Is Becoming Obsolete, Hurley's 'The Pronoun'

The idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts is a theme that runs through Salisbury's The Pronoun “I” is Becoming Obsolete, Hurley's The Perils of Pollution in Steel City, and Turner's American Individualism and Structural Injustice. The individual parts are often not able to stand alone, but together they form a comprehensive whole. Some groups are exploited, but the gestalt group achieves more together than they would apart.

The majority and minorities can achieve more together than they would separately. In his article Turner asserts that the white man’s every success has been at the price of a minority. The white man is “willfully blind to [his] dependence” upon minorities (Turner). This subconscious blindness is due to a lack of empathy and a lack of guilt. The majority group assumes that their achievements come solely from …show more content…
Immigrants and black were given employment on the “lower rungs of the job ladder”, “laboring almost exclusively in the coke plant and blast furnaces”, which were the most dangerous (Hurley). While native born whites worked better jobs with fewer health hazards, they were still exposed to pollution. While such strict labor divisions by race are not necessary, every job is necessary to the steel manufacturing process.

Hurley also broaches the subject of the environmental impacts the steel mill had on Gary. “Industrialists displayed little enthusiasm for the area’s rich ecology”, but “they were impressed by the location’s suitability for steel production” (Hurley). The population was dependent on landscape for production. Without the perfect Lake Michigan location, steel production would not be possible. Without the steel boom in places like Gary America would be seriously lacking in infrastructure. The environment, workers, and factories alone would not be able to provide us with