how Lennie and George learn to cope with obstacles caused by Lennie’s disability.

    Read More

  • Walt Whitman's I Hear America Singing

    266 Words  | 1 Pages

    Whitman hears the songs of all the workers and normal people who contribute to the culture of America: the mechanic, the carpenter, the mason, the boatman, the shoemaker, the woodcutter, and the women. The people illustrated in the poem are neither making a lot of money nor doing anything that is world changing; instead, they are just doing their own business of contributing to society. This explicates upon the American value of hard

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of What Work Is By Philip Levine

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem, “What Work Is” by Philip Levine is an intricate and thought-provoking selection. Levine uses a slightly confusing method of describing what work actually is. He gives the idea that work is very tedious, however necessary. It is miserable, however, it is a sacrifice that is essentially made by many, if not all able-bodied members of society. Many have to sacrifice going to a concert or a movie, but instead works jobs with hardly a manageable salary. This poem seems to have a focus on members of the lower-class or middle-class who live paycheck to paycheck and are unable to put money away for a future for their children or for a vacation and how difficult life can be made to be while living under this type of circumstance. Levine

    Read More

  • Magic Window In The Novelle

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    “knowing that he would never be able to live the way he wished in the city, he moved… to where his farm was… asked nothing of anyone and endured his poverty patiently.

    Read More

  • Child Labor In William Blake's The Chimney Sweeper

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    Parents would work hard all day, but still could not afford to keep the family taken care of. There was only one way for the family, to survive and that was to force the children to work wherever they could. In Songs of Innocence, the narrator’s mother died (1). Following his mother’s death the narrator was sold by his father, because the he could not afford to take care o and himself. This was the tragic life of the lower class. Adolescents had to work so they could eat. In “Songs of Experience” it is unclear why the parents make their child work. It states that they “clothed him in the clothes of death” (7). The narrator conveys that he was having fun playing and running around, and then his parents forced him to work (Experience 5). Yet, his parents were at the church praying, when they needed to be out working with their

    Read More

More about How To Live In Under The Lion's Paw

Open Document