Mr. Newman Analysis

J.F. Powers’s intriguing allegory of a grizzled and jobless Mr. Newman piques one’s curiosity as Powers accounts Newman’s acceptance of the sacrifice of his old desk job life for a physical, laborious one and the gradual adjustment to his new reality. In the story, Mr. Newman has to adjust to his new job as a packer in the shipping room after living his whole life with a white- collar job in an office. Powers’s melancholy account evokes pity and sympathy for Mr. Newman by describing his depressing life as it falls into a downward spiral with his elderly body creaking under his ancient bones and his strenuous job as an A-1 packer for hefty packages. Without becoming sentimental, the narrator expresses compassion for Newman’s tragic tale with …show more content…
Newman encounters different individuals that change his perspective of himself and his reality. For example, he meets the information worker whom he engages in lighthearted and humorous banter as he applies for any of the job openings that the company offered. Despite his old age, he was able to converse with the worker and get on a personal basis with her and the company. This is shown in, “The smile she gave him was alive and it hinted that things were already on a personal basis between him and her and the company” (Powers 1). At this point in the story, the narrator treats Nr. Newman’s character as a “regular devil” who is still a force to be reckoned with compared to everyone else despite his age as he looks for work. However, as the story progresses, he learns the reality of his situation and the requirements of his job as a packer. This is revealed in the line, “She smiled in immediate reflex, but it was sobering to Mr. Newman, though she did say good night, that she did not seem to remember him very well, for it had not been the live smile” (Powers 7). This quote insinuates that their jobs gave no time to be fairly acquainted with others or to remember faces. Furthermore, the one person that Mr. Newman was able to establish a positive relationship with at his new workplace had already forgotten about him. By this point, he understood the strenuous requirements of his job and that he might not be fit to be working in that profession. The narrator …show more content…
Newman meets at his new workplace that made him reassess himself was Mr. Shanahan. After searching for work at the company, he is interviewed for possible work at the various sections of the business by Mr. Shanahan. This individual offered Mr. Newman a temporary position in the company’s shipping room. By doing so, he changed Mr. Newman’s view of being qualified for a better occupation with his office experience to one where he lowered himself to try any job available to him. This is visible in, “A moment later, in an interesting ceremony which took place in his heart, Mr. Newman surrendered his well-loved white collar” (Powers 3). In this instant, Mr. Newman reassessed his worth and took into account his old age, causing him to agree to Mr. Shanahan’s proposal. An additional person that Mr. Newman encounters in the story is Mr. Hurley, his new boss. This person brought to Mr. Newman’s attention his old age and how he was unfit to be working in a shipping room that required physical labor. This is displayed when Mr. Newman overhears Mr. Hurley say, “...when I heard you say that the old bird was handy with rope, I thought, boy, he’s old enough to think about using some on himself. My God, Mr. Shanahan, if this keeps up, we’ll have to draft them from the old people’s home” (Powers 6). After hearing this snippet of the conversation between Mr. Hurley and Mr. Shanahan, Mr. Newman discovers how the other workers viewed him and thinks of