Argumentative Essay On Paired Reading Argument Essay

People are used to putting tags on other people, like “sloppy” and “neat”, and applying concepts on one another based on gender roles. For example, a woman’s role is to be a good housekeeper, while a man will observe details in a house only when it is absolutely necessary. Those characterizations and gender roles usually go with an approved behavior. Sloppy people are usually careless and women clean the house. Neat people are well organized and men could die for a beverage at hand while watching the World Series. However, if one attempts to scratch the surface and see beneath, they will realize that there is much more than meets the eye.
Neat People vs. Sloppy People, by Suzanne Britt actually turns around and proves wrong everything a common mind would think and imagine about sloppy and neat people. People normally think of neat people as better organized people that know what they want and how. Sloppy people, on the other hand, are considered clumsy and disorganized. However, Britt uses examples throughout her piece to demonstrate how insensitive neat people are, when compared to the sloppy ones. She starts with a rather humorous approach to sloppiness, when she says that sloppy people “carry in their mind’s eye a heavenly vision, a precise plan that is so stupendous, so perfect, it can’t be achieved in this world or the next” (Britt, 2010 p.650), which confuses the reader at first. However, as the narrative unfolds anyone can understand Britt’s point of view: neat people would throw anything they perceive as obstacle or a nuisance in their life, without a second though, while sloppy people would think twice before throwing something or sending the kids away to clean up the house. So, neat people are distinguished by a kind of immorality, as opposed to sloppy –sensitive and caring- people. It becomes obvious that it is all a matter of different priorities within two distinguishing groups of people.
Dave Barry’s Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is a humorous and witty narrative on how men perceive life, as opposed to a woman’s mindset. It seems that men and women do not share the same priorities in life and what something is important to one, it is hard -almost impossible, one can say- for the other one to understand and bear. The particular passage revolves around women’s passion to have a spotless house –probably as passed on to them by former generations, like their mothers- and how men prefer to enjoy other things in life, such as the World Series and doing some chores around the house when they can see absolute necessity for it, meaning piles of dust around them. It seems to be a never ending battle of worldviews that no gender will probably manage to give a thumbs up to the other. Barry uses humor throughout the piece, as a means to create a lively mood and engage readers to his core meaning: that of the gender contrast, when it comes to how they discern life.
If one tries to go even deeper than the apparent, more things would come to light. For example, in Britt’s piece, there is much more than just comparing and contrasting neat people vs. sloppy people, as there emerge deeper messages. People tend to call another individual “sloppy”, with sloppiness as a negative in mind, when in fact sloppy people are the ones that have understood the real meaning of life. They won’t put anything over their kids, nor would they throw away anything that reminds them of precious moments of the past. Sloppy ones cherish their background and create a new future for their off springs to live in, where life is lived at its fullest, rather than “expensive little single portions” (Britt, 2010 p. 652). Perhaps it is them –the sloppy ones- that have understood that the most expensive in life is life itself and that there is nothing more precious and important than living it, in its every moment. Britt’s writing piece is a fine demonstrator of what people should feel as a priority in their lives. There is nothing more valuable than the little moments of happiness one can find when, for example, having their children around, while they are still kids. Concluding, if a dish drainer is full of mold, there is always a cleaner to make it as good as new. Meaning, even when things go bad, there is always the chance to make it right.
In Barry’s piece, underneath the phenomenal contrast and humorous depiction of the two different worldviews, the writer actually wants to demonstrate hos differently women and men are raised. He mentions in his piece that “Babies of both sexes have a very low awareness of dirt, other than to think it tastes better than food” (Barry, 1988 p.221). Looking behind the words, one can see that Barry actually talks about the proper gender roles expected by societies. Meaning, if babies of both sexes care for nothing more than how to feed their hunger, hence their primitive needs, it become obvious that someone made females care so much about having and keeping a house perfectly cleaned, while males care for completely different things, like sports. Maybe the primary difference between men and women is not the fact that women are more passionate about having their house clean and talking about human relationships, when men find pleasure in watching sports and other manly activities. Perhaps it all lies within the sphere of how both sexes have been nourished. One can see the world and focus on things that they have been shown to them, and somewhere on the way, people realize the truthiness of what they have been told as important. However, this is a long and painful process, which is why most prefer to stick to their role and live a life that is either full of dust that needs to be de-dusted, or a soccer game that has no end.
All in all, it becomes evident that people are not always as others think they are. Although it is true that most women are passionate about having their household clean and that men prefer the World Series over an in-depth conversation about human relationships, females and males simply apply their roles as passed on to them from former generations. Their differences are due to the different way they have been raised. Finally, one could be amazed to find out that a sloppy person is far more sensitive and considerate compared to a neat one, who rather pursuit to have a spotless and well organized life rather than enjoy everyday pleasures in “large and inexpensive” portions!
Works CitedBarry, Dave (1988). “Dave Barry's Greatest Hits”. Ballantine Books: Ney York. ISBN 0-345-41999-5. Print. Oct. 8, 2013.
Britt, Suzanne “Neat People vs. Sloppy People “, as listed in Scully, Sandra & Scully, John (2010). “The Writer's Workplace: Building College Writing Skills: Seventh Edition”. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. ISBN-10: 1-439-08210-3. Print. Oct. 8, 2013.