Rhetorical Analysis On 'From Here On, Let Women Kill Their Own Spiders'

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The world enjoys pigeonholing both men and women. It can be exhausting living in our judgmental society, where there is an expectation for each gender to fit into a rigid box of stereotypes. That is why, when Dave Barry is given the negative stereotypical question, “‘Why do men open a drawer and say, ‘Where is the spatula?’ Instead of, you know, looking for it?’” (1), he goes into a ranting frenzy. Barry responds and challenges this negative question in his column, on February 4, 1999, by writing the essay, “From here on, let women kill their own spiders”. Dave Barry utilizes the rhetorical devices of sarcasm, anaphora, and hyperbole to prove that is is pointless and ludicrous to create platitudes and stereotypes about each gender. First …show more content…

Anaphora is a style of writing where the author deliberately repeats the first phrase in a sentence to create an artistic effect (Anaphora). The major phrase repeated in the essay is, “I could ” (Barry 1). Barry says, “Now, I COULD respond to this stereotype in a snide manner by making generalizations about women” (1). After stating this, he then goes ahead and makes snide generalizations anyway. When Barry expresses each snide stereotype, he starts his sentence off with “I could” (1), in order to make his points seem less hostile. The way he utilizes anaphora only magnifies Barry’s sarcastic tone. Another example of Barry utilizing anaphora, is when he says, “ I could point out that, to judge from the covers of countless women’s magazines, the two topics most interesting to women are (1) Why men are all disgusting pigs, and (2) How to attract men” (1). Again he starts his sentence off by saying he could do something, followed by the execution of him actually doing it. It is quite the sarcastic …show more content…

As mentioned before, Dave Barry is given a rigid stereotypical question about men not being able to find the spatula. After the question, he elaborates on it by saying, “Many women believe that if you want to hide something from a man, all you have to do is put it in plain sight in the refrigerator, and he will never, ever find it…”(1). Then Barry goes on a sarcastic ranting spree to iterate the farcical effect of stereotypes in society. Toward the end of the essay, Barry gives his own solution to the problem. At the close of his essay, Barry says, “I’m just saying that there ARE solutions out there, and if, instead of harping endlessly about spatulas, we allow guys to use their mental talents to look for these solutions, in time, they will find them. Unless they are in the refrigerator” (2). Barry’s organization ties it all together when he delivers the punch line at the end of his

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