Exploitation is one common aspect that every American industry shared throughout the ages. Starting from the time farm owners manipulated everyone deeming black slavery legal, to modern day Facebook taking advantage of our psychological vulnerabilities, the exploitative nature of big industries is undeniable. One of such exploitations most people--not surprisingly--are unaware of today is Silicon Valley’s profiteering of immigrant women. Janice Sapigao, the daughter of a Silicon Valley blue-collar worker and author of the book microchips for millions, wrote the poem “the praise” to give her mother the recognition she deserves while subtly highlighting Silicon Valley’s low regard for the lives of immigrant workers like her mother. Using metaphors reflecting the idea of strength and essentialness, and then arranging these words to paint a picture of a staircase, Sapigao simultaneously utilizes metaphor and imagery to describe her mother as one of the many women who painstakingly served as the backbone leading to Silicon Valley’s success today. Furthermore, she also utilizes sarcasm, (followed by …show more content…
In lines 9-10, Sapigao kept the powerful descriptions “is a labor force” and “is the key to a multi-millionaire's business” under the steps of the staircase image to stress how we, as a society, often underestimate blue-collar jobs, when they really are the foundation to the biggest industries today. The author, with an intention to praise her mother, delineates these powerful descriptions immigrant workers like her mom would never realize and ever get from companies who often care more about their products more than their