Peering back into the life of “Phil” after his untimely death, “The Company Man” portrays the lives of thousands of people living the reality of corporate America and the sacrifices they make. The short story questions whether these sacrifices have any worth in the long run with heavy influences from the author’s opinion. The author Ellen Goodman uses stereotyping, repetition, and diction to portray her feelings of distaste for Phil’s lifestyle.
Through the heavy use of stereotypes, the author unveils her biases towards Phil and all people similar to him. The author denotes Phil as a cliché workaholic, referring to him as “a perfect type A” and a “classic” at that. With this description, Goodman makes it known that Phil is not unique in …show more content…
The author uses words such “finally” and ”no one was really surprised” to describe the reactions to his death. Everyone who knew Phil expected him to die at a relatively young age and when he finally did, they were all prepared. Many people were saddened by his death, but this is more likely a result of a loss of a strong worker than the loss of a human being. Goodman describes the struggle to be apart of Phil’s life through the actions his family has had to take to become close to him. Over the years, Phil’s wife “had given up trying to compete with his work”, while his youngest son tried to “to mean enough to him to keep the man at home.” Phil sacrificed the majority of his time to his job, alienating his wife. At the same though, his youngest son still found value in reaching out to his father. The only person Phil had an emotional relationship with was the only person willing to actively connect with him. The strain of having a relationship so heavily perpetuated by one person was too hard on Phil’s wife and while his youngest was able to cope with it, he was the only one. On the same day of Phil’s funeral, the company starts to look for someone to fill his place. Phil is forgotten the same day of his departure, the company president begins “to make inquiries about his replacement.” Phil was a hard worker, but is ultimately replaceable by many other people that are equally diligent. Goodman makes it clear that there is no virtue in living the way Phil did, as he was unable to reap the virtue of his labor and unable to make up for all the time he wasted on his job. Phil gave so much of his life to a job that saw him as expendable instead to the people that loved him dearly and Goodman is disgusted with