Importance of Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Importance of Life - Essay Example This paper will present personal thoughts about the two essays, establishing connections and oppositions, in the area of male-female communication at home. Inferences from the two stories â€Å"I want a wife† explains that wives take a very passive role at home. They offer support services to men after they leave home for work or education. The role of a wife when the husband is not at home will entail taking care of the children, supporting the dependants of the man, finance the man where necessary, as well as doing the daily chores. She is portrayed as one who should sacrifice for the man, by losing days of work, losing pay due to absenteeism as well as leaving her job after the husband gets employed. She is portrayed as the person to take care of the physical needs of the husband as well as those of the children while offering social support to the family (Tannen). A wife is presented as the one to offer support for the social life of the man, children – who she will babysit – as well as the guests of the home, who is required to serve. She is presented as the one to take care of the sexual needs of the man, whenever he feels the need, but she is presented as one that will not present her sexual needs. After all the devotion, she is supposed to accept her replacement, and at the same time absorb the burden of taking care of children after divorce (Brady). The story, â€Å"sex, lies and conversation; why is it so hard for men and women to talk to each other†...presents the woman as the talker of the family, but one who will not express herself in the pubic (Tannen). The case explains the ideal American family, where the man talks in public but not at home. The family outlook is supported by scientific findings that many marriage breakups – according to women – are caused by the lack of communication (Brady; Tannen). Women feel that men do not listen or pay attention to them, which could be explained on the basis of th e different communication cultures of men and women. Women – since their background as girls – relate in an expressive manner, while men relate in an authoritative, non-sentimental manner, which makes women feel like the men do not listen or communicate to them. Women make one another feel better, by demonstrating their shared problems, while men downplay the extent of the other’s problems, and will often not pay a lot of attention to the physical expressions of one another, like women. Through a research study on school children, it was demonstrated that women are expressive to one another – and the expressive aspect is what they expect from husbands – who are naturally passive in their communication and interactions. The problem rises from the need of intimacy among women, and the detachment of men from their feelings. The story ends in the call for an understanding of the cross-cultural nature of men and women, which will enhance their communica tion as well as the understanding of one another (Brady; Tannen). Discussion of the connections and the oppositions between the two stories â€Å"I want a wife† presents the wife as a highly passive member of the family, who will not question the instructions of the husband as well as her roles as a wife. â€Å"My wife must lose time at work and not lose the job† (Brady). The story â€Å"sex lies and conversation† is the opposite, as it portrays the wife as â€Å"