So Tell Me…
So tell me… how it that a mom would let her 6-year-old son in the bath with the water running, when she knows he has never shown any aptitude with turning the water off? It’s been awhile since my kids were 6, but I have a pretty clear recollection of monitoring the water and the water level with my kids when they were in the bathtub by themselves pretty carefully. Let me get past that particular point to move on.
What Elly Patterson is struggling with is her understanding of her child’s capability. I know from time-to-time I will give my children something to do, which I know in advance will push them to accomplish it. For example, just today, we were loading up the back of our van and I asked my son to put the dolly in the back by himself. He’s stronger than he used to be and I thought he might be just big enough to handle it. He then promptly dropped the dolly on his foot, leaving a lovely bruise, and me shaking my head thinking, “What was I thinking? That dolly is way too heavy for him to handle. I was stupid to suggest it.”
I can understand Elly Patterson from that perspective. She thinks that if Michael can build space modules and crush pop cans, he should be able to turn off a water faucet. Yet, he can’t. It doesn’t appear to be a case where Michael is pretending to be weak to get attention from his mother. He seems to be genuinely asking for help to do something he can’t do. At this point, Lynn Johnston could have accomplished the same type of humour without making Elly appear like an idiot. Elly could think, “I guess that just because he can build intergalactic space modules and crush pop cans with his bare hands, doesn’t mean he doesn’t need his mom anymore.” It’s a similar kind of joke, but Elly comes off as understanding, and the strip might be slightly amusing. In today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse, Elly comes off as a woman who suspects her son is lying to her about what he can do, as she sits in her chair with an utterly downcast look on her face. Like many of the early strips, Elly makes a bad parenting move, and the punch line has to be about her poor decisions and why she made them. That was Lynn’s style in a lot of the early strips. The difference this time is that Lynn does not have Elly admit her error and feel guilt about it.
What Elly Patterson is struggling with is her understanding of her child’s capability. I know from time-to-time I will give my children something to do, which I know in advance will push them to accomplish it. For example, just today, we were loading up the back of our van and I asked my son to put the dolly in the back by himself. He’s stronger than he used to be and I thought he might be just big enough to handle it. He then promptly dropped the dolly on his foot, leaving a lovely bruise, and me shaking my head thinking, “What was I thinking? That dolly is way too heavy for him to handle. I was stupid to suggest it.”
I can understand Elly Patterson from that perspective. She thinks that if Michael can build space modules and crush pop cans, he should be able to turn off a water faucet. Yet, he can’t. It doesn’t appear to be a case where Michael is pretending to be weak to get attention from his mother. He seems to be genuinely asking for help to do something he can’t do. At this point, Lynn Johnston could have accomplished the same type of humour without making Elly appear like an idiot. Elly could think, “I guess that just because he can build intergalactic space modules and crush pop cans with his bare hands, doesn’t mean he doesn’t need his mom anymore.” It’s a similar kind of joke, but Elly comes off as understanding, and the strip might be slightly amusing. In today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse, Elly comes off as a woman who suspects her son is lying to her about what he can do, as she sits in her chair with an utterly downcast look on her face. Like many of the early strips, Elly makes a bad parenting move, and the punch line has to be about her poor decisions and why she made them. That was Lynn’s style in a lot of the early strips. The difference this time is that Lynn does not have Elly admit her error and feel guilt about it.
posted by howard at 10:30 PM
4 Comments:
howard,
Like many of the early strips, Elly makes a bad parenting move, and the punch line has to be about her poor decisions and why she made them. That was Lynn’s style in a lot of the early strips. The difference this time is that Lynn does not have Elly admit her error and feel guilt about it.
This is especially annoying when you consider she could have gone for the more pleasant alternative (He can build space modules but he still needs me) you mentioned. That would have been a lot more fridge-worthy and made Elly look like a loving mother instead of a peevish nitwit who automatically thinks her son is lying when he says there's something he just can't do so he can make her life harder. Her need to believe that the life of a stay-at-home mom is a never-ending horror wherein she's subjected to persecution by tyrants who want to destroy her made everyone's life worse. The woman is a whack-job.
dreadedcandiru2,
Her need to believe that the life of a stay-at-home mom is a never-ending horror wherein she's subjected to persecution by tyrants who want to destroy her made everyone's life worse.
This strip definitely fell into that category, especially with the framing panels showing Elly relaxed and with a beverage. Her point is that she doesn't even have time to relax because her son has interrupted her to ask her to do something he ought to be able to do by himself.
howard,
Her point is that she doesn't even have time to relax because her son has interrupted her to ask her to do something he ought to be able to do by himself.
This is another instance where her inability to get inside someone else's head lets everyone down. She can't allow herself to see that Mike might actually have a problem with the task he set him; since she can do it, he should be able to and saying he can't "must" be a lie.
dreadedcandiru2,
This is another instance where her inability to get inside someone else's head lets everyone down.
And this is a problem which will continue throughout the course of the strip most notably with the portrayal of one Anthony Caine, which Lynn could never fathom why it was that so many people hated him so much. Lynn writes more than one character, but only really gets in the head of one character. However, the reader can read the strip and understand both.
I can understand Elly's position. She has an expectation of Mike's abilities having observed other things he has done. However, I can also understand Mike's perspective. He can't do something and he has asked for help. The most interesting aspect of For Better or For Worse sometimes in the early years is that Lynn will faithfully tell the parts of the story (probably) taken from her real-life situation; but then she will still fail to understand both points of view. It's like a she is a reporter who reports both sides of the issue without understanding both sides.
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