Subject: The subject of Dave Barry’s Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is that men and women are completely different from each other. The differences between men and women are illustrated by the stories that he tells about cleaning the bathroom and watching the World Series. In both of these stories, Barry singles out one specific way that males and females differ and explains that difference with a very descriptive and understandable example. In his first story, he focuses on the difference of cleanliness and in the second, he focuses on the subject of sports.
Occasion: Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out was written during the mid to late 1900s. The essay’s time of creation is conveyed when he tells the second story about going to his friend Maddy’s house for an evening. The main point of this story is that he really wanted to be watching a World Series game on the television or listening to it on the radio. For him to be able to do this, a lot of technology would have had to be around at that time, which is how I came to the conclusion that the essay was written in the mid to late 1900s. The probable place of the essay’s creation is somewhere in the United States. As I said before, in the second story he tells, he wants to watch a World Series game. This indicates to me that it was probably written in America, which is where the World Series takes place.
The time and place of the essay’s creation influence the essay by helping the reader understand what men and women were like around that time and in America. Barry writes, “…we could actually feel the World Series television and radio broadcast rays zinging through the air…” This helps us understand what men were like at that time, like how highly they valued sports.
Audience: Dave Barry’s specific audience for Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is adult men and women. The author’s target audience is identified in the entirety of the essay because its main focus is to show the differences between men and women. Adults would be able to identify and relate more to this essay than anyone else would, which is why they are the target audience.
The author’s general audience for the essay is anyone living in America who is a teenager or older and has a sense of humor. The author’s general audience is expressed by the humor he uses in his essay. Barry says, “…I always get letters from women who say they are the heavyweight racquetball champion of some place like Iowa…they could crush my skull like a ripe grape…” Anyone who has a decent sense of humor can easily appreciate the jokes that Barry uses throughout his piece, which is why they are the general audience.
Purpose: Dave Barry’s purpose in Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is to show that men and women have many differences that will always exist. The ever-present differences between men and women is shown when he says, “The primary difference between men and women is that women can see extremely small quantities of dirt.” Barry is directly stating a difference between males and females here, right off the bat, in the first line of the essay. The purpose is further revealed by his continuous contrasting of men and women throughout the essay with different stories. These stories provide relatable examples of how men and women are different which helps convey his purpose.
Speaker: Dave Barry, whom the New York Times has called “the funniest man in America”, believes that men and women are completely different groups of people with opposing characteristics and values. This value is illustrated when Barry is describing the situation that often occurs in his home where his wife wants him to clean the bathroom. He and his wife have completely different views on what clean is, which shows that he thinks men and women are very different and do not have very similar personalities.
Dave Barry, who worked as a journalist for five years, also believes that, despite the differences between men and women, positive interaction between the two groups is enjoyable and positive. When Barry is talking about his friend Maddy inviting him, his wife, and others over for an evening, he says that would be fine, if only there wasn’t a World Series game on television. This shows how, had there not been a game on, he would have been happy to spend a nice evening with both sexes.
Dave Barry’s use of allusion is evident when he talks about Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart. The author’s use of this allusion to Poe’s work gives an example from another work of literature that much of his audience has most likely read to help readers better understand the point he is trying to get across, which is how much he wants to watch the World Series.
Tone: Dave Barry exhibits a humorous and playful attitude about the differences between men and women in Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out. These attitudes are expressed by the use of words and phrases like “crush my skull like a ripe grape”, “I think about this bar where I used to hang out”, and “moving very quickly for a big man holding a baby”. These tone words express the humor and playfulness of the piece because they are jokes and exaggerations that are evident parts of his humor. The tone serves the purpose of the essay, which is to tell the differences between men and women, because the differences are a fact of life and many people have come to associate them with humor, which is what Barry did in this piece.
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