We first read about Glen Stribling, the owner of the service station. Glen seems to love his work. He says, "My average weeks usually run to eighty, ninety hours...Oh, I love it. There's never a day long enough" (545). Readers can see that he is doing something he really loves and enjoys doing. Also, because of his age and experience, people often request service from him. He says, "The fact that I got gray hair, that helps in business...They always want to talk to Glen. They respect me and what I tell them" (547). He seems to have a lot of pride about people always wanting service from him.
On the other hand, we read about Glen's son, Dave. Dave seems so enjoy his job, but it is certainly not his passion, as it may be Glen's. At the very end, readers find out Dave's true passion is music. He says, "I like to play music now but I don't have the time...I like to play but you can't do both. This is my living. You have to look at it that way" (551). He makes it seem as if he could make a living off of playing music he would be doing that, but he can't so he doesn't. Readers can also see that Dave thinks his father is a bit too traditional. He says, "You can buy equipment, it might cost a lot more money but it'll do the job faster and easier. He'll go grab hand tools, that you gotta use your own muscle" (549). I personally agree with Dave, if there are tools that can make jobs easier, you might as well utilize them.
Both men seem respectable and seem to have good work ethics. Neither one seems to despise their work. But readers can definitely see that Glen has a lot more passion for his work than his son, Dave. Something to think about... Does Glen have so much more passion because he is the owner of the service station? Since he invested so much of his own time and money into the station, he may have much more pride than Dave.
Camille,
ReplyDeleteI feel that Glen has more passion for his work because he owns the business, but also because of the generation gap. For example, work is all that Glen's generation has known, and they don't necessarily appreciate change like Dave's generation does, as seen in his despise for tools that make things easier. Dave compared to Glen represents an idea seen often in our generation, or to do what you enjoy, not what you have to. This is seen when Dave doesn't necessarily hate going to work, but instead he looks forward to going home and playing his music everyday.