Analyzation of "The Foundry and Engineering Works of the Royal Overseas Trading Company, Factory Rules"

Well, work life in factories was pretty tough. There was poor ventilation and sanitation. It was literally a sweat shop, and was a brothel of exploitation. Run by the clock, season to season, no holidays, minimal breaks, never a vacation, and if you pissed off the overseer or gatekeeper, you were dismissed!These rules were written in Berlin, around 1844. The audience was, of course, factory workers, and the document's purpose was to introduce newly hired workers to the ropes of the factory life. This was to insure that everything in the production process ran as smoothly and as uninterrupted as possible. The main idea of this piece of writing is to educate the factory worker the do's and don'ts of working in the Royal Overseas Trading Company factories. It gives us a taste of the proletarian life, and what was expected of them. It is like the tax and trade records of antiquity; it is like the ancient grafiti on Pompeiian walls and in Roman baths. It gives us a slice of their life; it introduces us to how the mindset of the time formed. By showing us the oppression they felt in another point-of-view, we can more closely examine other contributing reasons why they felt that way. Factory work required attention and promptness. It also required neatness and obedience. This was probably so because of the fact that the work done at the factory demanded a smooth process. It also made for an easier-to-exploit labor force. Compliance to the outlined rules and obligated disciplines were encouraged by fines on a very skin-and-bones wage. Factory owners knew that the workers desperately needed the money they earned, ergo biting back on their urges to protest the exploitation or even to socialize with co-workers. A typical workday in the factory consisted of quiet workers, hard labor attending the machines, and constant surveilance. It was a controlled environment run by the clock and whistle. Factory owners, ruthlessly searching for wealth, wrote these rules to retain the idea that uninterrupted and quiet workers produced more and better goods. These rules were also written more than likely to keep the workers in line, and to teach them a bit of decency. I mean it must be pretty obvious that one should not do natural functions at their work station. Thinking about it, school is like factory life... We must obtain permission to do anything; we cannot lcome and go as we please, and our lives are governed by the damn bell!