Critical
Analysis for February 14th, 2014
“Time
for a Raise?” by Patricia Smith explains the dilemma faced by many Americans
today due to a very low minimum wage. It explains that due to the recent news
that President Barack Obama may increase the minimum wage; Americans are
speaking out with all sorts of opinions and responses. Some people are for it
(these are generally those workers that this plan will help), others are
against it (mostly employers) and a few people think a change wouldn’t make
anything different. But history, economy and research show that there are
effects and that’s what Smith tries to capture in her detailed article. But all
in all the news has sparked people to speak their minds. Patricia Smith uses
many things to support each idea, she wants to inform the reader of the problem
but also tell solutions from each opinion group while saying the actual
researched effects to allow the reader to see all perspectives possible. Smith
implies that, “Polls show that about three-quarters of Americans favor a higher
minimum wage. But the idea faces stiff opposition.” Here is when she talks
about those opposed to increasing the minimum wage. She says, “Many companies
that hire low-wage workers oppose a minimum-wage hike because it increases
their cost of doing business. They say higher wages make it harder to hire new
employees or even keep the ones they already have.” This is straight forward
and is the opinion of someone in the business and who a change might affect.
This is the claim Smith focuses on for those against the minimum-wage hike. She
backs this up with many more examples. For example she quotes Speaker of the
House John Boehner who says, “Why would we want to make it harder for small
employers to hire people?” This is more of a rhetorical question, a good debate
question and Smith selected it specifically to have this type of effect in such
a controversial topic. She also says, “Business owners say that raising the
minimum wage also exerts upward pressure on other wages. If a restaurant owner
in Texas has to boost the dishwasher’s pay to $10.10, he’ll probably have to
raise the cook’s already-higher salary as well. That leaves him with choices
that some economists say are all bad for the struggling economy: He could make
less profit, raise prices, higher fewer workers, or reduce the number of hours
employees work.” This is a real life situation faced by many business owners
because of the minimum-wage hike. This is one opinion but many of those to whom
the minimum wage actually apply to disagree, Smith says, “Advocates of higher minimum
wages say increases haven’t kept up with inflation, so today’s minimum actually
buys 25 percent less than its inflation adjusted peak in 1968. And today, more
minimum wage workers are breadwinners for their families… The Economic Policy
Institute estimates that an increase of $2.85 in the minimum wage would boost
wages for about 28 million workers and would mean an additional $6,000 of
income a year for those working full-time.” This is the claim for those
workers, these are facts, those against it also had a strong call but they were
mostly predictions, Smith agrees that an increased minimum wage would help
many. For this she quotes Roberto Tejada, 20, who earns $8 an hour working at
Taco Bell in Los Angeles. He says, “These jobs aren’t just for teenagers
anymore,” he helps his father with rent and bills, and he lives on $120 a
month. He says, “It’s a constant struggle.” Smith also includes examples and
opinions from those who actually work the minimum wage. “But workers like Simon
Rojas, who earns just over the minimum wage at McDonald’s in Los Angeles, say
they can’t make it on what they’re earning now…‘It’s very difficult to live
off $8.07 an hour,’ says Rojas, 23,
noting he is often assigned 20 or 25 hours of work a week. ‘I have to live with
my parents. I would like to be able to afford a car and an apartment.” Again
she includes this example, “Fast-food workers are one group not waiting around
to see what Congress does. They’re been staging strikes in cities across the
country, demanding $15 an hour, which they call a ‘living wage’.” Smith also
makes sure to include the opinions of those who think no effect would directly
be caused by an increase in the minimum wage. She quotes Rajeev Dhawan, an
economist at Georgia State University, “‘What matters for people earning
minimum wage is how much money they take home in total in their paychecks.’”
Smith says that this is what many people who receive above the minimum wage are
saying, that of course they’d want more money and they’re going to pretend to be
angry, who doesn’t want more money in their pocket? Or at least this is how I
interpreted the quote. Of course, they all don’t seem happy and want higher
wages but when there are actual facts to look at, opinions are just weaker, and
Smith includes many facts to show the actual effect. President Obama is pushing
Congress to increase the federal minimum from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour
by 2015 is the first of these facts. This gets the ball rolling, she’s
basically saying here’s the controversy and here are the changes that are being
put to conflict. The next fact she uses is when she says, “The Economic Policy
Institute estimates that an increase of $2.85 in the minimum wage would boost
wages for about 28 million workers and would mean an additional $6,000 of
income a year for those working full-time.” These are facts of what would
happen, simple math. Again she says, “That would mean a 67 percent pay increase
in an industry where the average is about $9 an hour and many workers earn the
local minimum wage.” It’s as simple as that. Patricia Smith’s evidence works to
support her claim because she presents the reader with all the possible
opinions one may have, the controversy and facts and opinions for each one. All
that she is doing is leaving the reader to look at all the info, interpret it
and either choose a side or simply just be informed about the topic.
With
this article Patricia Smith wants the reader to think and feel that the minimum
wage is causing real problems and that it isn’t a joke, no matter what path is
taken, trouble will be stirred up by those that didn’t get it there way.
Although she doesn’t give her personal opinion she hints each side’s opinion
and includes the opinions of those for a higher minimum wage, those against a
minimum wage hike and those who feel that a change would not make anything
different and she gives the effect of each of their solutions with facts. She
wants the reader to speak out with their own opinion, to see all of the
possible routes to a solution and to possibly choose which is best or at least
be informed of the problem. All in all she wants the reader to realize: This is
a problem! To achieve this she uses many craft moves and techniques. She
includes a comical cartoon; this is a sort of technique that is now being used
by many magazine article publishers. In the cartoon a man is deciding what to
order from a cashier behind a counter at a fast-food restaurant. He says, “I
can’t decide between the poverty wage burger, the slave labor BLT and the
nuggets of self-worth”. The cashier behind the counter says, “Hurry up… I’m
late for my third job!” This wasn’t a piece done by Smith but it was
specifically selected by her and was made to take up a large space on the page.
There is something about this specific cartoon that made it special, it was
funny but it was serious, this is the job of many cartoons especially political
cartoons. But adding a cartoon into an article also gives something appealing
to the reader rather than facts, facts, facts. In the same way a photograph
(which Smith also includes of fast-food workers protesting for higher wages)
can tell a story, a comic is made to tell a story. It is supposed to set a
realistic scene with sarcastic talk in it and this one did exactly that,
choosing this was a good choice by Smith. It’s a sense of humor with a serious
topic, which can sometimes make the reader realize how serious it is even more,
so much so that it can be made a joke. It makes us tell ourselves that this is
what is basically happening due to this controversial topic. Smith also
includes something from the Department of Labor, another external craft move
but this one was a graph, specifically a pie chart which showed the minimum
wage worker percentage by the age. Charts and graphs are really important to
add especially in topics like these, the eye will look at a graph and
immediately knows to interpret it; it’s as if it’s in our genetic code to
respond this way. We first search for what the graph is showing: What is this
about? And then we start to analyze the data. We may even relate it to
ourselves. So this was the perfect tool to use as Smith writing about an
economic topic. Patricia Smith also includes questions, almost rhetorical but
really more to set a scene and give the reader a realistic story. I’ll show you
what I mean: she starts off the article by saying, “How much would a company
have to pay you to put on a chicken outfit and cluck for customers at a
fast-food joint? Or to get up at 4:30 a.m. to deliver newspapers in the dark or
sling a smelly mop in a drugstore?” With this she’s giving possible working
scenarios but each one will earn you minimum wage and by asking you how much
each will pay she’s really telling you that it won’t be much and is also
connecting to the topic. Questions are strong, they’re straight forward and
they almost give you a tone of power. This is a great technique to use to grab
the reader’s attention, exactly the way Smith did by adding this part as here
introducing lines. Another craft move and technique that Patricia Smith uses is
a tone or splash of history. She does this when she says, “Congress enacted the
first federal minimum wage- 25 cents an hour- in 1938 as part of FDR’s New Deal
during the Great Depression. The minimum wage was part of the Fair Labor
Standards Act, which was established overtime pay and banned child labor.” All
this talk of history mixes the topic with Social Studies but really history can
be appealing to many people, and Smith only adds a little bit of it, it was just
the perfect amount, just enough to allow the reader to make a connection to the
past and how situations like the one in the article have played a role in
society in the country’s past. Another technique that Patricia Smith uses is
giving readers real stories from actual people to whom the topic is of actual
concern. Here are many examples of this and here are some: “But workers like
Simon Rojas, who earns just over the minimum wage at McDonald’s in Los Angeles,
say they can’t make it on what they’re earning now…‘It’s very difficult to live
off $8.07 an hour,’ says Rojas, 23, noting he is often assigned 20 or 25 hours
of work a week. ‘I have to live with my parents. I would like to be able to
afford a car and an apartment.” She also quotes Roberto Tejada, 20, who earns
$8 an hour working at Taco Bell in Los Angeles. He says, “These jobs aren’t
just for teenagers anymore,” he helps his father with rent and bills, and he
lives on $120 a month. He says, “It’s a constant struggle.” From a person on
the other point of view she includes not a real story but a realistic one, in
many ways the same, “Business owners say that raising the minimum wage also
exerts upward pressure on other wages. If a restaurant owner in Texas has to
boost the dishwasher’s pay to $10.10, he’ll probably have to raise the cook’s
already-higher salary as well. That leaves him with choices that some
economists say are all bad for the struggling economy: He could make less
profit, raise prices, higher fewer workers, or reduce the number of hours
employees work.” These are all ideal things to add when writing an article
concerning everyone because these are stories of these people. A realistic or
even true story can give the reader a connection to make and a struggle to see.
She also on multiple occasions includes quotes from officials and those with a
title. I’ve noticed while making my critical analysis’ that this is a common
technique used by many authors. The person’s title makes whatever they say
sound authentic. All of these craft moves work together to ultimately make the
reader think and feel the way Smith wants them to.
This
article was very informing and I learned a lot of things from it. Everybody has
their own opinions on things and I didn’t really have mine on the minimum wage
mostly because it didn’t apply to me. But, also through the article Patricia Smith
doesn’t even give her own opinion, she gives the three “possible” opinions of
people. This made it clear what the strengths and weaknesses of each opinion were
and gave me a chance to make my own opinion. Also, soon the minimum wage will
apply to me and that’s why this article was important to me. I did make an opinion;
I really think that the minimum wage should increase in order for people to
take care of themselves. I wrote my last critical analysis on one of Smith’s
article about Nelson Mandela; she is a very strong writer and an effective one
too.
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