Investigating Barry's Text

Assignment 2.4

Cartoonist Lynda Barry creates “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” to relay a message about the demons of American society. The comic strip gives a message of stereotype place on various ethnicities. Living in a multi-culture society the demon of intolerance continues to manipulate the greater good of society. Just like most monsters, it ugly, curial, and it wants to destroy all that it encounter. Intolerance is a monster that wants to destroy, divide, and reduce humanity to nothing.

Barry’s argument in this comic strip is to point out the intolerance monster is still a matter that must be dealt with before America society can grow and see the big picture of humanity. This monster has stopped the growth of the economy, stop the growth of invention, stop the growth of innovation. Why? Is it insecurity? Intolerance wants to destroy all that it encounters.

In Barry’s comic strip “Today’s Demon: Common Scents” she didn’t realized her heritage was also different from her neighbors. Barry represented as a young child in the comic strip made no judgment of the difference in her neighbor house. She visited one neighbor then the next neighbor noticing scents of their houses and how each had a unique viewpoint. Barry notices there were things she would not understand about people. She refers this to the mysteries, some were bad mysteries and some were good mysteries. (panel 53). One of the biggest mysteries for Barry was her own smells. She didn’t quite notice her own scents. It was something she got use to and the scents of her house weren’t strange but quite normal. The scents of Barry house were from her heritage, like fried smelt, garlic, and onions; or like pig’s blood stew. It’s funny how we notice everyone else but don’t quite notice our own scents, bias, or intolerance.