Dave Barry Lost In The Kitchen

Dave Barry: Lost in the Kitchen Lost in the Kitchen by Dave Barry is a modern social commentary on where gender roles are at right now. The main piece of this essay is a personal anecdote that takes place on a Thanksgiving Day where the women are stereotypically cooking in the kitchen whereas the men are told to simply “keep an eye on the children” (Barry). The synopsis of the story is that the men watch football and forget to watch the children while the wives cook Thanksgiving dinner .Dave uses hyperbole, irony and comic effect throughout the essay to add a feeling of lightheartedness to it as well as to send his message across. The purpose of this essay was to poke fun at today’s society in where women are supposed to cook while men are supposed to “take care of the cars” (Barry).
One of the strong antidotes that he uses was when he described walking past cars at dark intersections, and the drivers, no matter the race, would see that he was black and immediately lock their doors (Staples). Brent also goes into detail how he would lose love ones to crime, whether it be they are sent to prison or killed as victim. He goes on to state that because of this, he “remained a shadow-timid, but a survivor” (Staples). Experiences such as this provide the reader with a perspective that helps them understand his point of view, thus making his testimony and account even more powerful. They show that although Staples is a timid and harmless person, society sees him as a menacing predator. Brent’s purpose for writing this passage was to show how people can be quick to judge based off stereotypes. He was extremely successful in showing this with his many accounts and experiences along with a style that shows scenarios that convey how he is easily misjudged. As a person of color, this story was accurate, relatable and well