He Just Lives There
And now for a moment that was originally presented in this storyline. The joke is that John does not know where the spaghetti is, Lizzie’s clean pants are, or Lizzie’s bottle is because he just lives at his house. He doesn’t work there. He doesn’t organize food or put away Lizzie’s clothing. Likewise, he has not developed that sixth sense that will tell him where his daughter will put her bottle when she has lost it. However with the bottle, there should be more than one that John can use to alleviate Lizzie’s trauma, if he doesn’t find the first one.
If only John cooked at his house or put up his daughter’s clothes or chased after her bottle from time-to-time, then he might know these things. It’s interesting that Lynn Johnston wrote up a new-run with Elly leaving John a week’s worth of food; but neglected to show a strip with Elly showing John where everything was, with John distracted or ignoring her. Without that strip, I cannot condemn John for his ignorance. I can understand where John is coming from. If he didn’t organize the pantry or establish the system for storing the clothes, then he is just guessing where things are. I have been through that before.
I remember years ago, I had a roommate who was of the opinion that the kitchen should be reorganized once a month. If everything was in the same place it was the prior month, she found that to be boring and unfashionable. Every month then, I would come home and play the game of “Where did you put the…?” That’s not my style. It makes me feel stupid. I like there to be a place for everything and that place doesn’t move. Who knows what kind of person Elly is when it comes to this stuff?
As for my own domestic situation, my wife is a stay-at-home mom and we have to go through things in advance before she leaves on trips. There is a whole ritual involved in picking up our children and delivering them to their after school activities that varies every day of the week. Not only does it vary every day of the week, but it is often not the same from week-to-week. When my wife leaves town, I have to run down the whole schedule of where who has to be when with her. It’s not that I am not active with my children. I drop them off at school. It is simply that I am usually at work when she picks the kids up from school. If someone were to draw a comic strip making fun of me for not knowing where my kids go after school, I would not be happy.
When you get right down to it, we don’t know if John’s ignorance is John’s failure or Elly’s failure for not informing John where things he would need are before she left.
If only John cooked at his house or put up his daughter’s clothes or chased after her bottle from time-to-time, then he might know these things. It’s interesting that Lynn Johnston wrote up a new-run with Elly leaving John a week’s worth of food; but neglected to show a strip with Elly showing John where everything was, with John distracted or ignoring her. Without that strip, I cannot condemn John for his ignorance. I can understand where John is coming from. If he didn’t organize the pantry or establish the system for storing the clothes, then he is just guessing where things are. I have been through that before.
I remember years ago, I had a roommate who was of the opinion that the kitchen should be reorganized once a month. If everything was in the same place it was the prior month, she found that to be boring and unfashionable. Every month then, I would come home and play the game of “Where did you put the…?” That’s not my style. It makes me feel stupid. I like there to be a place for everything and that place doesn’t move. Who knows what kind of person Elly is when it comes to this stuff?
As for my own domestic situation, my wife is a stay-at-home mom and we have to go through things in advance before she leaves on trips. There is a whole ritual involved in picking up our children and delivering them to their after school activities that varies every day of the week. Not only does it vary every day of the week, but it is often not the same from week-to-week. When my wife leaves town, I have to run down the whole schedule of where who has to be when with her. It’s not that I am not active with my children. I drop them off at school. It is simply that I am usually at work when she picks the kids up from school. If someone were to draw a comic strip making fun of me for not knowing where my kids go after school, I would not be happy.
When you get right down to it, we don’t know if John’s ignorance is John’s failure or Elly’s failure for not informing John where things he would need are before she left.
posted by howard at 10:05 PM
4 Comments:
howard,
When you get right down to it, we don’t know if John’s ignorance is John’s failure or Elly’s failure for not informing John where things he would need are before she left.
We're meant to believe it's the former when the latter is far more likely. It's obvious to me, at least, that Elly doesn't want John to know these things; it makes her feel less indispensable. Simply put, she wants John to fail so she can have an excuse for feeling bad about things. If he were to make her life simpler, he'd be even worse than complicating it by removing a thing to complain about.
Elly should have shown John where these things are, but when she didn't, John should have asked. I think they can share the blame.
My boyfriend doesn't know where some stuff around the house is, like spices, because he doesn't cook. So I can understand John not knowing where the spaghetti is. But not knowing where clean diapers and bottles are kept, I just don't believe.
Also, the "I just live here"... John also pays all the bills there. That doesn't absolve him of responsibilities around the house, especially when it comes to taking care of his kids, but do we ever see John's work acknowledged as important? He supports his family and has a job that helps people, but he never gets credit for either of those. I think this is even worse because his supposed model, Rod, did lots of things for the community; he was a flying dentist for people who wouldn't have seen a dentist otherwise, then he worked on a lot of projects for Corbeil.
clio-1,
He supports his family and has a job that helps people, but he never gets credit for either of those. I think this is even worse because his supposed model, Rod, did lots of things for the community; he was a flying dentist for people who wouldn't have seen a dentist otherwise, then he worked on a lot of projects for Corbeil.
When you remember how vain and tetchy Lynn is, it's not a big shock to realize how much she resented the attention people paid Rod over the years. As I've said before, she hates Lynn Lake because the citizens valued a flying dentist who grew up there and did things for the community more than they did some cranky, snooty cartoonist who made no bones of the fact she thought she was too good to live there. Any bit of respect Rod earns is respect she's not being paid and she's petty enough to begrudge him his rightful share of the spotlight.
Post a Comment
<< Home