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Rhetorical Analysis Of Lost In The Kitchen By Dave Barry

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Rhetorical Analysis Of Lost In The Kitchen By Dave Barry
A Rhetorical Analysis of "Lost in the Kitchen" Well known essayist, Dave Barry, in his essay "Lost in the Kitchen" discusses the stereotype that women take more responsibility than men, and men are worthless when it comes to helping out. Barry's purpose is to expose and bring attention to these gender roles. Barry uses the rhetorical and satirical strategies such as exaggeration, irony, and simile in order to address the purpose of his essay. "Lost in the Kitchen" by Dave Barry is a satirical essay that exposes gender roles and society's norms. Barry uses the satirical device exaggeration to demonstrate this purpose. For example, in paragraph four, Barry writes "Surrounding Arlene are thousands of steaming cooking containers. I would no …show more content…
Barry uses this strategy in paragraph two, when he writes "Most men make themselves as useful around in the kitchen as ill-trained Labrador retrievers." In this quote, Barry compares men in the kitchen to untrained dogs. Barry uses this simile to address the purpose by applying it as evidence that men are clueless in the kitchen and that needs to be changed. Barry also uses simile in paragraph seven when he writes "I think most males rarely prepare food for others, and when they do...they expect to be praised as if they had developed, right there in the kitchen, a cure for heart disease." Dave Barry compares the concept of men cooking food for others to developing a cure for an incurable disease. Barry uses this rhetorical element to illustrate that men expect to be awarded as if they have accomplished something big. This emphasizes the wrongs in gender roles because when women cook for others they don't expect an honoring reward. The third device Dave Barry uses in his essay, "Lost in the Kitchen" is irony. In the ninth paragraph, Dave Barry writes "This seems pretty accurate to me, so I thought I'd just tack it on to the end here, while she makes waffles." This quote uses irony because you expect Dave Barry to help his wife make the waffles after writing a whole essay on how men are scum in the kitchen, but he doesn't. This use of irony develops the purpose of the essay as it exposes the

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