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Wendell Berry Family Work Summary

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Wendell Berry is an American writer known mostly for his stories about the value of environmental conservation. “Family Work” is an essay about the influence of technology and the need to return to traditional values. He makes the argument that truly living your life is viewed as an impractical practice by modern society because of the reduction of the family unit. Berry also has an unwavering belief that if the public listens to him they will become better people.
I agree that Berry’s ideas are revolutionary and that putting some of them into fruition will make your life better. Yet, I also believe that unplugging the TV from time to time is better than throwing away your TV. The television set should be able to accompany a family tradition, without replacing it. Although, I believe that Wendell Berry’s ideas need to be considered, I do not believe that all of Berry’s ideas are indisputably correct.
In the beginning of “Family Work”, Berry grapples with the notion that our society’s ideals have changed. “Never before has private life been so preyed upon by public life.” (Berry 156). Before the invention of the television set, families were closer together and all the work was done for the good of the family. We had this innate belief that family was one of the most important aspects of our life. In today’s modern society, our ideals have changed and we search for things outside the family life. …show more content…

In theory, throwing out your TV is an amazing solution. We would no longer be overly dependent on our technology and we would be able to return to the traditional, hardworking way of life. However, this good idea has its drawbacks. If everyone were to throw their television sets out, we would exponentially contaminate the Earth with our trash. Furthermore, our landfills would fill up and begin to spill out onto the streets. It would be a national

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