Vocabulary

evidence

a survey

to play house

a ceremony

to tend

to file (a divorce)

Discussion

1. Ann Landers refers directly to the parents' moral argument by making an undefined distinction between "shacking up" and "being married." Her main argument, however, is based on statistical information which challenges the "sensible" viewpoint of the girl. Do you think this is the answer she expected or hoped for? Has Ann Landers tried "to see all sides of this question and answer it honestly"?

2. What attitudes does Ann Landers reveal by using an image of childhood behavior: "play house before the ceremony"?

Situation 5.

Housework IS Work

Dear Ann Landers,

We have three children, eight, seven, and five years of age. I am busy cleaning, cooking, baking, marketing, doing the laundry, mending, canning, taking care of the yard, and keeping two cars washed and waxed. I drive the kids to Sunday school, piano lessons, dental appointments, etc.

I am not complaining, Ann. I actually enjoy my life, but my husband is making me miserable with his insistence that I go out and get a job. He keeps yelling, "Everybody's wife is working but you!"

Do I have to get pregnant again so he'll let me stay home? Please tell me if I am "not up on the latest," as my husband insists. I feel awfully inadequate.

Lima, Ohio Problem

Vocabulary

marketing

the laundry

mending

canning

waxed

dental appointments

to complain

miserable

insistence

pregnant

to be up on the latest

inadequate

Factual questions

1. How many children does this woman have? How old are they?

2. Name some of the things she has to do as a housewife.

3. Does she like doing these things?

4. What does her husband want her to do? Why? Do they need

the extra money?

5. Is she pregnant again?

6. Why does she feel "awfully inadequate"?

Cultural note

Is the husband exaggerating when he says that "everybody's wife is working"? Find out how many women in the United States held some kind of job outside the home in 1980.

Language use

"Everybody's wife is working but you" is a generalization. This is a common technique of argument. To generalize means to form an opinion on the basis of only a few facts. The husband has not actually counted the number of wives working. He simply generalizes from a small number of cases that he knows about.

Here are some common generalizations you may hear. How true do you think each one really is?

Women are the world's worst drivers.

There's no fool like an old fool.

The French are great lovers.

There are more beautiful girls in Texas than in any other state.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Discussion

1. Do you think it is a good idea for a mother of three children—5, 7, and 8—to work outside of the home?

2. Child-care centers are increasingly common in the United States. These are places in the local community where pre-school children can be taken care of while the mother is working. Are child-care centers necessary, or available, in your country?

3. In your country are wives expected or allowed to work? Does a husband feel embarrassed or ashamed if his wife has a paying job outside the home? Does a wife feel embarrassed or ashamed if she as well as her husband works?

Writing

Write a letter, as if you here Ann Landers, in which you state your opinion about the problem from Lima, Ohio.

From the desk of Ann Landers

Dear Lima,

Apparently it's your husband who is "not up on the latest." Tell him that Lincoln freed the slaves in 1861.

The way I figure it, your husband would have had to shell out $50,000 a year if he had to pay for the services you are performing. Tell Mr. Money-Hungry that Ann Landers says he's in a semi-conscious state, and I hope he'll put a rubber band around his head and snap out of it.