The subject of Dave Barry’s “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” is that men and women have different views on different topics. Different views are illustrated by women seeing clean differently than men, and men viewing the point in sports differently than women. Barry says that “women can see extremely small quantities of dirt… at the level of molecules, whereas men don’t generally notice [dirt] until forms clumps large enough to support agriculture. This shows that the author believe that women have a magical ability to see dirt before it can be noticed by men. Then, the author goes to on to say, in sports “men tend to feel very sensitive and women tend to be extremely callous.” He does however say that there are some women who are an exception. Barry goes on to explain this statement by mentioning when his friend, Maddy, invited him, his wife, and a few other people to her house during a World Series game. The men could not stand missing the game, thought up little reasons to leave and watched the game in another room. The women continued to talk about human relations. This example shows how men are “sensitive” to sport and women are “callous.”
“Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” was written in the late 1900s. This essay’s time of creation is illustrated by the large importance of the World Series to Barry. I believe that the importance of the World Series helps to show the time period because in the late 1900s baseball was a large part of the American culture. Now in 2011, football and basketball seem to be more important to the American sports society. The probable place of the essay’s creation is Miami, because that is where the author lives.
The time and place of the essay’s creation influences the essay by creating the importance of the baseball and the World Series. I believe that this article would not be a strong as it is if the author could not complain about Maddy having a get together during a world series.
Dave Barry’s specific audience for “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” is likely married women and possibly men. The author’s target audience is identified with the examples. When Barry says that women don’t understand sports and mentions the get together, he is showing women how men actually care about sports greatly. He also, in a way, insults women on being picky on what dirty is. Barry has the view that women are overly concerned about cleanness.
Dave Barry’s purpose in “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out” is to show women men’s view on different topics. Barry show’s this to women by saying, “the primary difference between men and women is that women can see extremely small quantities of dirt.” This shows how men don’t exactly view, or literally see, everything in the same way as women do.
Dave Barry, called the “funniest man in America” by New York Times believes that women are more nit-picky then men. This value is illustrated by the fact that he thinks women can see dirt the size of molecules. This proves that women are more nit-picky because it shows how women believe that everything has to be nice and clean. This helps to influence the author’s purpose because women may not believe they are nit-picky, while men may think they are.
Dave Barry, who graduated from Haverford College in 1969, also believes that men care more about sports. This value is illustrated by his disbelief that Maddy scheduled the event on the same day as the World Series. The way Barry speaks about Maddy scheduling an event “during the World Series,” shows disbelief because he had during the World Series in italics, which almost makes it seem as if he I yelling. This value helps to influence the essay’s purpose because it demonstrates the different sex’s different views on sports.
Dave Barry articulates a humorous and sarcastic attitude about the different views of women and men in “Batting Clean-up and Striking Out.” These attitudes are expressed by words in italics, the humorous example of men in Pompeii not noticing ash until it had completely covered the children, and women being able to see molecules. Women really can’t see molecules, and the men or Pompeii could probably see the ash before it covered their children. These two examples show sarcasm. Then, placing words in italics gives an “oh, really?” feeling to the essay. These tones help to show how exasperated Barry is with some of women views, and actions. Dave says, “I’ll go into Robert’s bathroom, and it always looks perfectly fine.” This usage of italics emphasizes how Barry believes that the bathroom looks “perfectly fine”, and that his wife is seeing molecules of dirt.
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