An Information Overload: An Analysis of “Orientation”
In the short story “Orientation,” Daniel Orozco shows the narrator giving a job orientation to a new employee. Throughout the short story, the narrator is showing the new employee around the building and explaining the basics of how the office runs. The beginning of the story is like many job orientations for people. The reader is introduced to many of the main people and what they do for a work. Also, the person giving the orientation normally shows you how to run certain things in the building. This is what the narrator doing, however, Orozco adds in extremely personal stories about many of the workers into this short story. In “Orientation,” Daniel Orozco uses point-of-view and satire …show more content…
Orozco plays around with second person voice within these first couple of paragraphs. It states, “those are the offices and these are the cubicles. That’s my cubicle there, and this is your cubicle” (1061). From this first line, it is shown that the narrator is starting to take the orientation on a normal and impersonal path. Within the first three paragraphs there is frequent mention of the second person voice in the story. This is showing the reader that these statements are pointed to the new employee and the reader also. It allows the reader to gain the sense that these items, are that person’s personal items. For example when Orozco writes, “this is your phone. Never answer your phone” (1061). Although, this is showing that this phone is the new employees, the person cannot truly do what they please with this phone. They are being told what they can and cannot do. This moment connects to the personal and impersonal aspects especially in this part of the story. This is because it seems that this phone should be able to be used however this person wants, but the author is making it trace back to being impersonal and not truly the new employees. After the fourth paragraph, the story starts getting deeper into the personal stories of the workers at the …show more content…
The narrator explains that they have “a Floor Evacuation Review every three months, and an Escape Route Quiz once a month. We have our Biannual Fire Drill twice a year, and our Annual Earthquake Drill once a year” (1062). The narrator is actually giving the interviewee important information at this point in the story. However, the narrator mentions, “these are precautions only. These things never happen” (1062). Orozco is having the narrator explain something that is truly important, however, at the end of it, brushing it off as though it doesn’t matter. The interviewee doesn’t have to worry about these emergency things because they are only routine. They only have to worry about the personal information that is being giving in depth throughout the story. Orozco uses point-of-view, language, and satire to show this impersonal aspect of the story. He choose the narrator to have a nonchalant attitude about this considerably important subject. The next impersonal job oriented information that is given is about the “comprehensive health plan” (1062). The narrator explains that this covers every possible thing that could happen to you or your dependents. The narrator say that if something happens to Larry Bagdikian’s children, that “he would have nothing to worry about” (1062). Of course, when reading this paragraph it is obvious that if all of his children had something
In the short story “Orientation,” Daniel Orozco shows the narrator giving a job orientation to a new employee. Throughout the short story, the narrator is showing the new employee around the building and explaining the basics of how the office runs. The beginning of the story is like many job orientations for people. The reader is introduced to many of the main people and what they do for a work. Also, the person giving the orientation normally shows you how to run certain things in the building. This is what the narrator doing, however, Orozco adds in extremely personal stories about many of the workers into this short story. In “Orientation,” Daniel Orozco uses point-of-view and satire …show more content…
Orozco plays around with second person voice within these first couple of paragraphs. It states, “those are the offices and these are the cubicles. That’s my cubicle there, and this is your cubicle” (1061). From this first line, it is shown that the narrator is starting to take the orientation on a normal and impersonal path. Within the first three paragraphs there is frequent mention of the second person voice in the story. This is showing the reader that these statements are pointed to the new employee and the reader also. It allows the reader to gain the sense that these items, are that person’s personal items. For example when Orozco writes, “this is your phone. Never answer your phone” (1061). Although, this is showing that this phone is the new employees, the person cannot truly do what they please with this phone. They are being told what they can and cannot do. This moment connects to the personal and impersonal aspects especially in this part of the story. This is because it seems that this phone should be able to be used however this person wants, but the author is making it trace back to being impersonal and not truly the new employees. After the fourth paragraph, the story starts getting deeper into the personal stories of the workers at the …show more content…
The narrator explains that they have “a Floor Evacuation Review every three months, and an Escape Route Quiz once a month. We have our Biannual Fire Drill twice a year, and our Annual Earthquake Drill once a year” (1062). The narrator is actually giving the interviewee important information at this point in the story. However, the narrator mentions, “these are precautions only. These things never happen” (1062). Orozco is having the narrator explain something that is truly important, however, at the end of it, brushing it off as though it doesn’t matter. The interviewee doesn’t have to worry about these emergency things because they are only routine. They only have to worry about the personal information that is being giving in depth throughout the story. Orozco uses point-of-view, language, and satire to show this impersonal aspect of the story. He choose the narrator to have a nonchalant attitude about this considerably important subject. The next impersonal job oriented information that is given is about the “comprehensive health plan” (1062). The narrator explains that this covers every possible thing that could happen to you or your dependents. The narrator say that if something happens to Larry Bagdikian’s children, that “he would have nothing to worry about” (1062). Of course, when reading this paragraph it is obvious that if all of his children had something