The Sandwich Factory analysis

The novel is written in 2007 by Jason Kennedy and tells the story of a nameless production line worker, in an industrialized world. The narrator is 1st person, and the story unfolds through the narrator’s point of view. The novel use high style language, the narrator uses a lot of irony, which makes it quite humorous to read at times. For an example “Dot lived in the Midlands, as she would’ve been an excellent pirate, giving blow jobs on the high seas” (L.36-37, p.2). His literal knowledge far exceeds the normal human being with no higher education.

“In keeping with my station in society, and having been rejected by the bowling alley, I took a low-paid job at a sandwich factory.”(L.1-2. p.1.)

The narrator has taken a job at a sandwich factory, where he is putting together the sandwiches. The narrator has possibly lost his old job, and therefore he seeks a new job. The “Bowling alley” rejected him, when he applied for a job there. Therefore he got a low paid job at the sandwich factory. He thinks highly about himself, and indicates that he holds a high status in society. His thoughts philosophize on many subjects regarding the factory and the people working there. His thoughts intertwining with his literary knowledge, creating strange metaphysical scenarios in this mind.

“A whole factory full of workers who would bite your arm off to push a rock up a hill for eternity (so long as you gave us €4.50 an hour and the weekends off). I entertained a vision of one day being rich and hiring a bunch of faded paunchy managers to recreate the myth of Sisyphus in my back garden, as I sat in a director’s chair, watching them push boulders up a home-made hill.” (L.57-61, p 2.)

Workers’ social status in the factory is determined by the job they posses. The forklift drivers are looked upon as “demi-gods” (l.81, p. 3.); the other workers idolize them. The managers are seen as the executive power of the factory, they make sure the rules are obeyed and ought to make sure the workers are efficient. The managers appear as coldhearted individuals, whom think more about not looking confused, than acquiring a high productivity. The narrator doubt that the managers have any empathy or respect for the factory’s workers, and the narrator imagines them, being more worried about lawsuits than the workers’ conditions.

“I could imagine a manager saying, “Make sure he doesn’t stagger into a machine and kill himself. We don’t need a lawsuit. When the doors are locked, you don’t want them to start escaping chopped up in the sandwiches. They’ll all be at it.” And the managers laughing at this.” (L.123, p.4.)

The modern industrial world confuses the narrator. The narrator fantasize about punishing his managers, he draws a parallel to M.C. Escher’s picture, “Relativity”. “Relativity” portrays a confusingly strange building, with faceless individuals walking up and down the strange stairs. The picture could represent the new industrialized world, where people follow the rules, even though it’s absurd. He imagines the managers working at the assembly line, which are arranged in an absurd and confusing manner.

The narrator doesn’t like the job, and can’t seem to find meaning in going to work. The narrator’s biggest dislike is the endless routines, the same endless repetitions over and over again. Adding tomatoes, eggs, ham or lettuce to the sandwiches in an endless system, made him faint and fell to the floor. When he had recovered, he quit his job and never went back.

A colleague to the narrator, Dot, wants to set the narrator up with one of her girl friends, so he can have sex with her. The narrator is shy, and he has no confidence when it comes to woman. One day he takes her for a ride in his car, and they drive to her home. The narrator describes the surroundings while driving through the city. The narrator uses negative adjectives, such as “fear and loathing”, to create a depressed atmosphere.

“We drove to the girl’s house. It was a predictable location she had given, one of the one word names that designated an 80s housing development, a knife’s edge away from council housing. Foxglove. Harebell. Angelica, Sorrel, these bastions of fear and loathing had all been named after plants. And yet there were no plants and no grass spread through the twists of tarmac and concrete, the overflowing wheelie bins and the gutted cars.” (L.110-115, p.3).

“A Well Respected Man” Pictures the perfect man in the industrialized; he follows society’s norms and rules. He lives a conservative life; he won’t compete with the absurdity in the modern world. The narrator in “The Sandwich Factory”, won’t be like this man. The well respected man, have lost meaning in his life, without knowing it, he just lives on with the same routines. He doesn’t question his existence, even though he have a lust for the girl next door (L.30), he won’t follow his instincts and try to be truly happy.

B

Charles Dickens uses figurative speech to create an image of a dull, dirty and industrialized town. The author makes use of nouns with negative connotations to support his point, for an example; “ashes”, “smoke” and “ Serpents”. The serpent is a symbol of evil, its poisonous and deathly. Another animal metaphor is used in the novel; “…the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.” (L.7-8.). The monotone production in the city, hypnotize its residents to live an equal monotone life, following endless routines. The author use the wild and evil nature to illustrate the town, for an example; “…but, as matters stood it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage.” (L.2-3.).

“It(the town) contained several large streets all very like one another, and many small streets still more like one another…” (L.8-9.).

Charles Dickens fictional town is easily imagined as a boringly monotone town, with no art or cultural construction. I imagine it as dirty, greyish and with no place for innovation. The town must be awful to live in, with all the smoke, machinery and monotone buildings. The smoke that pollutes the environment, have painted the town black and grey. The figurative speech have created an awful town.