Mai Nguyen
English 101
First draft
COME ON, MEN!
In a humorous way, “Lost in the kitchen” of Dave Barry talked about the eternal issue of men which was how clumsy and hopeless they had been in the kitchen. Barry told the story of his Thanksgiving night when his friend, Gene, and he failed to help their wives prepare the meal. Instead, their job was to just watch the children, but they did not do it well, either because they were enjoying their interesting football game on TV. However, not every man was exactly this way; if a man was not able to help in the kitchen, he should have done well in other parts in order to support his woman.
In the beginning of the essay, Dave Barry showed his two new discoveries which were about men’s cumbersomeness in cooking part and the slowness of human sexual activity in Thanksgiving night. However, his main point was to affirm that men absolutely could not do anything in the kitchen, “Men are still basically scum when it comes to helping out in the kitchen” (Barry 82).
This must sound funny, but it was somehow true for most men. As soon as a guy got into the cook place, all he would do were to aim at what could be taken to eat and soon make a great escape. The reason for a man to do this was the thought that cooking was the feminine obligation and she would be just fine without him.
The Essay on Men And Women Are Different
The fact that men and women are different is well known. Some of these differences are constant and some are not; some have changed in the past and some are about to change in the future. While some physical differences are obvious, some of them are controversial; in addition, psychological and cognitive differences are always divisive. Men are considered to be physically stronger than women. ...
Later on, he also said “most men make themselves as useful around the kitchen as ill-trained Labrador retrievers” (Barry 82).
This was such a hopeless statement which asserted that men would be clumsy and useless in cooking works no matter what, so the most popular manner for them was to stay away from the kitchen. However, it would be remarkable if he could step in and offer to help. Surely, his wife was surprise at first, but she would respect and engrave this precious moment in her mind forever.
Next, Barry talked about his great Thanksgiving’s experiences at Gene’s house. Based on the scene of a holiday night, it was clear to see the common picture of a family nowadays; the men watched the TV and the kids played around while the women were cooking. It seemed that men had leisure time and just did simple works, but not all of them accomplished their obligations well. For example, Barry stated on page 83 that “You cannot watch small children and the Detroit Lions at the same time, and let’s face it; the Detroit Lions are more interesting” and needed Arlene’s remind about their job. Seriously, this did not sound funny anymore; instead, there was a lack of responsibilities. If a man found that he was helpless in the kitchen, he would take part well in different chores such as cleaning, setting the table or “watching the children”. Therefore, the wife did not have to do everything at once, and she could finish her work earlier and spend more time with the family or do something for herself. Indeed, it was crucial for the men’s helps in order to support the women, maintain the happiness and avoid contention.
To continue, the author mentioned that “I think most males rarely prepare food for other people, and when they do, they always have their one specialty dish” (Barry 83).
This sounded really true at first but as we thought about it carefully; it seemed men were reluctant and unwilling to do any cooking. However, in daily life, there would be some who might try to be great in the kitchen in order to help themselves or just to please the women.
In a reverse, there was also an arguable point while men felt helpless and women took confidence in their career and housewife’s portion:
“I would no more enter that kitchen than I would attempt to park a nuclear aircraft carrier, but my wife, who runs her own business, glides in very casually and picks up EXACTLY the right kitchen implements and starts doing EXACTLY the right thing with-out receiving any instructions whatsoever” ( Barry 83).
The Term Paper on Status Of Women Men Woman 2004
The Role of Women in Religion The role of women in religious scripture dictates an inferior position in society. Beginning with the creation of Adam and then Eve, as his helpmate. Her purpose was that Adam would not be lonely. This origin provides the ground work for inequality of genders on the basis of religious scripture. The roles prescribed determined that women should be in a subordinate ...
Comparing to upper paragraph, here was such a great reflection and it sounded like a shame for men as they looked back at themselves. Barry’s wife was a virtue for the twenty- first century women who worked hard and did well in all obligations. Therefore, men really needed to follow that instead of blaming for their clumsiness.
Although the image of females in the kitchen and males sitting on the couch watching TV still existed, it was not as common as it was before. “Let’s say a woman in the kitchen, working away after having been at her job all day, and the man, feeling guilty, finally shuffles in and offers to help” ( Barry 84).
Finally, males realized this awkward situations and tried to take part in
Nevertheless, the part that caught the reader’s attention at most was the words from his wife in the last paragraph. “ She said before Women’s Liberation, men took care of the cars and women took care of the kitchens, whereas now that we have Women’s Liberation, men no longer feel obligated to take care of the cars” (Barry 84).
Once again, he showed us women were doing too well so that they could even take the men’s obligation. The problem was women could do the men’s parts and why not men could do the women’s.
Overall, “Lost in the kitchen” was a strong essay about how genders were still playing roles in today’s society, but since the Women’s Liberation, it had changed a lot. Women’s jobs were not only limited around the houses but also expanded to free world. However, because females were strongly and quickly taking more and more possessions from the males, so males should have attempted to do well in other parts in order not to feel guilty or useless. For a conclusion, in a woman’s eyes, a perfect man should have known what she needed and be able to do more than what she could do.
