Close Reading #2: Women and the Men Who Yell

“Women and the Men Who Yell” describes how the 2012 presidential cabinets addressed the issue of women’s equality in the workplace and reproductive rights during the town hall presidential debate. Even in her title, Collins subtly groups both Romney and Obama under the name of “Men Who Yell” and critiques them for treating women as a means to an end (the end being winning the presidency) through her excellent use of syntax, imagery, figurative language, and diction.

When Collins’ says “of course” and “in the end” in the opening paragraphs of this editorial, she uses syntax to make the article appear almost like a casual conversation with the reader.  This sets up the reader to be more open to her personal views than they would be with a more formally written article. She attempts to surprise the reader syntactically when she ends one paragraph with “Still, it was admirable that Romney followed through,” and begins the next paragraph with “At least for the first few years of his administration.”  The separation of these two thoughts by both a period and a paragraph is dramatic, but in my opinion unsuccessful. It undermines its own purpose, because breaking up that thought so drastically creates confusion for the reader rather than emphasizing the significance of this change.

Collins uses the image of “Women in Binders,” Romney’s own phrase, to demonstrate how the two presidential candidates objectify and categorize women instead of viewing them as human beings with minds and abilities of their own. This is a clever way to introduce a topic because then readers are informed of what the article is going to talk about in a humorous way, which will convince them to keep reading.  Collins describes Romney’s political persona as amorphous, using the words “that guy began to evaporate” to emphasize how insubstantial Romney’s public character really is.

When using the phrase, “Worst Boyfriend”, Collins uses figurative language to evoke the typical crazy boyfriend in movies that will do anything to protect his “girl,” but actually understanding her actual needs. Through this the author is forcing her views on the reader because she is not just presenting them in an old fashioned way where she says “ These are my ideas so if you like them agree with me and if not then don’t”, she is tactfully using figurative language to make the reader feel as if it must be true. By referencing Harry Truman’s famous motto, “the buck stops here,” she efficiently encapsulates Obama’s acceptance of responsibility regarding the attacks in Benghazi with a phrase that is familiar to the American public, rather than fully explaining it.

Collins effectively uses diction evoking competition with the words “scoring points” to make clear that Romney and Obama, and perhaps all male politicians, are not so much concerned with women’s rights so much as winning the election with the help of the female vote. In this editorial, the Romney campaign is referred to as the “Romney Camp,” once again emphasizing that this is not a campaign for women’s rights, but rather a war fought between the two candidates.

Collins uses a wide variety of literary tools, to hit home that while Romney and Obama may represent two political parties, they ultimately place women in subordinate positions to men, be it in binders or corners. 

Link to Article: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/opinion/collins-women-and-the-men-who-yell.html?_r=0