ENGL 200 D: Reading Literature: Literature in the Marketplace

Labor must have some purpose, a means for an end, but is there always an end? In a sense labor defines us, characterizing our value to produce a good or service. Whether for the employee, the employer, or both,  value is never enough and the more diligence and skill we show to improve this value, the more is expected, teasing us to be more productive. Today we can see this with the growth of technology designed to make life easier. Instead of our gadgets facilitating the work so we can accomplish the same or better work in a shorter time, we find that there is always something more innovative and long hours still prevail.

Similarly, Stephen Duck uses “The Thresher’s Labour” to portray a never-ending workday to support a family by meeting the demands of his master. However, despite all the back breaking work day after day, the master scorns the threshers by yelling “Why look ye, Rogues! D’ye think that this will do? Your Neighbours thresh as much again as you” in lines 76 and 77. Each morning the threshers go out to the field with renewed strength and heads held high, work straight through the day except for lunch and occasional rainstorms,  and finish the day as unrecognizable figures with heads slung low. According to Duck, they have spent themselves completely for their work. Yet despite all this toil the master is still unsatisfied, comparing the yield of his farm to his competitors. It is likely that the others masters repeat these same words to their employees, driving them to produce more. This tease becomes a symbol of the constant push for better quality and more efficient work that follows on into today’s society. As we strive to become more valuable the bar raises higher indefinitely.