English W131
Mrs. Dunn
18 October 2012
A Critique of Eric Bartel’s “My
Problem with Her Anger” When most people get married, they go into the marriage with the expectations and hopes that everything will go as planned, that they will always get along, and that the responsibilities will be evenly divided between both spouses. And for two working spouses who have children, they share the expectation that no one parent will be more of a caretaker than the other. Eric Bartels, a feature writer for the Portland Tribune in Portland, Oregon, feels as if he has personal experience as to what it is like to be on the receiving end of his wife’s irrational—or at least in his eyes—anger. Bartels informs his readers of the anger his wife projects…show more content… I suppose this would make anyone angry” (439). So although he does not approve of her anger and is not pleased by it, he understands why she might have so much built up anger that she feels the need to take out on her husband. So in essence, he is arguing fairly. When Eric Bartels decided to get married, he was not aware of all of the problems that would arise and the wrath that he would experience from his wife. Bartels informs his readers of the anger his wife projects on him, which he believes should be saved for people who are portrayed as angry people and who do not tend to care about the people they are taking their anger out on. While Bartels does a well job at being understanding of where his wife is coming from with all of her anger, he personally does not take any of the blame for the problems in the marriage. Even though his wife is very bitter for certain reasons, Bartels still loves his wife and is willing to make things work in the
