Ellen Goodman’s Attitude Towards Phil in The Company Man
The story, The Company Man by Ellen Goodman, summarizes the life and death of a workaholic named Phil. Family and coworkers congregate at the company man’s funeral, despite the melancholy atmosphere that the topic of the story provides, an underlying tone of callousness details the expected nature of Phil’s death which permeates throughout the story. Goodman’s tone and use of words to address Phil conveys a callous attitude that emphasizes the fact that Phil, although a hardworking father and a vice president of a company, is a replaceable individual after his passing. Utilization of a report style heavily objectifies Phil rather than promoting the notion that the man was a person. …show more content…
As a result, family tension is high as the level of relationship between father and children is nearly that of strangers; a key quality of Phil’s life that brought the man severe worry and possible regret as the text depicts, “He was the one who tried to grab at his father, and tried to mean enough to him to keep the man at home. He was his father's favorite. Over the last two years, Phil stayed up nights worrying about the boy” (Goodman 1). Specifics of a failed family life are not expected to come from a eulogy. Furthermore, upon analysis of Phil’s excessive work habits, it becomes clear that Phil ironically epitomizes the function of a machine. Although Phil is still a person, the unhealthy work habits portray a sense of monotony and mundane behaviour. This is clarified by the line,
He worked six days a week, five of them until eight or nine at night, during a time when his own company had begun the four-day week for everyone but the executives. He worked like the Important People. He had no outside "extracurricular interests," unless, of course, you think about a monthly golf game that way. To Phil, it was work. (Goodman …show more content…
It strips the humanity away from Phil’s as it seems that the man had no other motivation besides work. Interests that give people dimension and character are voided, leaving nothing but the hollow behaviour of a machine. Lastly, the final event that was described in the text was the meeting between the company president and other company officials. The description is as follows, “By 5:00 P.M. the afternoon of the funeral, the company president had begun, discreetly of course, with care and taste, to make inquiries about his replacement. One of three men. He asked around: ‘Who's been working the hardest?’” (Goodman 1). During the funeral, the president of Phil’s company has already begun to initiate negotiations to fill Phil’s position in the company. This line shows how even though Phil was a great contributor to the company, in the end, the man was expendable. Mention of this meeting plays a key role in deciphering Goodman’s attitude towards Phil as it explains how all of Phil’s efforts towards the one passion in the man’s life is all in vain as any one of the same ranks can take Phil’s spot. The descriptions of Phil’s life show how meaningless Phil’s life truly was which counters what how someone that finds Phil to be a good person would say; the lack of family involvement and focus in a company that sees Phil as just a worker depicts how Phil has wasted away
The story, The Company Man by Ellen Goodman, summarizes the life and death of a workaholic named Phil. Family and coworkers congregate at the company man’s funeral, despite the melancholy atmosphere that the topic of the story provides, an underlying tone of callousness details the expected nature of Phil’s death which permeates throughout the story. Goodman’s tone and use of words to address Phil conveys a callous attitude that emphasizes the fact that Phil, although a hardworking father and a vice president of a company, is a replaceable individual after his passing. Utilization of a report style heavily objectifies Phil rather than promoting the notion that the man was a person. …show more content…
As a result, family tension is high as the level of relationship between father and children is nearly that of strangers; a key quality of Phil’s life that brought the man severe worry and possible regret as the text depicts, “He was the one who tried to grab at his father, and tried to mean enough to him to keep the man at home. He was his father's favorite. Over the last two years, Phil stayed up nights worrying about the boy” (Goodman 1). Specifics of a failed family life are not expected to come from a eulogy. Furthermore, upon analysis of Phil’s excessive work habits, it becomes clear that Phil ironically epitomizes the function of a machine. Although Phil is still a person, the unhealthy work habits portray a sense of monotony and mundane behaviour. This is clarified by the line,
He worked six days a week, five of them until eight or nine at night, during a time when his own company had begun the four-day week for everyone but the executives. He worked like the Important People. He had no outside "extracurricular interests," unless, of course, you think about a monthly golf game that way. To Phil, it was work. (Goodman …show more content…
It strips the humanity away from Phil’s as it seems that the man had no other motivation besides work. Interests that give people dimension and character are voided, leaving nothing but the hollow behaviour of a machine. Lastly, the final event that was described in the text was the meeting between the company president and other company officials. The description is as follows, “By 5:00 P.M. the afternoon of the funeral, the company president had begun, discreetly of course, with care and taste, to make inquiries about his replacement. One of three men. He asked around: ‘Who's been working the hardest?’” (Goodman 1). During the funeral, the president of Phil’s company has already begun to initiate negotiations to fill Phil’s position in the company. This line shows how even though Phil was a great contributor to the company, in the end, the man was expendable. Mention of this meeting plays a key role in deciphering Goodman’s attitude towards Phil as it explains how all of Phil’s efforts towards the one passion in the man’s life is all in vain as any one of the same ranks can take Phil’s spot. The descriptions of Phil’s life show how meaningless Phil’s life truly was which counters what how someone that finds Phil to be a good person would say; the lack of family involvement and focus in a company that sees Phil as just a worker depicts how Phil has wasted away