Then We Came To The End

Joshua Ferris

Joshua Ferris

• Born In Danville, Illinois• Attended University of Iowa• Received BA in English and Philosophy• Participated in MFA program in california• Published two novels

Protagonist

• The Book is told in first person plural• Everyone can be categorized as the

protagonist.

Antagonist

• Each person’s individual demons they are struggling with.

Favorite CharacterTom Mota

• Recently divorced• An overly dramatic man• Dresses up like a clown and comes back to

wreak havoc on the office

Least Favorite CharacterJoe Pope

• A workaholic• A perpetual victim of office sabotage• Everyone disliked him, so in turn I too disliked

him

Rising Action

• People are being laid off one by one• Everyone is wondering when it’s their time• This in turn creates an uncomfortable work

environment.• Individuals coping methods become stranger

as lay-offs grow closer

Exposition

• Story is told through a number of different people as a “Collective We”

Climax

• Tom Mota (former employee) returns to the office dressed as a clown armed with a paintball gun.

• He terrorizes the office

Falling Action

• Tom Mota was eventually arrested• People dealt with it by either quiting, taking a

vacation, or just working through it

Resolution

• Book jumps ahead five years later.• Everyone is reunited by a book signing of a

former employee. • They all talk about their current lives

Setting

• The Book takes place at a Chicago advertising agency at the beginning of the economic downturn.

• The time is important because jobs are being loss, and that is one of the central theme’s of this book. Trying to stay Employed.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment Song

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMIZjL-JHFU

How to survive Unemployment

• Steps you can take to help you through your unemployment

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWPFW_8D05U

Unemployment PoemJane Solanrobertson

Rows and rows of boxesAll of them the same

With rooms and rooms of peopleEach without a name

Hearts that beat, though breakingAnd smiles

that mask the painOf fading hopes of sunshine

Through windows drenched with rain.Once lovers, now not speaking

Except to lay the blameFor broken dreams and the poverty

Of unemployment shame.Empty cupboards and drunken sleep

Are all part of the gameBut hungry babies wake them still

On mornings all the same.

News broadcast

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QDKMnYc4_s

Newspaper article

• http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/unemployment/index.html

Local Newspaper Article

• http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_14521169

Time magazine article

• http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953320,00.html

The Great Depression

• America's "Great Depression" began with the dramatic crash of the stock market on "Black Thursday", October 24, 1929 when 16 million shares of stock were quickly sold by panicking investors who had lost faith in the American economy. At the height of the Depression in 1933, nearly 25% of the Nation's total work force, 12,830,000 people, were unemployed.

•http://www.todaysteacher.com/TheGreatDepressionWebQuest/BriefOverview.htm