Readers Response Not Equal and Happiest Jobs PDF

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Reader Response Freshman English Seminar First Year Assignment with Answers...

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Roman Smith Prof. Nicola Readers Response: Compare and Contrast We Are Not All Created Equal and Happiest Jobs 8 November 2018

The arguments proposed by Stephen Marche in “We Are Not All Created Equal: The Truth about the American Class System” and Jacquelyn Smith’s “The Happiest and Unhappiest Jobs in America” differ from each other tonally and conceptually. Marche takes the pessimist approach, suggesting that America was once a land of mobility and opportunity, but has now been distilled into something else. Smith takes the opposite approach, suggesting that the job search is an act of finding what brings joy to one’s life, and that a career should involve personal satisfaction, control, and contentment. Both authors bring different arguments to the topic of the job market, supported by an array of details. Marche’s article focuses on the idea that America has developed a class system that prevent growth, and directly contradicts the ideals that the country was founded on. He makes use of recent media to illustrate the portrayals of American ideals in modern culture. Marche organizes his argument by lending examples and appeals to the modern generation by referencing popular shows in modern culture. Marche explains his thesis through reference to Mad Men when he states, “Don Draper is the new Gatsby- he transforms himself from a penniless vet to a salesclerk to partner in an ad firm,”(256). His references help the reader to connect to Marche’s thesis about the social class structure in America while engaging with the links to pop culture. The augment that Marche makes is effective and supported by evidence that is both narrative, like the references to television, and empirical, like the statistics that he uses to

Roman Smith Prof. Nicola Readers Response: Compare and Contrast We Are Not All Created Equal and Happiest Jobs 8 November 2018

support the idea of college graduates not finding fulfilling jobs. Marche lends factual evidence to is argument when he writes, “Roughly 85% of them moved back home in 2011, where they sit on an average debt of $27,200,” (257). The piece is a unique perspective on America’s ideal shift and differs greatly from other perspectives. Jacquelyn Smith offers a conflicting tonal piece in “The Happiest and Unhappiest Jobs in America”. Smith analyses a site called Careerbliss.com, a site that helps, “arm [users] with the information needed to truly understand the rewards and challenges [of a job]”, (259). Smith writes as the goes through the site and breaks down the most notable slot in the list of 10 happiest and unhappiest jobs. The argument is organized in a logical way: Smith introduces a job, defines it, and then explains why it is considered either happy of unhappy. An example of this is when Smith introduces sales workers with, “Senior sales representatives is the third happiest job in America, according to CareerBliss data. The profession scored a 4.19,” (260). The way Smith alludes to jobs, and the reasons she explains why jobs make people unhappy, “amount of control...daily tasks” (260), Smith makes it seems that any job is available to have. She introduces each job as a possibility- something that anyone can grab. The way in which she categorizes and explores many different paths in this short article is inspiring and contributes to the idea that any job is manageable.

Roman Smith Prof. Nicola Readers Response: Compare and Contrast We Are Not All Created Equal and Happiest Jobs 8 November 2018

Smith and Marche would disagree on positions of the job market. Marche argues that job mobility is a thing of the past, and the jobs that are available to Americans now are predetermined by the financial status of their family and birthright. Smith would argue that most jobs can be obtainable, and that people can find happiness in many lines of work. Marche sees the job market as a straight line of depressing truth, and Smith plays with the market in a way that suggests light-hearted flow and searching for what make people happy. Both authors would agree that the job one has contributes greatly to how they think of themselves as people, and what importance they place on hard work and money....