A Rhetorical Analysis

A Rhetorical Analysis: The Merging of Home and Work

by S.S 

Submitted to SDCCD

(September 6, 2012)

Are business conferences from one’s own kitchen becoming a new set of normalcy? “This merger can have positive influences on family togetherness and interdependence” Montgomery 1018), but whether you are working from your desk at home or in an office, can the world still consider you as a professional? We will find out more on this subject through the essay of Kitchen Conferences & Garage Cubicles: The Merger of Home and Work in the 24-7  Global Economy. The author is Alesia Montgomery, an African American ethnographer and  someone who enjoys observing not only the differences, but as well as the likenesses that can be  found in the diversity of ethnic and religious groups. My attempt is to write a rhetorical analysis  about her work and to lead the audience to discover the main point of Montgomery’s article which has a lot to do with merging home and work, to give you a better understanding of whether or not making this change is really worth it; why the author believes it, how she proves it, what she uses to support her beliefs and who she is trying to reach out to from within her audience.

           Here is another thing to think about; can men, women, home and work be  mixed together? Throughout her whole essay Montgomery uses an open example of a young couple, Marjaneh and Steve whose occupation either requires 24-7 or partial time working from home. Through these two people the author shows us how it may be an option for some, and although it may not be perfect, it is certainly possible! An example the she includes for her readers is when “Steve helped Marjaneh with her work reports. […] so that she could come to bed or watch TV.” (Montgomery 1015) Steve did later admit that what inspired him to help was  his wife’s mumblings about being without a job soon, but in the end we also see that afterwards, “he enjoyed her praise, and they often would go out to a restaurant to celebrate” (Montgomery 1015). One is fortunate to see both sides here and still, at the end of the day this experience can still be closed with a positive note.  

         One might think still, is this conventional, for families to work together? My response as well as Montgomery’s is—Yes, and from home too! This idea is not a novelty. Anyone who is well informed with history and culture will remember a time when working from home was something rather common. In fact, owning a business from one’s own house was not so difficult. Montgomery supports this idea by referring to a book that shows us how couples and their families as a whole made this work even then. “The baker’s wife iced cakes a few steps from her husband, the butcher and his son chopped meat on the same counter, and for the family grocers who lived in their shop, work and home merged.” (Pycior, Slack, and Abir-Am 1996) this not only offered husbands help to get more work done and faster, but it also gave the wives the feeling of self worth in that she too was needed and just as capable to help bring home the extra cash that was sometimes badly needed. Throughout all history we can see that the end is very much like the beginning, history continues to repeats itself like in that proverb that says, “there is no new thing under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 389)

                  The author states that “Far from weakening family bonds, these mergers of home and work foster family cohesion.” (Montgomery 1010) We can see this throughout the previous examples and information that she has provided for her audience. The book “Women, Work & Family” supports the idea that the aspect of women working, whether or not it was taking place within the home, allowed for women to “balance her productive and domestic activities.” (Tilly and Scott 51) Montgomery has also used her study with Marjaneh and Steve to show us that “unlike relations in the old middle class of shopkeepers, these mergers are not necessarily male-dominated.” (Montgomery 1010) I can attest to this for myself. Before my school days I can remember my mother was able to make a side income from my father’s by doing custom sewing from bridal dresses to some rich lady’s cat! She received clients in our living room and sewed all day from her bedroom. My brother and I were always able to accompany her when her business forced her to sometimes leave the house for private fittings, the purchasing of fabrics and such other things as these. Though many of her hours throughout the day were spent sewing, I never once felt neglected. While she sewed I’d be sitting on her bed, trying out that knitting technique she had taught me and all the while talking or singing together. Even though she no longer does this, through that experience I gained my own knowledge from what I learned from my mother and her work through those years. Like Alesia Montgomery said, “The collaborations of Marjaneh and her family increased togetherness and interdependence” (Montgomery 1010). The same has happened with my family and I can say for myself that it is possible to work 24-7 within the home without causing a disruption.

            The author has done a satisfactory job in bringing her ideas around in a very convincing way to her readers; first, as a narrative because of her open example of Steve and Marjaneh. Secondly, from reading her conclusion it is easy to see how descriptive she was from the beginning to show how there life was before and what their lives have resulted in due to those changes. She did include some compare and contrast within the organization of her work but not much, mostly near the end.

Like when she says, "I do not mean to suggect that merging home and work has no downsides"  (Montgomery 1018). In that she was truthful, but she was by far leaning vastly on the positive side of this idea with sufficient proofs and examples to make one believe in it. Enough has been mentioned throughout this rhetorical analysis essay to hint towards whom Montgomery wishes to reach out to within the audience. All examples have been pointing towards husbands and wives, their children, in one word—the families. More often than naught she points out the positive views to show that it is very possible to have a type of dynamic working family and to promote this ideology to those who have never considered it or ever deemed it possible. We know now as a fact that families can successfully work together in the home.                                    

           
            The importance of this essay by Alesia Montgomery is to open the eyes of her readers to see an alternative way of living; one that allows for family involvement when it comes to merging home and work. To those who don’t like new changes, she digs back into history to lead us to a better understanding of her idea. Just as communications have come a long way, from letters to e-mails and transportation, from coaches to cars, this is no different. It is not a foreign concept at all. Just an old idea that has been able to pull through time and modernize along with other updates that have been made throughout history. She is showing us the possibility of a better living; that working together at home can bring unity within the family. This is something worth considering in these times. Don’t you think?

Work Cited

Lamentations. The Holy Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan House, 1962. 381. Print.

Montgomery, Alesia. "Kitchen Conferences and Garage Cubicles: The Merger of Home and Work in the 24-7 Global Economy (excerpt)." 2000. Everything's an Argument with readings. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 1008-1022. Print.

Pycior, Helena M., Nancy G. Slack, and Pnina  G. Abir-Am, eds 1996. Creative couples in the sciences. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Print

Scott, Joan W. and Tilly, Louise A. "Urban Women." Women, Work, and Family. 2nd ed. New York: Methuen, 1987. 47-51. Print.