SOAPSTone - "Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out"

SOAPSTone – “Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out”

Bay P.

9/22/11

Subject: The subject of Dave Barry’s “Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out” is that men and women perceive the world around them in vastly different ways, and, as such, react to their surroundings in vastly different ways. This mental wall of perception between the sexes is illustrated by Barry’s use of a hyperbolic description of women’s stereotypical trait of hyper-cleanliness (claiming that they are able to spot dirt on a microscopic level, for example) as compared to his own gender’s ignorance to the mess until it becomes too much to handle (such as his fictionalized explanation as to why so many people were buried beneath the ash of Vesuvius). This emphasizes Barry’s opinion on the ways in which both genders analyze and react to the world around them by showing that men and women react in vastly different ways to a lack of cleanliness – women are meticulous in their efforts to stop and clean up messes, while men couldn’t really care less.

Occasion: “Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out” was written during the mid-80’s. The essay’s time of creation is illustrated not by anything explicitly stated in the essay, since it is written in such a way as to make it essentially ambiguous as to the time period during which it was written, but due to the fact that the technologies of the time of this writing are not implemented in the explanation of how the men managed to go sneak off and watch the World Series during a visit. If this essay were set during 2011, the men probably wouldn’t have to make excuses to zip out of the room and go crowd around the TV – instead, they might have been able to take out their smartphones and watch the game on there. The probable place of this essay’s creation is New York, seeing as how Barry was born there, (as the blurb before the essay states) but not necessarily in his hometown of Armonk – he might have moved.

The time and place of the essay’s creation influence the essay by giving it a more innocent feel – due to the fact that the men aren’t just using their phones to ignore the conversation going on about them, it makes them appear to be less sneaky, although I’m unable to argue as to whether or not it makes them seem less desperate. The place of his writing also probably influenced the author’s view on how both genders behave – if he lived somewhere where, for whatever reason, traditional gender roles were reversed, the essay would have been completely different.

Audience: Barry’s specific audience for “Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out” are those who are confused by the behavior of those of the opposite sex – or those of their own sex, if they act differently from the rest of them, that is. The author’s target audience is exhibited by the topic of the essay, which are the radical differences between the two genders when it comes to perception of the world. This is done by discussing various disparities between how men and women react to various things – such as dirt, cleaning, and sports.

The author’s general audience for the essay is anyone looking for a good laugh about the ridiculous behaviors of both the opposite sex and their own sex. The author’s general audience is shown by the tone of the essay, which is rather humorous and tongue-in-cheek, definitely not meant to be taken as truth in the slightest. The fact that Barry attempts to explain the deaths of those at Pompeii with the fact that the men only noticed the ash falling when it had practically covered up the children emphasizes the light-hearted tone of it all. This is obviously meant to be funny and not taken seriously, and provides humor for those who are mystified by male behavior.

Purpose: Barry’s purpose in “Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out” is to display just how truly ridiculous both genders can be about various things, and implores for us all to laugh good-naturedly at each other and ourselves – taking stereotypes into play, of course. The sheer silliness of how the two sexes behave, especially in regards to the clichés associated with their behaviors, is illustrated by Barry stating that “… a hormonal secretion takes place in women that enables them to see dirt that men cannot see, dirt at the level of molecules, whereas men don’t generally notice it until it forms clumps large enough to support agriculture.” By adding to the stereotype that women are hypersensitive neat freaks and men couldn’t care less about the cleanliness of things, Barry demonstrates his purpose in an easily understood, but tongue-in-cheek manner. The purpose is further revealed by his anecdote concerning him being told to clean his son’s bathroom. Even though Barry thinks that all is clean, despite having just wiped everything down with Windex, his wife gives him an angry look and insists that the bathroom is filthy. Barry is baffled as to how she’s seeing dirt everywhere, even though he just cleaned the place. Although in this case Barry seems to be teasing his own gender rather than the opposite gender, his point is still made – that both sexes perceive things, namely cleanliness, with varying degrees of importance.

Speaker: Dave Barry, who married his first wife in 1976, believes that there is a fundamental difference in how men and women behave. This is illustrated by his quote stating that “[t]he primary difference between men and women is that women can see extremely small quantities of dirt”. This is not the only quote of his that supports this belief, seeing as how not just dirt but also the importance of sports is discussed in the essay. This influenced the essay’s purpose by showing that men and women are different creatures of different natures, and he included this value to emphasize how the two genders of the same species can be similar yet so different, but in a funny way.

Dave Barry, who has been called the funniest man in America, also believes that we as a species should be able to laugh at ourselves. This value is illustrated by his use of self-deprecating humor, such as his discussion on how the residents of Pompeii were crushed by ash due to the fact that the men “never even noticed the ash until it had for the most part covered the children. ‘Hey!’ the men said (in Latin). It’s mighty quiet around here!’” By making fun of his own gender – saying that they’re so oblivious to even deadly amounts of dirt that they don’t notice until someone’s perished – Barry emphasizes his wish for us to laugh good-naturedly at each other and at ourselves. This expressed value influences the essay’s purpose by showing that Barry wants this to be a humorous essay, and it shouldn’t be taken seriously. He included it in order to show the reader that he’s not being serious when he says such things.

Barry’s use of imagery is evident in the section where he describes how the men of Pompeii “never even noticed the ash until it had for the most part covered the children”. This gives the reader a very vivid image of a bunch of children floundering about in ash. This use of imagery influences the essay’s purpose by showing that the content of this essay is meant to be silly – although the thought of children dying is an upsetting one, he presents it in such a way as to make it humorous. He used this rhetoric in order to aid in the effectiveness of his essay, emphasizing how the male perception of ‘filthy’ can be seen as funny.

Tone: Barry exhibits a self-deprecating and tongue-in-cheek attitude about the way in which men and women see and react to various aspects of the world around them in “Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out”. These attitudes are expressed with his use of phrases such as “I ‘clean’ the bathroom, spraying Windex all over everything…” This exacerbates his self-deprecating tone by explaining that, as a man, he doesn’t care about whether or not the bathroom is truly clean, and takes the simple way out by simply dousing the room in cleaning spray. This is also tongue-in-cheek due to the fact that he’s obviously being hyperbolic when saying that he sprayed absolutely everything with Windex, including the “six hundred action figures each sold separately” that are there. It’s not meant to be taken at face value, and is intended to be humorous. This tone greatly serves the purpose of the essay by allowing us all to realize how strange and clashing the behaviors of the sexes are, emphasizing his point that men and women see and react to the world in different ways. The latter point is demonstrated by his explanation of the contrasting reactions of himself and his wife to his son Robert’s bathroom – Barry thinks it’s clean, while his wife believes it to be filthy. This validates my claim by showing that although a man may see one thing and react one way, a women might see something completely different, and react accordingly.