Insert Flap “A” and Throw Away

Insert Flap “A” and Throw Away was by far the funniest and most abstract essay I have ever read. Yet another New Yorker essay, this time written in 1944, this essay was written by S.J. Perelman.  Very rarely do I actually laugh when reading a so called “humor” essay.  But there is something about Perelman's writing that tickled my funny bone mercilessly.  Humor was definitely the most important rhetoric device used by Perelman, which is expected from a famous comedic screen write and essayist.  This is best shown in the line when he finally beats the truck’s flaps until they finally fit into the holes, only to find out it doesn’t move.  Perelman reacts to the tragedy as so: “As merciful blackness closed in, I was on my hands and knees, bunting the infernal thing along with my nose and whinnying, ‘Roll, confound you, roll’” (Perelman 189).  See, I laughed for a good minute straight at the idea of this dad, who is obviously foaming at the mouth at this point, trying to push this haphazardly put together car along with his face.  By using humor, Perelman managed to create an essay with something for people of all ages and genders.  But, the main audiance for Insert Flap “A” and Throw Away are the fathers of the world who desperately struggle to place even the simplest of flaps. 

Insert Flap “A” and Throw Away captures the madness that trying to assemble Jiffy-Cloz and toy trucks.  The main conflict of the story arises when Perelman attempts to put together a Self-Running 10-Inch Scale-Model Delivery-Truck Construction Kit for his children. 

I'm pretty sure this is how Perelman reacted to his carboard delivery truck, with almost cartoonish violence
(Found on google images)

As he struggles through attempting to put together a truck for his poor kids, while using as many excuses as he can think of to get out of it, Perelman is send a clear message: Assembly is made needlessly complicated.  The many mentions of flaps and missing or improper parts, both in the Jiffy-Cloz and the Delivery-Truck Construction Kit, show how unnecessarily complex the instructions make putting these should-be simply toys together.  The complexity of these instructions is best shown when Perelman writes “Poising tabs C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, and L in one hand and the corresponding slots in the other, I essayed a union of the two, but in vain… Some idiotic employee at the factory had punched out the wrong design” (Perelman 188).  First off, the matter of the tabs.  Tabs are very flimsy and very hard to every fit into their designated slots.  Secondly, tabs are made out of weak cardboard, so they rip about every third time you attempt to insert the tab.  Lastly, we have all had the joy of almost completing a project, only to find out the manufacturer left out a few pieces or the pieces are the wrong size for the project at hand.  Perelman is calling out these barons of insanity, telling manufacturers to take pride in their work by giving us the correct and proper amount of pieces.  And I agree.  End the madness, do away with the flaps.