Sanders' Characterization of Laborers

Sanders expresses his desire to become an influential, educated man by characterizing the broken-down laborers he knew as a child solely as tools for labor, and through word choice that paints these men as worn out and beaten down. In contrast, he emphasizes the fact that educated, rich men are in control of their surroundings, and generalizes all of these men as having not a care in the world.

Sanders describes the physical laborer's position in life as one without any control - he is used only to toil and suffer for the men above him. Sanders furthers this depressing view of the laborer's life by constantly referring to their dilapidated physical conditions with words such as "maimed"(Sanders 545) and "split"(545). Sanders' word choice when describing these men is highly indicative of his feelings towards them and their work, and his fear of becoming like them. He describes their skin as "like the leather of old work gloves"(545), a description that not only provides a vivid physical image, but a deeper reflection of the laborer's place in society. By paralleling the laborer to a...