Wednesday, February 18, 2009

"No Wonder They Call Me A Bitch" by Anne Hodgeman

I have just finished reading an informative essay called “No Wonder They Call Me A Bitch” by a talented author that goes by the name of Ann Hodgman. I believe the author’s purpose was to inform her audience on the different types of dog food with a bit of hilarity twisted into the story. One of her main points was that she actually ate all of the dog food and wasn’t embarrassed or afraid to tell anyone.
The author had a very interesting style; she covered up every moment that she was uncomfortable very smoothly. A good example of this was when she said “I shrieked and went instead for a plain chunk, which I was able to swallow only after taking a break to read some suddenly fascinating office equipment catalogues.” In this instance she was able to hide the fact that she really didn’t have the courage to down that nasty first piece, which had a “long trailing grey vein”, so smoothly you almost don’t even notice it. Her sentences are exactly the right length and stay pretty consistent. I also noticed that she wrote the entire thing in first person, but it was written in a way that made it seem like she was writing just for you.
I liked the fact that her paragraph started with questions and she immediately started to answer them. What I didn’t like though was the gristly detail she went into, I suppose it was necessary to get the reader involved, but I felt like it was almost more than I wanted to know. It was slightly disgusting to have her describe the color that it was and then say that she actually put that in her mouth and ate it makes me almost ill. I also wished she would have explained the flavor of the Milk-Bone Snacks, those didn’t seem quite as disgusting to me and I wanted to know if they really tasted like the box said, for I have been using them for years.
I did relate with this story in the fact that I used to eat my dogs food when I was around 5 years old, but thank the moon that I never tried any of the wet dog food, and I will never make my dog suffer through that either.

1 comment:

  1. :) I consider the author the outrageous person that solved one of life’s enigmas and found two curious things when I ended reading the essay: Has she taken another two weeks to taste different types of modeling clay (like Play-Doh) and cat food so she could contrast flavors? I declare myself guilty for chewing (I could not swallow it) dry dog food, and no, it did not taste like chicken as the advertisement said. Usually, if I cannot handle one food’s smell I cannot eat it and I think that dog canned food smells really bad, but since I won’t eat it and my dog does not complain I still buy it. I agree that companies sell dog food for pet owners and not dogs: I also buy the product because I like the healthy pet that appears in the front side of the bag. But dog food is just for dogs as Ann Hodgman experienced and we better leave it like that.

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