http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-post-gender-normative-man-tries-to-pick-up-a-woman-at-a-bar
Diction
Eisenberg's diction is perhaps the most noticeable aspect of this piece. In order to emphasize the humor of the piece and the speaker's complete lack of game. The speaker's tone is overly formal, mentioning the "proverbial man" instead of simply "The Man", or worrying that he would be perpetuating out dated gender roles by offering to buy the object of his affections a drink. He is uncomfortable and awkward in his speech, not allowing the girl to respond, and further isolates himself by mentioning dull politically correct conversation pieces such as the election of the first female african head of state.
Details
Eisenberg includes several details for humorous effect in this piece. The speaker mentions that his name Terri, a gender neutral name, with a heart over the eye. The heart is not simply for decorative purposes though, but instead says that he has a (figurative) heart, which he is not afraid to wear on his sleeve. When rejected by the girl at the bar, the speaker cheerily says that he will probably end up sobbing in a bathroom stall while texting his mother. These details paint a picture of an effeminate*, desperately cheerful, but hapless, bitterly lonely man who just wants somebody to love him like his mother does.
Language
The language of this piece serves to emphasize the over educated and self-aware friendliness of the speaker. The opening lines "Hey, hows it going? Mind if i sidle up?" illustrate the over eager, desperate to please nature of the speaker, which becomes abundantly clear when he follows them by letting the woman know that he admires her self sustainability and that the current trend of salary equability in the work place is "important and compelling". There is a dichotomy throughout the piece between the speakers aggressively "post gender normative" academic rhetoric and his friendly small talk like asking what she does, or if she would buy him a drink. This is for humorous effect, as we watch a highly self conscious man try to be debonair and pick up a woman from a bar, all while remaining gender neutral.
Well... that was quite an interesting article to read. It's not something I've seen on a day to day basis. Anyways, I liked your analysis on the diction, especially the commentary on the formality of the tone in this article. It sure did make the article more interesting! The analysis on the details was interesting as well, those details are very picky! I hadn't even realized the meaning of those words in the article until you pointed it out! The language is also well written, but I felt like it was quite similar to your analysis on diction. The "over educated and self-aware friendliness of the speaker" that you speak of reminds me of the formal tone you mentioned in the diction section.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
Erin
Hey Nico! I think you did a good job analyzing this article. When you talked about the language the author uses to convey the point, it definitely helped me understand better what you thought about the story. You go into lots of detail about how these effects are used to convey the authors point, and I think if you focused a little more about how these things actually help with the meaning, then you'd be all set! Also, I think it might be a good idea to write the next close reading response in an essay format to practice better. Overall, nice job!
ReplyDelete- Nikki
Hiii Nico! Okay, leave it to you to find such a funny piece like that. Nice choice haha. You also did a great job of analyzing it and finding details, diction, and language. I thought that the details paragraph, however, also could go along with imagery. When the author says he will probably end up crying in the bathroom texting his mother, all I could think of was a poor, awkward, middle aged man sitting there in the bathroom complaining to his mother over the phone. The whole piece just gave me the visual of this unattractive, middle aged man being rejected at a bar by some young pretty woman. You also chose some great quotes to support your ideas, especially in your language paragraph. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteKelly