Diatribe of a Mad Housewife
Encyclopedia
"Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons
' fifteenth season
, which originally aired January 25, 2004. Marge
is inspired to write a romance novel
, though after Homer
hears rumors that Marge is secretly in love with Ned Flanders
due to the storyline of the novel, he grows jealous. Meanwhile, Homer buys an ambulance
and becomes an ambulance driver.
Meanwhile, Marge
, Bart
and Lisa
are at the bookstore, where Marge meets author Esmé Delacroix (likely a parody of the late British author E. M. Delafield
, whose first name was Edmé). This meeting inspires Marge to write a novel. Homer tries his hand at auto sales but is remarkably bad at it (when he passes gas during a sales pitch, he turns on the car radio as a deflection), yet he is happy to buy a 1959 ambulance.
Marge begins to write a novel about whaling
times (inspired by the boat painting in the living room, "Scene from Moby Dick"), and proceeds to write several sentences. That evening, Homer runs ambulance service. Unfortunately for his customers (patients), he loses his way and refuses to accept that he is lost, although driving in circles. Marge creates the characters for her novel: Temperance, the dutiful lady, inspired by herself; Temperance's loving whaler husband, Mordecai, inspired by Homer; and Cyrus Manly, inspired by Ned Flanders
. At first, she has Homer as a successful whale hunter, but after he comes home and obnoxiously demands Marge cook him up a gourmet meal, Marge decides to remake him into a lazy, drunk fisherman
who is a bad husband and father, who is always getting drunk at Moab's Tavern. She completes the book, titled The Harpoon
ed Heart. She gets positive reviews and decides to get it published. At Lisa's advice (who has noticed the similarities between fiction and real life), Marge asks Homer to read her book, but he falls asleep before getting anything done, later deciding to lie to her that he read the whole book and loved it. Marge becomes an instant success, although Tom Clancy
and Thomas Pynchon
do not want to supply praise blurbs for the novel and Clancy is surprised when his hypothetic, rejected idea of praise is taken as a sincere endorsement of Marge's work. However, Helen Lovejoy begins to spread rumors that the novel is based on Marge's life.
After Homer is teased by several people who imply that Ned is Marge's secret love, Homer gets mad and decides to read the book. He buys an audiotape version read by the Olsen twins
. After arguing with Marge, Homer decides to get revenge on Ned. He chases him in his ambulance after Ned flees. Lisa tells Bart that this situation is similar to the ending of the novel; Mordecai confronts Cyrus at the edge of a cliff and harpoons him after Cyrus accidentally reveals he conceived a child with Temperance. However, he is caught in his harpoon's rope, which has impaled Cyrus to the back of a sperm whale
, and dies along with his adversary. Ned is sure Homer is going to kill him when they are on the cliff, and is stunned when Homer drops to his knees and begs Ned to show him how to be a good husband. Marge arrives in a panic and is relieved that Homer and Ned are OK and that Homer says this was a wake-up call for him. Homer and Marge then decide to make their own novel: "Who Really Killed JFK
?", with Homer's unsuccessful theory being that Lee Harvey Oswald
killed JFK as a distraction so he could steal the "Jack Ruby
", but then refutes his own idea when Marge tells him that Jack Ruby was a man, not a jewel.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 15)
The Simpsons 15th season began on Sunday, November 2, 2003 with "Treehouse of Horror XIV".The season contains five hold-over episodes from the season 14 production line...
, which originally aired January 25, 2004. Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is inspired to write a romance novel
Romance novel
The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...
, though after Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
hears rumors that Marge is secretly in love with Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
due to the storyline of the novel, he grows jealous. Meanwhile, Homer buys an ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
and becomes an ambulance driver.
Plot
After Homer buys nearly everything on the menu at Krusty Burger, burrito filling hits the windshield and, unable to see the road, he swerves towards the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, crashes into the main building and crushes a safety inspector. Mr. Burns fires Homer and throws him out of the SNPP before tossing his wrecked car out of the area as well.Meanwhile, Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
are at the bookstore, where Marge meets author Esmé Delacroix (likely a parody of the late British author E. M. Delafield
E. M. Delafield
Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture , commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author. She is best-known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a...
, whose first name was Edmé). This meeting inspires Marge to write a novel. Homer tries his hand at auto sales but is remarkably bad at it (when he passes gas during a sales pitch, he turns on the car radio as a deflection), yet he is happy to buy a 1959 ambulance.
Marge begins to write a novel about whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
times (inspired by the boat painting in the living room, "Scene from Moby Dick"), and proceeds to write several sentences. That evening, Homer runs ambulance service. Unfortunately for his customers (patients), he loses his way and refuses to accept that he is lost, although driving in circles. Marge creates the characters for her novel: Temperance, the dutiful lady, inspired by herself; Temperance's loving whaler husband, Mordecai, inspired by Homer; and Cyrus Manly, inspired by Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
. At first, she has Homer as a successful whale hunter, but after he comes home and obnoxiously demands Marge cook him up a gourmet meal, Marge decides to remake him into a lazy, drunk fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
who is a bad husband and father, who is always getting drunk at Moab's Tavern. She completes the book, titled The Harpoon
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...
ed Heart. She gets positive reviews and decides to get it published. At Lisa's advice (who has noticed the similarities between fiction and real life), Marge asks Homer to read her book, but he falls asleep before getting anything done, later deciding to lie to her that he read the whole book and loved it. Marge becomes an instant success, although Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
and Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...
do not want to supply praise blurbs for the novel and Clancy is surprised when his hypothetic, rejected idea of praise is taken as a sincere endorsement of Marge's work. However, Helen Lovejoy begins to spread rumors that the novel is based on Marge's life.
After Homer is teased by several people who imply that Ned is Marge's secret love, Homer gets mad and decides to read the book. He buys an audiotape version read by the Olsen twins
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen are American actresses and entrepreneurs.Both have appeared in television and films since infancy. Since then, they have continued their celebrity through numerous television programs, films, interviews, as well as commercial endorsements...
. After arguing with Marge, Homer decides to get revenge on Ned. He chases him in his ambulance after Ned flees. Lisa tells Bart that this situation is similar to the ending of the novel; Mordecai confronts Cyrus at the edge of a cliff and harpoons him after Cyrus accidentally reveals he conceived a child with Temperance. However, he is caught in his harpoon's rope, which has impaled Cyrus to the back of a sperm whale
Sperm Whale
The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a marine mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale having the largest brain of any animal. The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is the only living member of genus Physeter...
, and dies along with his adversary. Ned is sure Homer is going to kill him when they are on the cliff, and is stunned when Homer drops to his knees and begs Ned to show him how to be a good husband. Marge arrives in a panic and is relieved that Homer and Ned are OK and that Homer says this was a wake-up call for him. Homer and Marge then decide to make their own novel: "Who Really Killed JFK
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
?", with Homer's unsuccessful theory being that Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
killed JFK as a distraction so he could steal the "Jack Ruby
Jack Ruby
Jacob Leon Rubenstein , who legally changed his name to Jack Leon Ruby in 1947, was convicted of the November 24, 1963 murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby, who was originally from Chicago, Illinois, was then a nightclub operator in Dallas, Texas...
", but then refutes his own idea when Marge tells him that Jack Ruby was a man, not a jewel.
Cultural references
- The title word playWord playWord play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
s off of the book and film Diary of a Mad HousewifeDiary of a Mad HousewifeDiary of a Mad Housewife is a 1967 novel that was adapted into 1970 drama film about a frustrated wife, portrayed by Carrie Snodgress, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe award in the same category. The film was adapted by Eleanor Perry from the 1967...
, as well as E. M. Delafield'sE. M. DelafieldEdmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture , commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author. She is best-known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a...
novel Diary of a Provincial Lady. - Homer sings a song to the tune of CarsCars (song)Fear Factory, an American industrial metal band, recorded a version of "Cars" and released it as the second single from their third studio album, Obsolete. The song was only included as a bonus track on the limited edition digipak re-release of Obsolete and would be instrumental in breaking Fear...
by Gary NumanGary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
. - Homer briefly works at the "Boris Car Loft", a reference to Boris KarloffBoris KarloffWilliam Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
. - Marge denotes the similarity of the picture behind the couch to the classic novel, Moby-DickMoby-DickMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
(the picture is, in fact, called "Scene from Moby Dick"). It inspired her novel, when she thought "No one's done a book about whaling before!" Moreover, her book is about whaling and its ending has Temperance's husband dying in a similar manner to that of Ahab, from the same novel. - Lisa tells Bart that Marge's novel will be parodied on the FOX sketch show MADtvMADtvMADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
. - Homer tells Marge to "publish or perishPublish or perish"Publish or perish" is a phrase coined to describe the pressure in academia to publish work constantly to further or sustain one's career.Frequent publication is one of the few methods at a scholar's disposal to demonstrate their academic capabilities, and the attention that successful publications...
", which refers to the constant pressure in academic environments to publish their work in order to successfully further their careers. - The scene inside Lisa's head where her Jealousy, Conscience, Honesty and Libido are personified by other 'mini Lisa's' is a direct reference to the now defunct show Herman's HeadHerman's HeadHerman's Head is an American sitcom that aired on the Fox network from 1991 to 1994. The series stars William Ragsdale as the titular character, Herman Brooks.-Synopsis:...
(1991–1994). The protagonist, Herman, would have the same scenes play out in his head with characters playing his Anxiety, Sensitivity, Intellect, and Lust. In a double twist of irony, the actor who provides the voice of Lisa SimpsonLisa SimpsonLisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
, Yeardley SmithYeardley SmithYeardley Smith is a French-born American actress, voice actress, writer and painter. She is best known for her long-running role as Lisa Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons....
was also an actor on Herman's Head, playing the character Louise Fitzer, and appearing in 32 of the shows' 71 episodes. It also may be of interest that Hank AzariaHank AzariaHenry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
who voices many of the characters on The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
appeared on 70 episodes of Herman's Head. - The idea of Marge's novel is based on the classic fairytale Bluebeard's EggBluebeard's EggBluebeard’s Egg is a collection of short stories by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1983.In this collection, Atwood explores the politics of sex and heterosexual relationships, examining the emotions, betrayals, and casualties of such relationships...
by Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
. - Dr. Marvin Monroe makes a brief cameo appearanceCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the episode, where he buys a copy of Marge's book. He states to have been "very sick" lately, which indirectly contradicts events alluding to Monroe's death in the previous seasons. This is so far the last appearance of Dr. Monroe in the show.