Hatred Against Work Essay -- Employment, Slavery

Throughout history, mankind has worked. Work is a physical effort made towards a purpose. Work has been done in all aspects and forms. Whether it was working on a farm, picking crops or working in office, analyzing data, different forms of work are done. Due to work, our society is able to enjoy unimaginable luxuries and the economy thrives off such success. However, work has altered mankind. Because of work, we have become slaves in our own society. Not only do we work long hours during our job, but we even have to sacrifice our own free time to work on other work related tasks. Such views can be illustrated through the works of Antler, an American poet. His poems, Factories Are Boxcars Full of Jews and Written After Learning Slaves in Ancient Greece and Rome Had 115 Holidays a Year demonstrate my views of how negatively work affects us. Work has altered our sensibilities, making us almost animals. Antler, who mainly wrote on nature and factories, develops such anti-work themes in both of his poems. Through just the first stanzas of both poems, he illustrates his views. Workers are "brainwashed robotzombies", "crucified their whole lives"(Written 9/ Factories 26). Every year, the number of workers increase but the "cells of urban hives" remain the same (Factories 1). The human spirit is killed each year by work. Were not creating loving boys and girls, but rather " better murder weapon", all in hopes of a higher standard of living (Written 4). "Work is a curse", changing men into beast. It is work that led to the murder of 6 million Jews, contributing in some way to the death of our planet. What "difference [is there] between [workers] and Nazis", if what Nazis did to the Jews is what workers in "factories are doing to the ... ...ing through society. In hopes of higher standards of living, we fall into a life of work, becoming "socialization lobotomies"(Written 10). Each day, we follow the same routine as brain-dead machines , going to work in the morning and returning at night. Society is not creating better individuals but rather better workers. Antler is a nonconformist, who despises the notion of work and factories. His inspiration come through the forest and rivers, where he spends nearly two months every year in the wilderness. His poems, Factories Are Boxcars Full of Jews and Written After Learning Slaves in Ancient Greece and Rome Had 115 Holidays a Year reflect such negative views about work. Work is a dark pit, which if someone falls into, there's no getting out. Work has done nothing more than brought misery on our planet and create the largest scale of slavery in history.