Daniel Orozco’s “Orientation”

Read Daniel Orozco’s “Orientation” in MLM(source will be uploaded) pp34 – 38. Then choose 3 questions between 1-13 to answer. Make sure to insert those questions you answered and post them with your answers these are the questions listed.1. Let’s return to the story’s first paragraph. It seems to feature a variety of speech acts. How would you describe what the speaker is doing in each sentence?2. What are the various speech acts that the speaker performs in paragraph 3?3. Discussing Colin Heavey, the speaker says, “We warned him about Anika Bloom” (para. 11). Where in this orientation does the speaker seem to be warning the listener? List some specific examples of this speech act.4. Where, if anywhere, in the story does the speaker seem to engage in the speech act of gossiping? Define what this term means to you.

How would you distinguish gossiping from mere reporting of information?5. In paragraph 7, the speaker recommends that the listener “comment on” the artwork of Amanda Pierce’s son. Presumably it would be impolite to criticize these drawings. What other speech acts might the new employee perform when observing them? The speaker also orders the listener to “not let on” that Amanda suffers from spousal abuse. What speech acts could occur if “letting on” were allowed? To whom might they be addressed?6.In paragraph 13, the speaker praises the firm’s “comprehensive health plan.” In explaining how it might apply to Larry Bagdikian, however, what else is he doing besides praising?7.In paragraph 18, what might the speaker be doing when he tells the listener that Barry Hacker’s deceased wife “haunts all of us”?.

Further Description

He claims that “She pencils herself in in the receptionist’s appointment book, with the notation: To see Barry Hacker.” What speech act might this notation be?8.What kind of speech act is the statement at the end of paragraph 22, “The shredder is of no concern to you”?9. In paragraph 23, the speaker says of Gwendolyn Stich that “every morning, she passes through all the cubicles to wish each of us a good morning.” What kind of speech act is she performing when she does this? In the same paragraph, the speaker reports that Gwendolyn has moments of great emotional distress. What, if anything, does his account of her suffering make you think about the wish she expresses to everyone each day?10. Why, in paragraph 24, might the speaker tell the listener not to “let on” that Kevin Howard is a serial killer?.

When the speaker then says “Don’t worry,” why might he want to reassure the listener that Kevin poses no threat to the office staff?11. The last sentence in the story is “I sit in there.” What would you say to someone who argues that Orozco should have ended not with a simple declaration of fact but with a more dramatic speech act?12. Orozco reports that since his story was published, “it has even been included in an employee orientation manual, which is either very funny or very disturbing.” Why might a company use the story this way? How might it expect new employees to react? Does the orientation in this story resemble other orientations with which you are familiar? In what ways? Consider the kinds of advice given and language used.13. What assumptions do you make about the speaker’s audience, that is, the listener being oriented? Imagine this person’s reaction at a few particular moments of the story.

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