In the brilliantly written piece of satire, "The Company Man", Ellen Goodman discreetly attacks the atypical hard-working middle class men in the 1980's society, who tend to be blinded by the illusion of wealth and prosperity and forget what is truly important – their own families and their own values. She calls him "Phil" in the text, a universally common name, to represent the workaholics. Phil, or the company man, reminds me of my father.
In the text, Goodman writes a detailed blunt account of how Phil past away in the very first line - "He worked himself to death, finally and precisely, at 3:00am Sunday morning." (ll.1-2) Although she writes of a man’s death, she does not spare him any emotion but rather presents a harsh mundane image of an overly obese man…show more content… Goodman continues her brusque tone, which successfully elicits no sympathy from the reader for Phil; as if he truly deserved it. Additionally, she subtly incorporates the great sorrow suffered by Phil's wife; when the wife replies to a comment that she will miss Phil dearly, she mumbles "I already have." (ll.40-41), implying that while Phil was still alive, he was already disconnected from his family and her and all that time she was already missing him. Goodman was obviously sarcastic and overly harsh towards Phil but nonetheless portrayed the biting truth. It is true that as I grew and watched the coal black hair of my father's slowly turn a pepper and salt hue, I never truly knew him because of the work he had to do. It is true that I do not know what my own father is like even though we live in the same house and eat from the same table. It is true that the only words we say to each other unfailingly are "goodbye" and "thank you", as if strangers living in the same house.As if hinting at the unfeeling nature of corporations, Goodman very wittingly inserts irony;
