Humdrum Sentences

Susan Orlean's description of the job system that Colin and his classmates engage in grips the reader by initially describing the most sought after jobs as humdrum. The exact sentence where this happening is interesting to pick a part: "Five of the most humdrum tasks are recycling chores - for example, taking bottles or stacks of paper down to the basement, where they would be sorted and prepared for pickup." Orlean makes a good use of the semicolon here to extend the sentence and lengthen it. By doing this she not only describes humdrum tasks, but makes their description in its own way feel humdrum. The sentences is long, with complicated punctuation that causes the reader to be forced to actually take their time and go through it. Reading the sentences feels reminiscent of having to do a humdrum chore. This sets the reader up to believe what the author is telling them. The job is boring and it is very unusual for a boring job to be the first one to go. Along with the expectations of children to love animals so much that they would want to be the one's taking care of them. In a way it could be seen as a status position, whereas the recycling chores are closer in effect to being reminiscent of menial labor. However, Orlean has done a good job of previously setting up that Colin is unlike other kids. He is aware of the social issues in the world and in his own way feels their weight on his shoulders. So when it becomes clear that Colin and all of his classmates what the jobs that are attempting to prevent man's usage of materials producing waste it is a turn, but not a surprise. These are the type of children that would do just that. It's all laid out within the writing for the reader to find if they look for it.