English
Analysis Essay
In the essay “Sex, Lies, and Conversation” Deborah Tannen finds that it is difficult to communicate with men when in a relationship. She suggests that men are more talkative when in public, but when at home the women has to make the conversation. This is caused by a difference in gender, body language, and reaction. Tannen explains cultural differences between men and women when having a conversation. Is failure to communicate between sexes result in divorce divorces? She says that fifty percent of divorces are mainly caused by couples failing to communicate. She links these reasons into why there is so much divorce. She talks about how different each gender is backing it up with data or just her personal experience. At the end of the essay she states how things can change and if we realized that men and women communicate differently we could fix it.
Tannen uses work of Elenor Maccoby to show the reader the differences of what communication means to each gender. For instances, she tells us that females believe that talking is part of bonding, while males believe in bonding through doing things together. She uses an example of a couple, when a female asked her boyfriend to talk, the boyfriend laid on the floor with his arms over his face. The girlfriend thought he was being rude and not listening when in fact he was trying to not get distracted by anything. I thought this was a good example because it was real and almost touching. In the essay, she talks about how the reaction of both genders is very different. She used linguist Lynette Hirschman work to show that women make noises during conversation to reassure the other person that they are listening. Men merely just want silent attention and to point out the other side of the argument while women want the
White 3
support of the conversation. She uses many different sets of data and personal encounters to support her argument. They all were relevant and on point
In the essay “Sex, Lies, and Conversation” Deborah Tannen finds that it is difficult to communicate with men when in a relationship. She suggests that men are more talkative when in public, but when at home the women has to make the conversation. This is caused by a difference in gender, body language, and reaction. Tannen explains cultural differences between men and women when having a conversation. Is failure to communicate between sexes result in divorce divorces? She says that fifty percent of divorces are mainly caused by couples failing to communicate. She links these reasons into why there is so much divorce. She talks about how different each gender is backing it up with data or just her personal experience. At the end of the essay she states how things can change and if we realized that men and women communicate differently we could fix it.
Tannen uses work of Elenor Maccoby to show the reader the differences of what communication means to each gender. For instances, she tells us that females believe that talking is part of bonding, while males believe in bonding through doing things together. She uses an example of a couple, when a female asked her boyfriend to talk, the boyfriend laid on the floor with his arms over his face. The girlfriend thought he was being rude and not listening when in fact he was trying to not get distracted by anything. I thought this was a good example because it was real and almost touching. In the essay, she talks about how the reaction of both genders is very different. She used linguist Lynette Hirschman work to show that women make noises during conversation to reassure the other person that they are listening. Men merely just want silent attention and to point out the other side of the argument while women want the
White 3
support of the conversation. She uses many different sets of data and personal encounters to support her argument. They all were relevant and on point