"Mrs. Adolphus Smith": The Use of Stereotype

The one thing that got my attention in this piece was the authors clever use of common stereotypes. The father is of course depicted as inept at childrearing and management of anything besides his own paperwork. He is obviously opposed to his wife taking time out of her duties to write. This might be based on the old idea that women should not indulge in intellectual pursuits, because they might get ideas. With ideas come power and with power comes change which is the last thing that the patriarchy would want. However, this does not mean that the author has painted women to be this pious, holy, can do no wrong creatures. The wife in this case really does seem like she has a temper on her, and the description of barely helping when one of her twins chocked on a button kind of hit a nerve with me; even though this piece is supposed to be more humorous. While I did find it rather amusing, that does not mean that I did not see what the author was trying to say, which to me was basically making fun of stereotypes of both genders.