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Work - Coggle Diagram

- - - - In The Remains of the Day, the main character, Stevens, is incredibly dedicated to his role as a butler. He believes that dignity comes from dedication to one's work, and he finds great pleasure in carrying out his work routines.
        
        "'Dignity' has to do crucially with a butler's ability not to abandon the professional being he inhabits. Lesser butlers will abandon their professional being for the private one at the least provocation" (Ishiguro 39).
        
        When Stevens has to break down the roles after the staff is reduced to only a few people, he takes on new tasks that he is not as comfortable with, and finds that he is not as good at delegating as he had thought. Nevertheless, he stays dedicated to his job and his need to uphold professionalism at all times.
        
        "Although my experience and customary caution in such matters prevented my giving myself more than I could actually carry out, I was perhaps negligent over this question of allowing myself a margin. . . I had given myself too much to do" (Ishiguro 10).
    - - In the text, the main character, Keiko, works at a convenience store, and her life is centered around routine. She feels comfortable at the convenience store in a way she is not comfortable elsewhere, which is why she is unable to leave it and incredibly dedicated to it. When she quits and attempts to get another job, she cannot find another place that brings her the same comfort.
        
        "Speed is of the essence, and I barely use my head as the rules ingrained in me issue instructions directly to my body" (Murata 2).
        
        "On hot days sandwiches sell briskly, whereas on cold days rice balls, meat dumplings, and buns are more popular. The sale of the food from the counter cabinets also varies according to the temperature' (Murata 23).
  - - - The Circle by Dave Eggers
        
        At the beginning of the novel, the main character, Mae begins working at the Circle, a large tech company, and her behavior cements her place as an ideal Circle employee. She proves herself to be an ideal employee, as she is incredibly naïve and pliant. Mae does not question the strange practices of the Circle when she first begins to work there, allowing her to be easily manipulated and indoctrinated into its ways. She is blindly loyal to the company, even when their practices are harmful to others, especially because of the benefits given out to employees.
        
        "Was it possible that her father would soon have real coverage? That the cruel paradox of her parents' lives -- that their constant battles with insurance companies actually diminished her father's health and prevented her mother from working, eliminating her ability to earn money to pay for his care -- would end?" (Eggers 161).
        
        "After Mercer's death, after Annie's collapse, when Mae felt so alone, she felt the tear opening up in her again. . . The tear was not knowing. Not knowing who would love her and for how long. . . Full transparency would bring full access, and there would be no more not knowing" (Eggers 470).
        
        Even though Mercer's death and Annie's collapse are direct results of the Circle, Mae is still convinced that the Circle will solve her problems. Her dedication and blind loyalty to her job and employers becomes very dangerous, and she is unable to question any of their practices.
        
        "To have gotten that close to apocalypse -- it rattled her still. Yes, Mae had averted it, she'd been braver than she thought possible. . . What if Kalden hadn't reached out to her when he did? What if he hadn't trusted her? What if he'd taken matters into his own hands or worse, entrusted his secret to someone else? Someone without her integrity? Without her strength, her resolve, her loyalty?" (Eggers 495).
    - - "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville
        
        Although the titular character of "Bartleby, the Scrivener" seemingly has no loyalty - or at least no obedience - to his employer, the other employees of the narrator's law firm show him respect and loyalty. This is part of the reason why Bartleby's resistance is so shocking to him.
        
        "'With submission, sir,' said Turkey on this occasion, 'I consider myself your right-hand man'" (Melville 3).
        
        "Nippers, like his compatriot Turkey, was a very useful man to me; wrote a neat, swift hand; and, when he chose, was not deficient in a gentlemanly sort of deportment. Added to this, he always dressed in a gentlemanly sort of way; and so, incidentally, reflected credit upon my chambers" (Melville 4).
- - - - In Severance by Ling Ma, a pandemic wiping out most of the population occurs, forcing many to sacrifice their jobs, homes, and morals to fight the pandemic and prevent themselves from becoming infected. When the pandemic breaks out and everyone leaves their jobs, survival becomes their new work and brings sacrifice along with it. Candace states that their days are all the same; they have sacrificed everything that gave their lives meaning. They have to sacrifice their morals and kill infected people. Ashley loses her dad and then eventually her own life after contracting the fever.
        
        "When it's a live stalk, we kill them at the end, Todd supplied. No, we don't kill them, we release them, Bob corrected. And why do we do that? It's the humane thing to do, Genevieve replied" (Ma 70).
        
        "We observed the silhouetted figure slumped inside it. It was motionless. It neither took breath nor breathed it back out. We didn't need to aim our flashlights to know that this was going to be a dead stalk. It's probably my dad, Ashley said, her voice flat and unemotional" (Ma 123).
        
        "Shen Fever being a disease of remembering, the fevered are trapped indefinitely in their memories, But what is the difference between the fevered and us? Because I remember too, I remember perfectly. My memories replay, unprompted, on repeat. And our days, like theirs, continue on an infinite loop" (Ma 161).
  - - - In Charles Yu’s “Standard Loneliness Package”, the narrator works for a company that allows customers to pay for someone else to feel their pain during hard times or events, such as a surgery or a funeral. The protagonist spends his work days feeling only the pain of other people. In the story, he becomes interested in buying what he calls a “life-loaf”. At the call center, the positive experiences of the customers are removed so the employees only feel the negative emotions. Life-loafs combine these good moments into "loaves" that can be purchased. The protagonist of the story sacrifices so much of his happiness by working at the call center, so he is very interested in finding a way to stop sacrificing his happiness and have a more fulfilled life.
        
        "It was the life I wanted, the life I’ve been saving for. Not a DreamLife®, not top of the line, but a starter model, a good one. . . A dark-haired, soulful wife. . .some potential kids. . . Normal life expectancy, average health, median aggregate amount of happiness” (Yu).
        
        "I am at a funeral. I am feeling grief. Someone else's grief. I am feeling a mixture of things. Grief, mostly, but I also detect that there is some guilt in there. There usually is. I hear crying. I am seeing faces. Pretty faces. Crying, pretty, white faces" (Yu).
    - - In How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the protagonist and the pretty girl both sacrifice their happiness and love for work. Their ambition comes before their happiness, and they are willing to sacrifice anything to become successful.
        
        "Because as far as getting rich is concerned, love can be an impediment. . . It dampens the fire in the steam furnace of ambition, robbing of essential propulsion an already fraught upriver journey to the heart of financial success” (Hamid 37).
        
        "After she has dressed, she says with a small smile, 'I'm leaving.' She disappears downstairs. You have not kissed her. You have not even spoken. The next day she is gone" (Hamid 53).
        
        "She imagines what a relationship with you might be like, whether you could possibly mix with her colleagues and acquaintances. . . She wonders also. . . if there will ever arrive a day she is not repelled by the notion of binding herself permanently to a man" (Hamid 112).
- - - - The Circle by Dave Eggers
        
        In The Circle, one of the Circle's founders, Ty, turns against the company and tries to bring it down, as its scope has gone far beyond his intentions, and he believes the corporation has become too dangerous.
        
        "'Mae, I didn't intend any of this to happen. And it's moving too fast. This idea of Completion, it's far beyond what I had in mind when I started all this, and it's far beyond what's right. It has to be brought back into some kind of balance'" (Eggers 485).
        
        Mae's ex-boyfriend, Mercer, is also opposed to the Circle and its goals. He believes that people have a right to privacy, and that not everything should exist on the internet for everyone to see.
        
        "'Mae, I've never felt more that there is some cult taking over the world. You know what someone tried to sell me the other day? Actually, I bet it's somehow affiliated with the Circle. . . I mean, like everything else you guys are pushing, it sounds perfect, sounds progressive, but it carries with it more control, more central tracking of everything we do'" (Eggers 260-261).
    - - Convenience Store Woman
        
        Throughout the novel, Keiko resists the expectations of her peers. Many people expect her to have a better, more respectable job and a stable relationship, but she does not want these things, and she is happy at the convenience store.
        
        "When I was in my early twenties it wasn't unusual to be a freeter, so I didn't really need to make excuses. But subsequently everyone started hooking up with society, either through employment or marriage, and I was the only one who hadn't done either" (Murata 35-36).
        
        "'Well, how are you?' my mother went on. 'You spend all day on your feet, Keiko. It must be tiring. Um, how have things been lately? What's new?' Hearing her pry like this, I got the feeling somehow she was still hoping for some kind of new development in my life" (Murata 75).
    - - Convenience Store Woman
        
        Throughout the text, Shiraha, one of Keiko's coworkers, is characterized as stubborn and resistant to work. He disrespects his bosses and frequently shirks his duties.
        
        "Huh. He sure does talk big for a lowly convenience store worker" (Murata 65).
        
        "'This sort of work isn't suited to men,' he muttered. 'After all, things haven't changed since the Stone Age, have they?'" (Murata 50-51).
        
        "'Shiraha, you're late! . . Plus, it's forbidden to use your cell phone except during your breaks. You have it with you when you're working on the till, don't you? I've seen you look at it'" (Murata 63-64).
      - "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville
        
        This short story centers around a character named Bartleby who is employed in a lawyer's office. Though he copies well, he refuses to do much of anything else, stating in response to any and all requests "I would prefer not to".
        
        "In this very attitude did I sit when I called to him, rapidly stating what it was I wanted him to do—namely, to examine a small paper with me. Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when without moving from his privacy, Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, 'I would prefer not to'" (Melville 7).