My Year of Meats Chapters 5-8

Accurate or Stereotypes of American Families?


When I think of the stereotypical American family I picture a wife, husband, a son, a daughter and maybe a dog. The father is a business man who works a normal forty hour week. The mother stays at home, cooks, cleans, runs the errands and is basically the “stepford” wife. The children are good kids who stay out of trouble. The son is an athlete who gets good grades and the daughter attends dance classes and also receives good grades as well. The family lives in a large house with a big yard and has no worries.

In reality, this is probably the exact opposite life for most Americans. Many families are far from perfect and there are many complications which arise in a marriage. Children are not perfect and many individuals from various countries believe that Americans have this As a documentarian Jane has become much more aware of showing the truth to her viewers. She has begun to choose families that don’t depict that stereotypical image of the American family. Jane feels a sense of shame to display false settings and actions to her audience, when it comes to choosing the families for the show. Jane now tries to choose families that are diverse and have different values, traditions, and of course recipes containing meat. (Especially Beef)

The show that stands out most in mind is the one with Suzie Flowers. This show expressed that marriage does not always end up happily ever after for Americans. In fact, infidelity is quite common amongst American families. Suzie loved her husband and thought that she had been a caring and devoted wife, but obviously her husband felt that he needed someone else to fulfill his needs. I really liked the family that Jane chose with the ten Korean children who were adopted. I think that this family was able to convey many important values to the audience.