Essay one

URGEN DOLMA

ESSAY ONE

ENG-101

In Excerpts from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx describes the word alienation as a separation that is correlated between the work and family. He shows how alienation takes place in our daily life alienating from work and family. In modern times, more and more people rely on "labor" to live and that is, before people could rely in part on nature itself for its "natural needs". If one wants to eat, one must work: it is only through money that one may survive. Marx claims, "The more man puts into god, the less he retains in himself. The worker puts his life into object; but now his life no longer belongs to him but to the object." This shows how his life is devoted to the work and all he is doing is for living and not such meaningful life for himself which dragged into the world of alienation that apart one's from their work and family. Thus, Marx points out "Labor is only used to create more wealth, instead of achieving the fulfillment of human nature". This supports that people generally work for money rather than thinking of their own happiness in what they are doing and make themselves part of a meaningless and unhappy life.

The concept of alienation does apply to the Studs Terkel "Who Built The Pyramid " by Mike Lefevre showing exact reason of alienation of work from his life, and the unhappiness and tiredness of his living with the job that is not satisfaction. However, "Blue Collar Brilliance" by Mike Rose somehow shows that alienation is away from work on this chapter referring work as their happiness and passion. In Studs Terkel "Who Built The Pyramid", Mike Lefevre works as a steel worker in the steel mill and the ridicule he receives for being a laborer. I believe his negative attitude affects his credibility. Mike feels that he is treated like a slave and he really has no purpose for doing something for himself. He also feels that he is not appreciated for what he does like an artist or a movie star is. He says that a computer can do his job for him. He is angered by that because he feels that a computer does not need money to support a family or buy things that are needed from day to day. Mike has an attitude about his job. He feels that he should not get excited about what he is and Levefre talks importantly about how he never sees the results of his efforts. In a factory, as a result of the division of labor, each employee has tiny tasks that are put into a final product completely alienated from the workers themselves. All Lefevre can think about is his days off, and he’s tired the rest of the time. This is the result of condition, which is terrible for both the mind and body. Lefevre says, “I cannot picture myself singing to a tractor. I just can't (Laughs.) Or singing to steel.(Singsongs.) Oh whoop-de-doo, I'm at the bowdlerizer, oh how I love this heavy steel. No thanks. Never happen." There is no hope to love his job. Furthermore, the working hours restrict employees. Because of this they cannot get time to spend with their family. Working hours are long, the works is heavy and patrons usually treat their laborer in a bad way without any tolerance. As a result of this, workers have alienation towards their family.

On the other hand, Mike Rose didn’t apply word alienation to “Blue Collar Brilliance”. In the chapter “Blue Collar Brilliance", Mike Rose challenges the view that intelligence can be measured by the amount of schooling a person has completed. He suggests that blue-collar and service jobs require more intelligence than meets the eye. He describes his experiences growing up observing his mother as a waitress in coffee shops and family restaurants. He shows his mother as a dynamic woman who loved her job and put her heart and soul into being a waitress. He described the way she memorized who ordered what, how long each dish is supposed to take to prepare, and how she became a pro at interpreting the emotional needs of her customers and colleagues alike. He also details his uncles work at the General Motors factory and shows the amount of intelligence that was required of him as he rose from being in the production line to supervising paint jobs. He explains how he observed different types of blue- collar and service workers in action, and came to the conclusion that each of them have a skill that takes a lot of mind power to master. Mike Rose observes that "Like anyone who is effective at physical work, my mother learned to work smart, as she put it, to make every move count". This shows how his mother devoted herself into work without any sadness and dissatisfaction which means she is not alienated from work instead she loved her job.

In conclusion, I want to say that Mike Lefevre's life and Mike Rose's mother is the best picture to show how working life turns people into robots, how it changes our world. How workers have experienced alienation and non alienation to their work, and enjoys their everyday work as Rosie does as doing waitress in Blue Collar Brilliance and the Mike Lefevre's life which most importantly is how they becomes foreigners to the world, to their families. This is the biggest problem: We have been losing our humanity because of alienation. Unfortunately, almost everybody got accustomed to be mechanic. So, these two chapters have some similarities and contrast of separation from work and their families.