xaggeration, with boys depicted as little more than wild monkeys, while girls are refined and taught how to use their womanhood to achieve the ultimate power over men. He shows how woman are taught to not only use men but to need men to elevate their own stature in life. An aspect that at the same time increases a mans feeling of inadequacy. The more inadequate the man, the more indispensable and important the woman. Indeed, he makes the point that women associate with men to fulfill their psychological needs, but men, who are being told to show off their manliness, need to be only with other men in order to maintain that manliness. To be with a woman would mean that he would have to soften and bend, which of course would then detract from his manliness, adding to his insecurity, and ultimately her superiority.Then Theroux uses exaggeration to further his point of how confined men on in their life possibilities. He gives the example of how high school athletes are taught to be social misfits, moral degenerates, sadists, latent rapist and just plain louts. Obviously, one should not take seriously the degree to which he writes that all athletes embody these qualities, but by going far over the line in exaggeration, in terms of sadist and rapists, we are more willing to accept that they might all be louts. This is another key to how one uses exaggeration to give a number of examples of things that are beyond reason, so that the one that is possible seems more likely.You can also see the use of exaggeration prominently in my parody as I talk about losing as the ultimate sin and how there is nothing worse in life than being a loser. By stressing the win at all cost mentality, such as where it pertains to a Presidential election and the loser having his entire life rendered meaningless, we are more willing to accept that there is a bit more social consequence to losing than the mere act of not winning. Again, you can see this in his...
