help me syndrome

"it's a typical cartoon scene: popeye off sailing or toting a sledge hammer doing whatever popeye does to make a living, while olive oyl who does not have a job lounges around. olive is skinny to the point of hospitalization. popeye obviously does not share his spinach. olive oyl, in her frail condition has a tendency to be vulnerable to bluto's frequent abductions. bluto is the big, brawny bully who popeye grapples with from cartoon to cartoon. poor olive is whisked away by the hair or thrown kicking and screaming over bluto's shoulder. her only salvation is knowing that popeye will be coming to save her. 'help me, help me, popeye!' magically, he hears olive's call for help. popeye, her hero. he struggles with his can of spinach, but in the end the tattooed avenger saves olive oyl. it is so silly. olive's oyl's only redeeming quality as a woman is the fact she is never stuck in the kitchen. popeye, the strong and courageous, also prepares his own meals.

why wasn't olive ever smart enough to lock the doors so bluto couldn't get in or clever enough to save herself? it is a disgusting example of the 'help me syndrome' so often portrayed in cartoons."

*Excerpted from Reading, Writing, and Rising Up, by Linda Christensen (sample student work by Hasina Deary)