Blue Collar Guys

Every person in our world today has met a hysterical “redneck” that they will never forget. These type of men are referred to as blue-collar guys or BCGs in a writing from one of these types of men. Steve Olson in his writing of Year of the Blue-collared Guy uses humor, great word choice, examples of supporting evidence, and appeals to our emotions to make the point that the blue-collar guy deserves more respect. Olsen himself is one of these men, he is making a point of the true heroes these men really are and how they influence our world. In his eyes, “There should be stadiums full of screaming fans for these guys” (Olsen 2). These blue-collar guys are the real heros according to Olsen.

When reading this essay many people may crack a grin

Some of these words also bring up generalizations made about the two different types of men, but they paint a picture and also play into the humor. When using the words, “beer-drinking, big-bellied,bigoted rednecks who dress badly”, Olsen creates a sight in our minds of these-blue collar men. Everyone can imagine one as soon as they hear these words. When saying,”A co-worker described a BCG as “a guy who is always doing things that end in the letter n’- you know huntin’, fishin’, workin’ “, Olsen also bring into our senses the way they speak. You can hear their stories of weekend hunts, fishing trips, and their hard days of work. By using these words he paints a clear picture of these BCGs and everyone can imagine the men they have met that are this way. Olsen uses words that tell and show how young boys who grew up to be BCGs acted in school. He tells us, “BCGs fidgeted our way out of the classroom and into jobs where, it seemed, the only limit to our income was the limit of our physical strength and energy” (Olsen 1). Young boys fidgeting in the classroom that grow up to be these hard working men may have trails and be looked down on by teachers in school because they learn and think differently than others. These boys are so active are very smart young men but they belong out building something new, running heavy equipment, chopping wood, or mowing the lawn. Just because they can not sit still in the classroom

The first thing Olsen brings up is, “suits are made for white-collar guys”. He makes this remark after explaining that a suit is not fit for the work of a BCG and that their body types are not fit for the suits. These kind of men work hard to earn a living and nothing they have came easy. BCGs work so hard and do everything and make time for their families no matter what. Olsen gives more support to this by mentioning, “I have seen men on the job hand-nail 20 square shingles (that’s 6,480 nails) or more a day, day after day, for weeks. At the same time, they were remodeling their houses, raising children, coaching little league”. These type of men work so hard and do many things for their family and children as well as do extremely hard work all day long. Every day after all of the hard work they go out and coach their kids or go on a date, they never quit making their families happy through their long days of hard work. Olsen reinforces this idea perfectly with this statement it shows us all that the BCGs actually do and it takes the reader back and makes them come to the realization that this is true. Men that are this way actually do everyone one of the things Olsen listed. Another point that Olsen brings up is that these hard working men put their lives on the line many