Dave Barry's Differentiation in Guys vs. Men

Susan Lin

Professor Qinglan Wang

ENGH 101-013

September 15, 2014

Dave Barry’s Differentiation in Guys vs. Men

I agree that men and guys are two different forms of males. I wholeheartedly endorse what Dave Barry calls a guy. His descriptive language on guy’s characteristics are applicable to most males. I believe that typically males can be fitted in both the “guys” and “men” category. From my perspective, Barry’s mindset of guys is seemingly the same as my view on guys. He purposely separates the two forms of males to personally describe the guy’s characteristics in his own terms. Throughout Guys vs. Men, Dave Barry utilizes negative and positive aspects, gender stereotypes and selective word choices to differentiate the two types of males. Barry aims to give an informative mindset to the readers to emphasize the unique characteristics between guys and men.

Barry argues that men have more negative characteristics than men, and I agree because typically there are positive and negative aspects on men. Guys vs. Men consists of negative aspects because Barry hopes to establish a larger context on the difference between guys and men. According to Barry, “there’s another way to look at males: not as aggressive macho dominators; not as sensitive, liberated, hugging drummers; but as guys” (915). The certain word choices such as “aggressive macho dominators,” “sensitive,” “liberated” appear as negative connotations (915). The particular terms are considered as negative due to the fact that Barry is emphasizing that men are behaving more in a negative manner than guys. The quote provides a negative tone and a negative attitude because it gives the reader a deeper thought on how Barry defines men.

My discussion of Barry is in fact addressing the larger matter of the positive aspect on the differentiation between guys and men. Due to the selective word choices such as “there’s another way to look at males” and “but as guys,” it provides a positive perspective to...