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The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On Beauty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Nature of Beauty
Politics in Academia
Race and Identity
The Value of Family
Summary
Analysis
The mega-store where Levi works is a massive building which could only be constructed by knocking down an old library from the 1880s. Levi was originally attracted to the job when the application form mentioned that the company operated like a family. It’s owned by some British man who puts his company name on everything. Levi buys into the idea of the brand as a family, even as he works for $6.89 an hour. But then one day, he learns he has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
This passage is a thinly veiled caricature of Richard Branson, a British celebrity most famous for a chain of massive music retail stores called Virgin Megastores as well as for putting the “Virgin” name onto a variety of other business ventures. The lavish lifestyle of the British man who owns the company where Levi works contrasts sharply with the fact that Levi’s hourly rate is only $6.89 (which was just barely above minimum wage).
Themes
When Levi tells Howard he doesn’t want to work on Christmas, Howard suggests Levi organize some “direct action.” Levi says he’s pretty sure things don’t work that way anymore. One day at his job, Levi walks through the Hip-hop, R&B, and Urban section, where he was recently promoted to work (although he didn’t receive a pay increase). He sees his coworker Candy in the Alt Rock/Heavy Metal section and says he needs to talk to her, but she says she’s busy and can’t talk much.
Howard’s progressive beliefs hold that workers should strike to protest unfair conditions. While Levi doesn’t think in political terms like his father, his practical experience has nevertheless taught him that he has little power compared to a large corporation like the one he works for.
Themes
Levi asks Candy if she heard about working on Christmas. He says he’s trying to organize some direct action and wants her to grab some other coworkers for a meeting. But when Levi goes to tell his other coworker LaShonda, she is eager to be paid time-and-a-half for working on Christmas because she has three kids. Meanwhile, Tom in the Folk section disagrees with Levi on most musical issues but agrees on other things, like opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He agrees to come to the meeting.
Despite his skepticism, Levi takes his father’s advice and tries to organize a strike. Fittingly, his first ally is the employee from the folk section—since folk music has long been associated with protest. By contrast, however, LaShonda is more reluctant to join the cause. There seems to be a clear class difference between LaShonda and Tom, with Tom willing to take chances but LaShonda having the (accurate) fear that if she does anything to upset her superiors in the company, she might lose her job and her way of supporting her family. This passage reveals that Levi is more like his father than he realizes: his ideals blind him to the reality of his situation. He has the privilege to strike on ideological grounds, meanwhile someone like LaShonda must be pragmatic: she doesn’t have the privilege to put her livelihood at risk.
Themes
When Levi holds the meeting, he realizes that only his white coworkers like Tom and Candy have shown up. They debate what type of action to take. Tom suggests a sit-in, but Levi says he doesn’t like the idea of sitting on a floor. Candy is afraid that any action will cause their manager Bailey to fire them. Bailey is a man in his forties with an overactive thyroid and a big afro. Levi and LaShonda often impersonate Bailey, but white employees hesitate to impersonate him out of fear of being racist.
Levi’s failed attempt to organize a strike further shows how out of touch he is with the struggles of working class people—particular Black working class people. His ideals blind him to the real struggles that these people face. Despite his efforts to appear otherwise, he’s much more like Tom and Candy than he realizes.
Themes
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As Levi is conducting the meeting, Bailey suddenly comes in. Bailey says he heard a rumor that Levi was planning a “coop” against him. Bailey says that store policy is final and anyone who doesn’t like it can quit. Levi tries to persuade Bailey, asking if he really wants to be stuck working on Christmas too, but Bailey doesn’t budge.
Bailey’s lack of knowledge about how to pronounce the word “coup” (the “p” should be silent) suggests that he doesn’t have much formal education. Once more, Levi finds himself at odds with the working-class people he wants to relate to.
Themes
Bailey dismisses all the other workers so that he can talk to Levi alone. He accuses Levi of acting up to humiliate him. He says he knows that Tom and Candy think Levi is “gangsta,” but Bailey knows Levi is from the suburbs. Levi leaves the meeting, trying to look tough for his coworkers, but he walks out of the building and cries. He thinks about how even though his family is supposedly rich, he himself struggles to get money from Howard or Kiki. Eventually, Levi sees some bootleggers selling CDs and DVDs, and when one of them mentions hip-hop, he goes over to talk with them.
Bailey seems to take Levi’s betrayal personally because they’re both Black. Levi’s tears as he leaves the job seem to be less about the job itself and more about the fact that Bailey has questioned Levi’s whole identity, accusing him of just being someone from the suburbs who attempts to act “gangsta.” The bootleggers selling CDs are the black-market version of the store Levi just left, and so they immediately present a compelling alternative to Levi, offering a more authentic way to sell music.
Themes
