Idaho Commission for Libraries

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Theme Essay | Discussion Prompts | Further Reading

Book, Author Information, and Discussion Questions:

• Growing Up by Russell Baker (1982)
• Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (1949)
• The Professor's House by Willa Cather (1925)
• Working by Studs Terkel (1974)
• The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (1981)

Theme Essay

For most Americans, work is a economic necessity. We must buy groceries, pay the bills, support our families, and (if we are lucky) we have enough left over to save for a rainy day. Our idealized life is based on comfortable living provided by financial stability and well-being. In order to achieve the American Dream, we need money and the most reliable way of making money is to work.

We also have a very contradictory relationship with our jobs. While most of us complain about our work and dream of making enough money to retire early, many self-made millionaires continue to work. What these people have realized (along with many people facing retirement) is that how we define Who We Are is often inextricably linked to What We Do. How often have you heard someone say something along the lines of 'I am a teacher' rather than 'I teach'. But our equating of personal identity with our occupation can cause emotional and psychological problems when we are either forced to retire or are fired.

Modern manufacturing techniques can also make many workers feel like nothing more than cogs in a machine. Some workers feel a need to lash out against the impersonality of their work by creating their own signature in their work, even purposely denting what they are making just to maintain a sense of individuality. Yet factory workers are not the only ones who feel de-humanized by their work. Many people in the so-called "glamourous" fields, like acting and modeling feel that their work makes them nothing more than objects.

The works in this theme all address the relationship between us and our work. Working, a collection of interviews between Studs Terkel and numerous average workings Americans, explores the interviewees' opinions about their work, what is right and what is wrong about each one's occupation. Both Death of a Salesman and The Professor's House deal with the problems facing aging workers and their disillusionment about their vocations. Finally, Growing Up, Russell Baker's autobiography, looks at the effects of poverty, the difficulties of being a working woman in his mother's generation, and his mother's determination that Baker would 'make something of himself'.

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Discussion Prompts

What do a journalist, a salesman, a professor, and a computer engineer have in common? Woven into a novel, a play, an autobiography, and two works of non fiction, their stories illuminate the meaning of work and its place in our society. The "Working" theme engages readers in books which span the Great Depression to the Computer Age and provides a forum to explore a wide range of experiences in and about the realm of work. The theme was developed originally for the national Let’s Talk About It project by the American Library Association. In an essay written for the national theme pamphlet (1), author Joseph Parisi says,

. . . Who We Are tends to be inextricable related to What We Do. How We Do It,
though, may be the most pertinent part of the subject, as we may discover while discussing the five books gathered about our theme. Most of us have to work,

but some of us make a virtue of the necessity. Our occupations, these books suggest, can be fulfilling as well as frustrating, callings instead of chores, not only obligations but vocations. Whether one is retired, a member of the baby boomer generation or Gen X, the topic of "Working" still resonates and offers fertile ground for discussion. The selected books are rich with human experience that distill important questions, and readers will encounter such issues as

• work time vs. leisure time
• success and the American dream
• equal opportunity in the work place
• what constitutes job satisfaction
• the demise of the "old" economy and the rise of the "new"
• "work ethic" vs. ethics in the work place

In the end, it will be up to the readers to decide if what they have read supports "making a living" or "making a life."

(1) "Making a Living, Making a Life: Work and Its Rewards in a Changing America," Joseph Parisi, American Library Association, © 1984.

Books for Further Reading

• Coleman, John R. Blue-Collar Journal: A College President's Sabbatical.
• Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
• Mead, Margaret. Blackberry Winter.
• Selzer, Richard. Confessions of a Knife.
• Wertheimer, Barbara. We Were There: The Story of Working Women in America.
• Wilson, Sloan. The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit.

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