Summary and Response - Essay Example

Summary and Response In Robert Zoellner’s essay “I’m O.K., but You’re Not,” Zoellner divulges into the concept that “day-to-day life often presents us with embarrassingly obvious, totally unsubtle patterns of symbolism and meaning (Zoellner, 2-3).” Zoellner bases this concept on John Barth’s novel, The Floating Opera, in which Barth states that ordinary people experience these types of symbolism and meaning, such as youth versus age or life in the presence of death. These incidences typically consist of unbelievable irony and people acting in hypocritical ways.

Zoellner claims that he did not realize the full truth of what Barth had to say until he had his own experience while having breakfast at a restaurant. As a smoker, Zoellner requested to be seated in the smoking section of the restaurant, which the hostess obliged to. Zoellner was placed precisely on the line that bordered between the smoking and non-smoking sections, though he was well within the smoking section. A snobbish couple closest to Zoellner on the non-smoking side had issues with Zoellner’s smoking, but Zoellner pointed out that he was allowed to smoke given his location.

The couple quickly finished their meal and left the restaurant. However, Zoellner noticed that in the back of their vehicle were two dogs. When the dogs jumped from the car, they went to the bathroom on the lawn of the restaurant. Their owners did nothing to clean up after them, but allowed them to go to the bathroom before ushering them back into the car. Despite the fact that they called Zoellner out on something they believed was disgusting, they did not stop themselves from doing something that Zoellner viewed as disgusting, thus making the couple very hypocritical.

Zoellner ends his essay by making the claim that the couple falls into the category of “what I do is perfectly okay, but what you do is perfectly awful (14-15).” Zoellner makes it clear that while the haughty couple was against him involving himself in an act they saw as gross, it was entirely okay for them to engage themselves in one without considering others. It was okay for them to behave in such a way, but it was not okay for Zoellner to do so. Zoellner sets out to prove that Barth’s concept is true.

Through his example of the people at the restaurant, Zoellner succeeds. There have been many instances in which people find themselves subject to these moments of irony and hypocrisy. This especially holds true in Zoellner’s example, where it is okay for one person to do something, yet not okay for someone else to do it. A similar example would be a woman becoming angry in a grocery store because the person in front of her in the checkout line is talking loudly on her cell phone. Meanwhile, her own child is causing havoc in the checkout line, making more noise than the woman on the phone.

It is okay for the woman with the child to disrupt the peace of other people, but not okay for the woman on the phone. The woman talking on the phone is annoying and disruptive, but not the other woman’s hyper child. Yet another example would be a father telling his son not to text while driving, yet answering a phone call while he is behind the wheel. He can be distracted, but his son cannot be. A final example would be a parent scolding an older child for cursing, yet cursing themselves in front of them.

One can be vulgar, but the other cannot. People, such as those in Zoellner’s essay, are more concerned with what annoys them or what bothers them that they do not even consider that they may be just as guilty or negligent of others opinions. All of the antagonists in the examples given are only thinking of themselves, believing that their opinion of something is the only one that matters. As such, Zoellner proves Barth’s concept that people face situations like these on a daily basis, and that hypocrisy is just an average part of daily life.

Works Cited Zoellner, Robert. “I’m O.K., but You’re Not.” The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. Ed. Stephen Reid. Harlow, England: Longman Publishing Group, 2009. 31-33. Print.