Reading Response-Week #4 Part 1

Reading Response-Week #4:
Part 1: Question 6 Page 840

Lesson learned on this one. Be sure you delete the correct draft on your blog!

Roz Chast’s cartoon Men are from Belgium, Women are from New Brunswick is pointing to the fact that men and women communicate-by not communicating. She is able to do this both with her written statements and her pictures. She does this by having one side saying what the person speaks, and the other side saying what the person is really thinking. The first frame shows the man happily biting into his dinner and asking his wife if the meal was meatloaf-but what he really meant was that he couldn’t tell if it was meatloaf by the taste. The woman responds with a positive of course it is dear which really meant do you have a problem with my food? As you go through the frames you can see the pattern of each person saying something or asking something but not really meaning what they say or ask. Such as the part where he tells her it is delicious when he truly can’t stand the taste. They are both so diplomatic in their conversations-even though they don’t feel that way. The part where he asks if she used a recipe and what he truly means are right on. The food was horrible, and tastes like she threw everything in the kitchen-sink into the meatloaf. But he won’t say that. And she of course responds with a “I was feeling creative…” comment when in fact she wants to tell him so-what if it isn’t the same as always-so what if it tastes different-just eat the darn thing! The kicker is when he tells her next time don’t be shy about using a recipe-because in truth the thing was totally inedible. Her response is great-“Okeydokey” but then the other frame has her thinking he is a social outcast and dimwit and needs professional help.

I have to agree with her on this because many times people do make nice and don’t say what they really mean-whether it is because they don’t want to hurt that persons feelings or they don’t want to have a confrontation. Commendable, but think of how much less confusing our lives would be.

I too have had creative dinner nights and pretty much get the same responses from my family. Of course I will never admit to them that I think the meal is yucky myself!

So men and women communicate by not communicating. Just think how much better our lives might be if we all just tell it how we see it-with diplomacy and discretion of course.