Part 3 - Analyzing "How to Pay for a Baby"

The article “How to Pay for a Baby” by Kool A.D. uses lots of slang and expletives in order to disguise itself as a lousy advice article on how to handle to the financial aspect of having children, when in reality it is an entertaining, and sophisticated criticism of American capitalism. The article starts with the phrase “I’mma keep it 100 with y’all,”. Already a use of slang, and diction that you would not expect from an article with this title. So, with this we start to assume that this is simply a crappy article. While the author has us in this state of mind, he slips a little clue into the second sentence as to what the real purpose of the article is, testing whether you’re paying attention. Speaking about how costly babies are as they grow up, he mentions their “susceptibilities to advertising tactics” therefore becoming more expensive. Now, in the second paragraph, there is evidence of entertainment as A.D. says “most likely you’re bad at planning ahead and thinking things through,” if you’ve had a baby. If this was a serious article, then the author wouldn’t make fun of the situation that he is trying to help parents with. The turning point of this article is also in the second paragraph, where he calls money “wild fake”, justifying this with the statement “I hand you these worthless tiny pieces of paper, and I can walk out your store with hella items? You must be out your damn mind.” He continues this criticism, with statements like “you need money to even live indoors,” going into detail of how ridiculous that is in the following two paragraphs, and calling a baby registry “a sideways a** way of begging friends and relatives to buy stuff for your kid.” Now, after such detailed and sophisticated criticisms of capitalism, he shifts back towards what the article is supposed to be about, advising you what toys to buy in the following two paragraphs. The final paragraph tries to tie the article together, whilst also attempting to solidify the barrier between the original expectation of it’s purpose, and the real one, continuing with the bad advice. The presumable reaction after the first read is “What the hell was that,” forcing the reader to go through it again, hopefully uncovering what the article is really about.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Part 1 - Bio

Hi, my name is T ómas Egilsson, and welcome to my blog. I am 16 years old, from Seltjarnarnes, Iceland,  and study at Raha International School. I have few strong interests, and lots of milder ones. I´ll only focus on the main ones today. I am a huge Liverpool fan, and follow football and the English Premier League religiously. I rarely ever miss a match, unless I simply don ’t have time. I was able to go to Anfield, for a Liverpool vs Stoke match, which we won (notice the use of “we” when speaking about Liverpool) 4-1. Other than football, I enjoy films quite a bit. My personal project was a collection of 24 film reviews all packed into one big book. Comedies are my favorite genre, closely followed by a good thriller. I play a lot of video games (but that’ll most likely change with DP), and I will beat you at FIFA. As years have gone by, I have learned about the importance of family. My 27-year old brother is my best friend (Sorry Rainier and Madhav) and every year I become clos
Read more

Okonkwo Character Analysis

What is the significance of Okonkwo’s character? What does he represent or is symbolic of? He is symbolic of everything that the Umuofian society stands for. He is materialistic, and loves being successful. He aspires to reach to top ranks of his society, and is determined to achieve his goals. He is hard working, strong, and brave, everything that a man should be in his society. He does not follow in the footsteps of his father but rather deviates from him and will do anything to not end up like him. His society does not believe in a man that benefits from his own father's success but rather must build his own success. He is significant in that he is considered important within his society. He is well known and someone that the young men of Umuofia should aspire to be like. However, he is also human. He deals with a lot of internal conflict, mainly centered around the fact that he will do anything to not be like his father which has it's downsides. His father was a very lo
Read more

In what ways could Wallace's theory be applicable to Their Eyes Were Watching God?

David Foster Wallace's 'This is Water' and Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' are at times quite similar. The default setting that Wallace describes in 'This is Water' is similar to the way Hurston describes Janie's emotion while she is married to Joe. She is forced to stay at home or at the shop, while Joe is working as mayor of Eatonville. While there is no mention of routine, Hurston does describe Janie feeling like she does not know where the last twenty years went, which is similar to the automatic or default setting that Wallace describes in his text. And you can assume that a contributing factor to this feeling, would be the fact that every day Janie is doing the same thing. When you are stuck in a constant routine, your grasp of time tends to get weaker and weaker the longer it goes on for. In terms of empathy and emotional intelligence, at times it is quite difficult to empathize with characters in Their Eyes Were Watching
Read more