Pattersons Eat Better Than Pigs, But Not Much
In today’s For Better or For Worse, Elly complains about Michael eating like a pig and she commands Michael to slow down. Michael protests that if he slows down for liver & spinach, he will taste it. Personally I like spinach. I am not so fond of liver. However, I understand the basic sense of it. Those are 2 foods traditionally most kids hate. Michael is hungry, but can’t stand the taste of his food; so he has found a way to get around that. Honestly, speed is not a bad method. It’s better than refusing to eat at all.
It reminds me of the story I heard about the man who learned how to survive in a prison situation on bread and water. The prison was dirty and infested with insects. The line was that if you use your bread to surround the cockroaches, they don’t taste nearly so bad. Or, the other story I remember is my grandparents who survived the Great Depression telling me things like, “You can eat dandelions and grass, if you cook them long enough.” So, really this is a story of human survival in many respects.
The easy way to go is to criticize Elly for being hypocritical. We know this from the retrospective of seeing strips from 1979 to 2008 where Lynn Johnston has shown the Patterson family, consistently through the years, as completely disgusting slobs when it comes to eating food. This is 1979, when Lynn Johnston is just starting. Maybe her vision of Elly Patterson, food slob, has not yet been formed.
But look at the strip carefully. When Elly says, “Where are your manners, Michael!”, there is no question mark. Then she does not tell Michael not to drool or slobber or spill his drink on the table or use a knife or use a napkin. She wants him to slow down because he is eating like a pig. In other words, the problem is one of speed, not cleanliness. The pattern is set here at the beginning. A Patterson can eat like a slob, but not a fast slob. Now there’s a lesson for us all.
It reminds me of the story I heard about the man who learned how to survive in a prison situation on bread and water. The prison was dirty and infested with insects. The line was that if you use your bread to surround the cockroaches, they don’t taste nearly so bad. Or, the other story I remember is my grandparents who survived the Great Depression telling me things like, “You can eat dandelions and grass, if you cook them long enough.” So, really this is a story of human survival in many respects.
The easy way to go is to criticize Elly for being hypocritical. We know this from the retrospective of seeing strips from 1979 to 2008 where Lynn Johnston has shown the Patterson family, consistently through the years, as completely disgusting slobs when it comes to eating food. This is 1979, when Lynn Johnston is just starting. Maybe her vision of Elly Patterson, food slob, has not yet been formed.
But look at the strip carefully. When Elly says, “Where are your manners, Michael!”, there is no question mark. Then she does not tell Michael not to drool or slobber or spill his drink on the table or use a knife or use a napkin. She wants him to slow down because he is eating like a pig. In other words, the problem is one of speed, not cleanliness. The pattern is set here at the beginning. A Patterson can eat like a slob, but not a fast slob. Now there’s a lesson for us all.
posted by howard at 9:54 PM
7 Comments:
howard,
In her derense, sh does seem to want him to taste his food because she thinks it's delicious. Beyond that, she doesn't care as long as she's not sitting with them in public.
dreadedcandiru2,
Now there's a thought. I never considered the possibility that Elly would consider liver and spinach to be a delicious meal. It seems like too healthy a meal for her, from our modern-day context of grease burgers, meatloaf and prime rib. And you are quite right that Michael appears to be eating alone without the presence of John or Elly.
howard,
And you are quite right that Michael appears to be eating alone without the presence of John or Elly.
I think her bitterness goes all the way back to when Aaron was small. She seems to have been angry enough at him to make sure he had to eat by himself.
dreadedcandiru2,
This bitterness is certainly reflected in this strip and the meal choice. Liver and spinach is a pretty tough meal for a 5-year-old kid.
Poor kid. I just hope this isn't last night's dinner that Elly witheld for Michael's punishment.
However, knowing how frugal Elly is that is probably the situation.
debjyn,
I just hope this isn't last night's dinner that Elly witheld for Michael's punishment.
It could be. Otherwise, why is a fast-eating boy eating alone?
I disagree that she thinks it's a delicious meal. I think she believes that it is a virtuous meal in the same kind of left-over Victorian attitude my own mother had when serving liver and spinach.
Eating speedily is another virtue issue, but I think in Elly's mind it's totally divorced from the quality or likeability of the food.
You're *supposed* eat liver and like it. You're "supposed" to eat slowly and with manners, however untaught and undefined.
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