Lauren Dodds
Dr. John Adams
ENGCMP 0200- Seminar in Composition
26 August 2008

Opportunities for Young Boys

In the children’s book, What Do People Do All Day, Richard Scarry attempts to teach children that adults are active members of society. Although the story gives more examples of males than females excelling in society. Each character has a job that helps meet individual needs and needs of his or her family, while providing for the community at the same time. With a specific job that is right for him, every character’s job is important to the community. Scarry teaches children to believe that one job is just as important as the next and that the possibilities are endless. However this view is only relevant to his time period. For that decade, I would agree with this view because everyone is gifted in different areas and everyone’s expertise in different areas makes the community run. However, these ideas are more geared towards males. The opportunities that women hold are much more limited than that of their male counterpart.


Farmer Alfalfa is gifted in agriculture. When he grows his food he “keeps some of it for his family. He sells the rest to Grocer Cat in exchange for money” (Scarry 6), and he will sell the food to the rest of Busytown. Alfalfa uses both the food and the money from the food to support his family. However, he is also supporting the community by providing food, and the community will support Grocer Cat by buying the food from him. Alfalfa couldn’t sustain a living without Grocer Cat and vice versa. Hence, each character has a dependence on the other.

Sometimes an individual’s dependence on another’s occupation is more noticeable. Doctor Lion really helped Abby out when her tonsils were bad. Though Doctor Lion is paid big bucks for his skills at the operating table, he too needs to purchase food from the grocer and clothes from the tailor and once he has fulfilled his needs he can invest his money with the banker. All the characters are connected. When living in community with others, no individual or family has to be self-sufficient. When a person can focus on one aspect that he enjoys, he can excel in that area and the community will benefit more from that individual. If Doctor Lion had to grow all his own food and sew all his own clothes as well as removing tonsils, he would not be as skilled in medicine, his preferred area of expertise. We can’t do it all by ourselves. We need to rely on each other to help us out in areas that we aren’t strong.

However, young girls are not getting the same message as young boys are. Scarry’s idea of a traditional family stereotypes women. The females are depicted mostly as housewives. They take care of their children, cook, and clean. Grocer Cat rewarded his wife with a new dress because “she earned it by taking such good care of the house” (Scarry 8). Scarry hints at the idea that the man is the provider of the family, he is in charge of the money and he decides what he wants to spend it on. Females are very limited on the tasks they are responsible for. Mommy, the rabbit, takes Abby to the doctor and then has a baby. Mommy Pig made sure her kids were well feed.

Nurse Nelly is the only female depicted in this story that holds a paying position. This may have been accurate during the time the book was written but now this is far from the way things are. Women have become much more prominent in the community. They hold positions everywhere from nurses to CEOs of major businesses. Many women today are still considered subservient to men yet I believe women are the backbone of society. They have become a major contribution to the workforce. Women today have many more opportunities available to them. Not even 50 years ago women were expected to go to school yet still run the household. Today women are considered a more able body of the workforce. Most women in this day and age are expected to search for employment, not just marriage. This book illuminates the sexism of the time by giving many examples of men in the workplace but only showing one solitary woman. Although, the portrayal of Nurse Nelly is still sexist. Showing a woman in a nurse’s position shows the previously acceptable positions for women to achieve in society. If Nelly had been in a more masculine position the book would be more positive for young girls who read this book. Women need more positive male dominated roles in children’s books to give young girls a passion to attain more in life.

The sexism in this book is appalling. Major positions are held by only men and the author tends to put women in “their place”. Nurse Nelly is the only female character who is given her own passage, however, more women are shown in the beginning. These women include the laundress, the dance instructor, the music teacher, the realtor, the beautician, and the dress maker. All of these examples are not given more time than a picture and a label. The portrayal of these female characters shows the opinions and expectations of women 50 years ago. Women today have been able to assert themselves in the business world and are able to move past these stereotypes set in previous decades. More children’s books need positive role models for young girls to inspire them to succeed.