Anita Ross
Professor Jordan
EN201
19 October 2017
"Shout" By Dagoberto Gilb
A Historical Criticism
There are many stories written about growing up in tough economic times and the struggles faced by blue-collar families. This semester I had the pleasure of reading a story that stuck in my mind as one of the better ones. In “Shout”, Dagoberto Gilb pulls from stories of his childhood, his Mexican/American upbringing and the economic effects of the “Regan Recession” to portray a blue-collar worker and his families struggles to do what is necessary to make ends meet during the 1980’s, a time of economic recession. The feeling and emotions throughout Gilb’s story are as much a part of the “Reagan Recession” as what many went through …show more content…
Gilb pulls experiences from his life with his parents, their divorce, his dating life and indiscretions to detail real issues faced by the blue-collar worker during a time of a struggling economy. While the story itself may be fiction the ideas behind it come from experiences and stories of the author’s life. The comparison between the story, the authors life shows how a recession affects the life of a blue-collar worker, then and now.
Recession is not a new problem in the United States. We experienced the post war recession at the beginning of the 1990’s and again in the beginning of the 2000’s. Both of these recessions took a slow turn in regaining jobs lost and confidence dwindled. On the books, The Great Recession began in December of 2007 and lasted until June of 2009 and began with the burst of the housing bubble(The Great Recession). However, depending on whom you are and what you did for work it started earlier and lasted much longer. The market had …show more content…
He gave his son his first job at the age of 13. He paid his son the same wages the adult workers were getting. It was only minimum wage but he got upset with his son for discussing his paycheck with the other workers. While this was fair for doing the same work, what Gilb didn’t realize was how it made the adult workers feel, making the same money as a child (Smith). He may not have ever lived with his father but he learned some valuable lesson from being around him. Similar to the main character, Gilb’s father worked at a manual job for minimum wage to provide a
Professor Jordan
EN201
19 October 2017
"Shout" By Dagoberto Gilb
A Historical Criticism
There are many stories written about growing up in tough economic times and the struggles faced by blue-collar families. This semester I had the pleasure of reading a story that stuck in my mind as one of the better ones. In “Shout”, Dagoberto Gilb pulls from stories of his childhood, his Mexican/American upbringing and the economic effects of the “Regan Recession” to portray a blue-collar worker and his families struggles to do what is necessary to make ends meet during the 1980’s, a time of economic recession. The feeling and emotions throughout Gilb’s story are as much a part of the “Reagan Recession” as what many went through …show more content…
Gilb pulls experiences from his life with his parents, their divorce, his dating life and indiscretions to detail real issues faced by the blue-collar worker during a time of a struggling economy. While the story itself may be fiction the ideas behind it come from experiences and stories of the author’s life. The comparison between the story, the authors life shows how a recession affects the life of a blue-collar worker, then and now.
Recession is not a new problem in the United States. We experienced the post war recession at the beginning of the 1990’s and again in the beginning of the 2000’s. Both of these recessions took a slow turn in regaining jobs lost and confidence dwindled. On the books, The Great Recession began in December of 2007 and lasted until June of 2009 and began with the burst of the housing bubble(The Great Recession). However, depending on whom you are and what you did for work it started earlier and lasted much longer. The market had …show more content…
He gave his son his first job at the age of 13. He paid his son the same wages the adult workers were getting. It was only minimum wage but he got upset with his son for discussing his paycheck with the other workers. While this was fair for doing the same work, what Gilb didn’t realize was how it made the adult workers feel, making the same money as a child (Smith). He may not have ever lived with his father but he learned some valuable lesson from being around him. Similar to the main character, Gilb’s father worked at a manual job for minimum wage to provide a