Life goes by in a blink of an eye, and before one knows it, everything could be over. Ellen Goodman, author of "The Company Man," emphasizes that life is too short to focus solely on the corporate world. Goodman utilizes cynical irony and bitter sarcasm to describe her attitude od distaste toward a workaholic and the way close people in his life felt about him.
Anyone who knew him would describe him as a "workaholic." Phil, a fifty-one year old vice-president, could no longer be considered a family man, but a "company man" due to the long hours he spent at work. He spent most, if not all, of his time at his company; "six days a week" were reserved for work, even "during a time when his own company had begun the four day week for everyone …show more content…
His wife, Helen, "forty-eight years old, a good woman of no particular marketable skills" had, according to her daughter, "given up on trying to compete with [Phil's] work years ago" She was forced to become a housewife due to his overworking tendency. When time came for people to pay their respect, Helen had claimed she had been "missing him all these years," even before his death. Phil worked so often that his presence at home was so insignificant, it was as if he had never existed there at all. His "dearly beloved" eldest son "went around the neighborhood researching his father, asking the neighbors what he was like" in order to determine what to put on the obituary. Goodman sarcastically refers to Phil's eldest as his "dearly beloved," as if he was truly loved by his father, despite how little he actually knew about him. His second child is a girl, twenty-four, close to her mother, "but whenever she is alone with her father...they have nothing to say to each other." Goodman continues to emphasize the extremely distant relationship Phil had with his children in order to convey her deep feelings of contempt toward a man who is a father, however made no effort to be one; he devoted too little to his children. His youngest is twenty, "a boy...[who] tried to be mean enough to him to keep the man at home. He was his father's favorite." Goodman juxtaposes the idea that the child is his favorite because he is mean spirited, a
Anyone who knew him would describe him as a "workaholic." Phil, a fifty-one year old vice-president, could no longer be considered a family man, but a "company man" due to the long hours he spent at work. He spent most, if not all, of his time at his company; "six days a week" were reserved for work, even "during a time when his own company had begun the four day week for everyone …show more content…
His wife, Helen, "forty-eight years old, a good woman of no particular marketable skills" had, according to her daughter, "given up on trying to compete with [Phil's] work years ago" She was forced to become a housewife due to his overworking tendency. When time came for people to pay their respect, Helen had claimed she had been "missing him all these years," even before his death. Phil worked so often that his presence at home was so insignificant, it was as if he had never existed there at all. His "dearly beloved" eldest son "went around the neighborhood researching his father, asking the neighbors what he was like" in order to determine what to put on the obituary. Goodman sarcastically refers to Phil's eldest as his "dearly beloved," as if he was truly loved by his father, despite how little he actually knew about him. His second child is a girl, twenty-four, close to her mother, "but whenever she is alone with her father...they have nothing to say to each other." Goodman continues to emphasize the extremely distant relationship Phil had with his children in order to convey her deep feelings of contempt toward a man who is a father, however made no effort to be one; he devoted too little to his children. His youngest is twenty, "a boy...[who] tried to be mean enough to him to keep the man at home. He was his father's favorite." Goodman juxtaposes the idea that the child is his favorite because he is mean spirited, a