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John Christopher
Professor Corbally
English 101
9 May 2013
Superwomen and Cavemen
Lois lights a single candle and puts on soft classical music in the bathroom. She has on a
fluffy robe and is ready to pour bubbles into the pink bathtub when she sees the tub is filled with
grime. Whichever of the boys (her husband or one of their sons) last took a bath did not bother to
clean up after himself. She does not yell. She puts the candle and bubbles down, grabs a can of
Zud cleanser from under the sink, and scrubs. She admires the sparkling tub just as her youngest
son, Dewey, covered in dirt, comes into the bathroom asking, “Do you want to buy a worm?”
Still calm, Lois deals with the situation, and as she yells, “Don’t forget to clean your ears,” she is
unexpectedly shown relaxing in the tub. The next shot shows Dewey out back in a kiddie pool
hosing himself off. Mom solves the problem and treats herself to a reward. Lois, the mother in
this episode of Malcolm in the Middle, is a forceful, competent, task-driven, problem-solving,
passionate superwife and supermom; Hal, the husband and father, however, is portrayed as a
dumb guy whose primitive approach to problems is likely to get his kids and himself into trouble
requiring his wife to come save the day.
The opening bathtub scene in this episode of Malcolm in the Middle is just one of many
scenes where Lois, with her husband and three boys, takes on the same sort of tasks that are
described by Judy Brady in her essay “I Want a Wife.” Brady writes,
I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will
keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will
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pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended,
replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal thing are kept in
their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife
who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook.” (311)
This wife also needs to be pleasant, giving, sexy, a problem solver, responsible for the children.
Lois is all of these things but with a twist. Throughout the show she is almost completely
responsible for disciplining and guiding her children. She brings in the groceries, picks up trash
while folding laundry, and is usually seen either cooking or walking around the house with a can
of spray cleaner in one hand and a dust cloth in the other. At the same time, she is smart enough
to figure out how to get that much-needed bubble bath. Lois is a superwoman who works like a
slave, solves the family’s problems and still gets what she wants.
If Lois shows a modern twist on Brady’s stereotype of a wife, Hal represents a modern
twist on the stereotypical father that Armin Brott describes in “Not All Men are Sly Foxes.” Hal,
unlike the fathers in the books Brott complains about, is actually a very loveable guy and not an
absent father. He is very available to his sons, and he tries to get involved in care giving as much
as possible. Unfortunately, he is just not any good at it. Even though he tries to be a helpful
parent, he often gives the impression that maybe fathers should not have that much input raising
children. He is kind and tries to be supportive, but as a role model of a successful problem solver
he fails. He is as big a slob as the boys, which is similar to Brott’s comments about the Sly Fox
who “lives with his filthy, hungry pups in a grimy hovel littered with the bones of their previous
meals.” In terms of Hal’s success at comforting and offering a positive parenting role in this
episode, Hal could fit right in the book What to Expect the First Year where the role of fathers as
parents is “relegated to a nine-page chapter just before the recipe section” (Brott).
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One of the main storylines in this episode has the youngest son Dewey watching the
neighbor’s cat Jelly Bean, and Lois voicing her concern: “I’m not so sure about this Hal. Are you
sure that Dewey can handle this?” Hal assures her (and the neighbor) that he will help, and
everything will be fine.
Sure enough, the cat escapes through the open front door, and Dewey is upset. Hal tries
to comfort his son, but he is not very good at it. He points out that cats are nocturnal, that they
prefer the night, but he goes on to add, “Then again, so do coyotes, feral dogs and devil
worshipers,” as Dewey looks more and more distressed. Hal tries to smooth it over adding, “My
point is this: Jelly Bean is going to be fine.” Dewey is not convinced or comforted, but dad tells
Dewey things will be OK, and he hits on the idea of leaving Jelly Bean’s food dish by an open
window. The next day it seems the cat did come in for the food but then went back out the
window. Unfortunately, the open window was also an invitation to thieves who came in and stole
the television and other valuables and wrecked and spray painted the rest of the house.
When the police arrive to record facts about the break-in and vandalism, Hal tries to
explain the situation to an officer. Hal tells him that they are watching the neighbor’s cat.
“I don’t see a cat,” says the officer.
“We’re not doing a very good job.”
In the middle of the police report, the owner calls from a comic book convention he is
attending and asks how Jelly Bean is doing. Hal lies saying everything is great, and then the
owner asks that Jelly Belly be put up to the phone so that he can say loving things to him.
Making a fool of himself while trying to hide the truth, Hal has to pretend to be the cat as the
police officer stares at him like he is insane.
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There are still positive things to say about Hal. For example, he does not give up. He runs
through the neighborhood chasing cats (he is caught outdoors in his underwear as he grabs the
wrong cat), and he comes up with a plan to put sleeping pills in the cat food so that when Jelly
Bean comes in the window that evening to eat, the cat will fall asleep. The next morning they
enter the still-destroyed house to see about forty drugged cats scattered all over the floor. Not
one of the cats is Jelly Bean. At this point all Hal can offer is, “Let’s put them in three piles:
those who are possibly not Jelly Bean, those who are probably not Jelly Bean, and those who are
definitely not Jelly Bean. We’ll start with that possum there.”
Dewey finally realizes that counting on his dad is useless, and he says, “I think it’s time
we called mom.”
A relieved Hal replies, “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Lois’s plan for hiding all of the destruction and theft is as crazy as Hal’s, but it works.
She proposed they burn the house so that it looks like an accidental fire. Although this means
they will have to put up their neighbor while he collects the insurance and rebuilds, it works, and,
in walks the cat which Lois scoops up ready to hand back to the neighbor.
This episode of Malcolm in the Middle does not match the stereotypes in Brady and
Brott’s essays completely. Lois manages to make time to pamper herself, and Hal tries to get
involved with the children. Nevertheless, the show does reinforce the stereotypes that women do
most of the work and successful child-rearing in a family, while men are really just incompetent,
big, dumb kids themselves. It is as if “I Want a Wife” has been redone as “I Need a Wife” to
save the family when the Husband/Dad tries to help.
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Works Cited
Brady, Judy. “I Want a Wife.” The Bedford Reader. Eds. X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy,
and Jane E. Aaron. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 310-312. Print.
Brott, Armin A. “Not All Men are Sly Foxes.” The Daily Beast. Rpt of Newsweek Magazine.
31 May 1992. Web. 29 April 2013.
“Malcolm Vs. Reese.” Malcolm in the Middle. TeenNick. Los Angeles. 30 April 2013.
Television.