Tips for Women: How to Have a Relationship with a Guy

            Today’s reading by Barry I can only describe as hilarious. Literally, I was laughing out loud. Some of the stories in this book I have not necessarily found entertaining, in part because they haven’t been relatable. Many of them were written a while ago, and I’m sure they were extremely funny then, but seem to have lost some of their luster over time. However, Barry’s piece Tips for Women: How to Have a Relationship with a Guy was extremely relatable, in fact, embarrassingly so.

           

            Just yesterday I had about a three hour conversation with my best friend about whether or not the guy she is interested in likes her back because it’s been a month since they started dating and he hasn’t told her he likes her yet. This conversation being fresh in my mind only made the reading that much more enjoyable.

Barry does an excellent job of mocking both males and females in relationships, and frankly just makes both genders look downright stupid. He does this by portraying males as increasingly slow, stupid, and oblivious and depicting females as overly analytical and emotional. His juxtaposition of the two, in my opinion, is spot on.

            Barry creates the humor in this writing mostly through hyperbole, understatement, and of course, cognitive shifts. His first line begins with, “Contrary to what many women believe, it’s fairly easy to develop a long-term, stable, intimate, and mutually fulfilling relationship with a guy. Of course this guy has to be a Labrador retriever” (Barry 323). He then goes on to explain how mens’ and womens’ minds simply aren’t even on the same planet- forget about wavelengths.  He illustrates this perfectly with his Elaine and Roger example. It begins with Elaine making a remark about how long they have been dating. She then proceeds to over-analyze her comment extensively, thinking that Roger is hurt by her words (and thereby making the mistake in thinking he is actually giving more than 3 seconds thought to the matter). Roger is (of course) thinking about his car and completely unaware of the mental torture Elaine is going through.

            Obviously there is much exaggeration in this story. But that exaggeration serves to highlight the truth and reliability of what Barry is talking about. Yes, women are crazy and often turn into psychopaths in relationships. And yes, men are extremely unaware and afraid of commitment. But reading about it in this particular way is amusing, not offensive (at least it wasn’t to me) and makes you think twice about the way you personally conduct yourself in a relationship.

           

            I actually think this story might be something I would read in a magazine for pleasure. Truth be told, I’m thinking about showing it to my best friend, just for kicks.