Not All Men Are Sly Foxes: Book Analysis

Deadbeat, good-for-nothing, and nowhere to be found often describe the plight and resentment towards those whom are considered unfit in parenting. Single parents have an even tougher dilemma raising their children bearing only half the love, half the support and half the attention a traditional couple could offer. However, not everyone shares the same tune as individuals like Armin Brott champion the potential of single parents (more specifically the single dad). Even with a stable nuclear family there still exists underlying imbalances like the stay at home mom or the ever busy dad and vice versa. In his 1992 essay "Not All Men Are Sly Foxes" Brott contends against women as the primary caretakers of their children in contrast to men, often depicted in minor or insignificant roles in child development. Throughout his essay Brott explores the advent rise of women’s roles in society correlated to their influence in children’s literature by guiding readers through his eloquent mastery of analogy, compare and contrast, and last but not least cause and effect.
Word choice is often regarded as what could make or break a sentence. If poorly …show more content…
In “What to Expect the First Year” Brott compartmentalizes how the book “alternates between referencing boys and girls. At the same time to refer almost exclusively to “mother” and “mommy”. In the meanwhile the section regarding men and their roles in parenting is simply delegated to a nine page chapter (par. 7). Brott relays to readers how strongly cause and effect is at play with “What to Expect the First Year”. By referring almost “exclusively” to mommy and giving men the slim pickings in a nine page chapter the book subtly acknowledges the father 's role is heavily toned down compared to the mother. In turn, this effectively ingrains once again how far reaching the paternal stigma has