Invisible Lives, Visible Stories

In Sweat, Lynn Nottage casts a spotlight on factory workers and the problems that come with it. Nottage talks about global events, with one notable example being the impact of NAFTA. NAFTA created free trade between Canada, USA, and Mexico which caused many people to lose their jobs because now they could be manufactured in different countries without tariffs when being exported. Before I read Sweat I didn't know about NAFTA or the effect it had on factory workers, but Nottage uses Sweat to publicize this problem. "You could wake up tomorrow and all your jobs are in Mexico, whatever, it’s this NAFTA bullshit" (Nottage). Even the characters in Sweat don't know much about NAFTA, which shows the unfamiliarity of this large change. Nottage also highlights the problems that arose between people and friends because of people being laid off. At Jessie's birthday party, Cynthia talks about how she got a promotion, and Tracey gets mad and jealous because she has the chance of being fired where Cynthia doesn't. "Look, there’s been a little talk about trimming overhead, but there always is—"(Nottage). Nottage used euphemism in this quote to accurately illustrate the situation at the time. Cynthia tried to calm down Tracey, but she couldn't really do anything about it even with her promotion. Nottage goes in depth and describes the societal impact that this "invisible" change had. Finally, Nottage makes invisible people visible by showing what the characters took their anger out on. Tracey gaslights Oscar for his race and how he isn't affected by NAFTA, which Jason and Chris react to by beating him up. "A green card that gives him the right to shit on everything we worked for?"(Nottage). This quote portrays Oscar as if he's stealing their jobs because of his immigrant status, which is not true, but causes them to become angry and lash out at him. I think enabling visibility is important because it makes it more easier for us to understand the unnoticed, invisible things and shows their effect on society.






Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 12, 2023 at 1:41 PM

    I like how you included NAFTA because it really wasn't Cynthia's fault. She didn't have much control.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 12, 2023 at 8:30 PM

    I like how you looked at how NAFTA effected people on a more personal level, since I also talked about it but I looked at it from a more political view so it's nice seeing a different perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Prisha PachpandeNovember 12, 2023 at 8:37 PM

    I really like how you went into detail about NAFTA, and how it impacted some of the characters from the story. You looked at it from a more personal level, which I thought was a good addition!
    - Prisha Pachpande

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousNovember 13, 2023 at 5:28 AM

    I like how you said that you didn’t know about NAFTA and how you compared it to the characters of the book and how they don’t know a lot about NAFTA too

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMay 9, 2024 at 5:14 AM

    Good blog bhaiya

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Acknowledgements

       I remember a time when I couldn’t clearly write anything of value or depth, and I remember thinking that I couldn’t make a change in it at all. Although I’m not a perfect writer by any means now, I believe that I’ve still come a long way from before. Even though I never realized this, every time I sat down and read, analyzed, and wrote, there were all small steps that contributed to my way of expressing ideas through English. But it also makes me realize that I could’ve never achieved this level of excellence without the guidance of my teachers and peers, who have done a lot more than they think.      My journey as a writer started in the 10th grade, where I took a leap of faith and took on 10 honors English. At first, this class demotivated me as I realized how inferior, blunt, and boring my work was compared to the other students in my class. This class was taught by Ms. Parks, whom I would like to thank first. Ms. Parks’ class was a difficul...
Read more

My name

I have a very unusual name, and I don't know anyone else who has it. My family calls me by the nickname "Thanesh," which sounds weird, so whenever I introduce my name to anybody, I just go by my actual name. Because of this, my name is mispronounced all the time. A key example of this is at the beginning of the school year, when your teachers take attendance and learn everyone's name for the first time. My name gets mispronounced almost always, and I always have to correct them with the right pronunciation. This is something that I've gotten used to over time, and I'm always prepared to correct anyone who mispronounces it, and it doesn't really bother me. This experience is similar to Dumas' piece, but once people get the pronunciation right, they don't mess up afterwards. But one time I don't feel the need to correct the pronunciation of my name is when I have a substitute teacher. These substitute teachers pronounce it in the most atrocious w...
Read more

Student debt shouldn't be canceled?

Image
While canceling student debt is a good thing for people that are stressing over the amount of money they have to pay back and just want to worry about their education, one such  article  on The Onion expresses the opinions of people who are not students. Even though the students are free from debt, there are other people who went through the same circumstances and thinks it's unfair that he wasn't free from debt. Arlo Jones, a chef, says, “Giving government handouts to people with student loan debt is unfair to those who have paid chef off their student loans and want to be real assholes about it.” With this quote, we can tell that Jones is definitely mad that he had to pay off his student debt, and the current generation doesn't need to, which gives them a massive head-start in life, which he thinks is unfair, which is true, and you can't really blame him. He has a right to be mad, but I don't think that should be a reason to oppose the cancellation of student debt...
Read more