Self Control In The Dinner Party By Mona Gardner

592 Words2 Pages

Do men really have more self control than women? Most people think men have better self control in a crisis than women do, but Mona Gardner proves that stereotype wrong. In the story by Mona Gardner, “The Dinner Party” an argument sparks up between a Colonel and young girl about how men have more self control. In the story, an American Naturalist see’s a young boy place milk on the veranda and knows that it can only mean one thing, there is a cobra in the room. In the end, the Colonel finds out that the hostess, Mrs. Wynnes was the one to find the cobra and helped get it out. The Author uses the characters in the story to express a message through their actions. The author's message to her readers is, that self control is not determined by gender. The colonel symbolizes how males have more self-control than females. However the young girl insist that women have just as much self control as men. This argument is the basis of the story and creates the conflict as well as moving the plot along. The colonel argues, as said in the story “A woman's unfailing reaction in any crisis is to scream.” He further claims that although men want to scream, he suggest they do not because they have more …show more content…

When the spirited discussion sprang up between the colonel and young girl, the American Naturalist didn't say a word. As said in the story, “The American Naturalist does not join in the argument but watches the other guest.” He decides to not join in the argument, so that the people around him don’t think he sides with either the colonel or the young girl. The American shows self control when he knew the cobra was in the room, by having everyone sit still and not move for 300 seconds showing that men have self control and supporting the

Open Document