Battling Clean Up and Striking Out

Subject

                The subject of Dave Barry’s Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is the division between what men and women consider priorities and what they value. The division is demonstrated through various anecdotes, including one about the writer not being able to see the dirt that his wife can see clearly and another about his wife's inability to appreciate the World Series. The use of these anecdotes allows the reader to compare the differing views between the two sexes concerning various issues. The first expresses what the author believes is a priority for women (cleaning), and the second illustrates that men tend to value sports in a much higher regard than women do.

Occasion

Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out was written in 1988. The setting is shown most explicitly through the introductory paragraph, but regardless, one can assemble a general idea of when and where it takes place through clues from the text. For example, details about the World Series and how enthusiastic the men were over the event indicates that this probably did not occur very recently. The reason is that the World Series is a major baseball event, but within the past decade, baseball has waned in its degree of national popularity and become less important through the years. Thus, judging by the level of excitement amongst the men for the World Series, the reader can guess that this takes place at least two to three decades ago.


The probable place of the essay’s creation is in Barry’s home in Florida. Barry's central focus in writing this essay concerns the antics of his own family, and judging by the fact that Barry writes for The Miami Herald, we can guess that he lives there and is writing from this location.

Audience

                Dave Barry’s specific audience for Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is middle-aged married adults. The type of humor he uses is most easily identified with this age group, as he focuses on the peculiarities of the family and the marriage relationship. This topic would be unfamiliar to the younger generation, but to those who have already lived through it, they could identify with it more easily and find more humor in it.

Purpose

Barry's purpose in writing Battling Clean Up and Striking-Out is primarily to entertain. Phrases like “babies of both sexes have a very low awareness of dirt, others than to think it tastes better than food" instill a light-hearted atmosphere that lets the reader know the article is not intended to be serious, but comical.

Speaker

                Dave Barry, a writer who specialized in writing comedy columns for The Miami Herald, believes that some inherent differences between men and women are irreconcilable. This belief is exemplified through the ending, where the women end up sitting at the table discussing "human relationships or something" while the men end up in the other room watching the World Series. Symbolically, the two sexes were unable to come together and ignore the fundamental differences that make them, essentially, man and woman. Presumably, Barry is trying to illustrate here that sometimes men just want to be men and women just want to be women.

Dave Berry, a married man, also recognizes that although his wife and him might have some very sharp differences in the ways they perceive situations, it does not create any sort of disharmony or frustration between the two. The men and women doing separate things is not something Barry complains about, nor does he give any indication that it has caused his wife problems. Instead, Barry seems to believe that this is the natural harmony of things and most relationships are characterized by a certain level of gender dissonance.

Tone

                David Barry shows a comical and sarcastic attitude about men and women’s difference in viewpoint toward certain subjects in Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out. These attitudes are expressed through the use of exaggerated hyperboles, such as the joke about the fall of Pompeii and the cause of it being unseen levels of dust. His tone is effective in the essay because it allows him to get across a point that might be considered offensive by some, but when put in a comical context is more socially culturally acceptable.