The piece, “The Company Man” by Ellen Goodman would have been an enjoyable and thought provoking read on Monday if it wasn't for the crushing self doubt and hasty analysis that accompanied its forty minute essay.  Goodman’s style was almost strictly ironic and matched her sardonic attitude towards the “Company Man” way of life.  

Goodman bases the event of the passage around the cliche of someone working himself to death.  By extending this cliche she creates a satirical fiction in which “Phil’s” heart attack is a testament of his hard work and dedication (to “the company”) to his boss.  Goodman’s description of Goodman as a “heart attack natural” is ironic as it implies that 1) a heart attack is natural and 2) that someone can be gifted (virtuosic) at heart attacks.  The irony is almost insulting to Phil’s recent death and brings up questions about the significance of Phil if his life, or not life, can be made light by some witty one-liner.  

Goodman uses the “boss” archetype in her portrayal of the company president who is shockingly similar to…... Mr. Krabs ( Mr. Krabs Example 1 ) ( Mr. Krabs Example 2 ). The president’s immediate search for Phil’s replacement adds to the surreal nature of Phil’s physical death by shifting the focus from what seemingly should be Phil’s broken life, to the company’s void position.  

The explicit irony undercuts the severity of Phil’s death and shifts the focus of the passage to  the reader’s own perception of “The Company Man”.  Whether we, the stressed out English kids, are supposed to empathize with Phil’s plight, or pity him and pray we don’t end up in his shoes is completely subjective.