Analysis Of Mike Rose's Blue Collar Brilliance

564 Words3 Pages

The blue-collar work force has been the building block for many centuries, even without directly realizing it. In “Blue Collar Brilliance” the author Mike Rose discusses how his mother strengthened social and memory skills which allowed her to excel in her job as a waitress. Mike Rose realized everything that although his mother was smart in her own respect, working without a proper education is not all that it is cracked up to be.
For example, blue collar jobs may require reading, but it is reading symbols. Each symbol maintains the same overall meaning. Whereas, white collar jobs utilize actual reading and word usage. Where each word carries several meanings. Which needs to be scrutinized and discussed to find the actual meaning of the word to fit the situation. Such is the case for the author’s uncle Joe Meraglio, who worked for General Motors after retiring from the Navy. During his 33 year career with the company he went from working on the assembly line, to redesigning pieces of the automotive industry to eventually being promoted to management. During his time on the line Joe had to teach himself how to move in an effective manner in the tight spaces or else he would not have been able to meet demands coming from management and thus would have been fired. The need for the job lead Joe to …show more content…

From going between his mother as a waitress, his uncle as a foreman on an assembly line to his own education endeavours and discovering that education is the best way to live. Not only will the individual be earning more money, but they may also have higher respect among co- workers because of the additional time and effort that was taken to reach where they are today rather than the alternate route which may take less time but does not meet the same