Maria Semple’s, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, highlights the stereotypes that are
embedded in our culture in today’s society. An epistolary novel uses emails,
letters, and journals in the book. Semple has utilized this to further explain
the interaction between characters through emails and how the settings draw to
the stereotypes presented that are present in our culture.
Emails are used to communicate
between characters and it offers a way to forma an opinion about the character.
The fact that Soo-Lin and Audrey, who are close friends, email instead of
calling each other or physically talking to the other ties into the lack of
communication in today’s society. Emailing is even thought of the old way to
talk among friends, everyone now just texts. When the mailman comes he usually
drops off junk mail, some bills, and if you are in high school an acceptance or
rejection letter from a college. No one write to one another or calls. The very
concept of having a house phone is going extinct. Chuck Martin wrote an article
on the importance of face-to-face communication, “67 percent of senior
executives and managers say their organization would be more productive if
their superiors communicated more often by personal discussion (Martin 1).” Elgie,
Bernadette’s husband, emails and IMs his assistant the work she must do on his
behalf, and if it were not on her persistence they may have never talked. It
was agreed upon the executives that verbal communication makes sure that
everything is understood and clear. Advancements in communication have caused
for a lack of interaction not just in the work place, but also among friends
and family. If no one can even pick up the phone to say hello, then sending a
handwritten letter asking about how someone is must be prehistoric. When
someone receives a handwritten thank you note or letter it is treasured more
because the person had taken the time to write it. There is a company that will
send handwritten letters on your behalf. They take a sample of your writing,
and have a robot create an exact replica of it. “The bot doesn't just copy
letters; it learns spacing patterns, angulation, how a person connects certain
letters, and how far someone veers from the margins (Greenfield 1).” Semple’s
depiction of the communication used among the Galer Street gnats, Bernadette
and Paul, and Elgie was spot on with how people communicate in the 21st
century.
Stay-at-home moms are thought of to
be similar to the housewives of New Jersey. Although, no one in Where’d You Go, Bernadette has a nanny
or legal problems, the same amount of drama is presented. The Galer Street
gnats are the typical stay-at-home moms, but with way too much time on their
hands. Audrey Griffin, neighbor to Bernadette, exemplifies how much time
housewives have on their hands. She is the mom who participates actively in
school activities, member of the PTA, and enjoys to gossip about other moms. She
had the audacity to break into Bernadette’s backyard to have an expert see how
much it will cost her to have Bernadette’s blackberries removed. This is only
one example of how Audrey cannot seem to mind her own business. Another
instance was when Bernadette had “ran over” Audrey’s foot, and Audrey had made
sure that it was said in the school email to everyone that Bernadette was the
one done it. When she had gone to the doctor to get her foot checked out, he
did not believe Audrey needed x-rays or to be on crutches. Semple’s
characterization of the stay-at-home mom is completely accurate to the mom of
our culture. In an article by Parenting Weekly it says, “Full-time mothers get
the first call when volunteers are needed for any school function, field-trip
or fundraiser…You will find yourself organizing trips, running bake-sales and
driving children whose parents are stuck at work to museums. You put in all the
work of "working parents" without the paychecks or the breaks (“The
Myth of the Stay-at-Home Mom by Parenting Weekly” 1).”
Through Semple’s usage of emails and
characters she has told a story that can be easily related to in today’s
society because of our culture. The stereotypical stay-at-home in Where’d You Go, Bernadette is the PTA
mom our culture. The usage of emailing instead of talking face to face is the
texting era of today. These stereotypes of Bernadette’s upside down world are
within our understanding and gave us some insight into her life.
