The Importance of Work :: essays research papers

The Importance of WorkDuring the birth of this country, Puritans had to usage ambitious to ensurethe victor of the new state. In order to make work more appealing, thePuritans punctuate the fruits of labor. This attitude, reflected in groundbreaking dayby the act of "working for a living," is considered as a "badge of pride."Puritan attitudes toward work and the attitudes of two modern day writers towardwork all agree that the act of working has stark(a) effects, an attitude that Ishare because of my working experience (Clee and Clee 233-234).     Three diametric attitudes toward work, expressed by several writers whomI have recently canvas agree that hard work yields positive rewards. Henry F.Bedford, a chronicle teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy, and Trevor Colbourne, ateacher at the University of New Hampshire, go steady the Puritan attitude towardwork in their book The Americans A picture History. Puritans stress the goodnessof work ing by relating it to religious beliefs. Sloth is sinful, further thePuritans also pointed out that it was self-defeating. Leisure is evenconsidered an "evil temptation" (Bedford and Colbourne 235-238). margin Piercy,a modern day poet, essayist, and novelist, attempts to explain why work is enviable on contemporary terms in her poem "To Be of Use." To Piercy, hardworkers who really persevere are admirable because of the fact that the world is overflowing of temptations to stop working, or to not work altogether. This admirationfor determination is likely because work is as "common as mud," and it must bethrough sometime (Piercy 242-243). Wendell Berry, an English teacher at theUniversity of Kentucky, explains the basis of the desire to work in his essay"The Joy of Work." In response to the prediction that thither will be no work inthe future, Berry emphasizes the enormousness of work to human nature.