Was she special? Did she consider herself special? Oh, gosh, she didn't know. In the history of the world, many had been more special than her. Helen Keller had been awesome; Mother Theresa was amazing [...] She, Alison, could not hope to compete in the category of those ladies. Not yet, anyway!
This is social satire at its finest, playing on the American Dream. The character of the housewife is compared to women who have refused to adopt the role. Helen Keller was the first deaf-blind person to earn a degree in the United States, whilst Mother Theresa did huge amounts of charity work. The exclamation mark in 'Not yet, anyway!' leaves the reader puzzled but intrigued in relation to what might happen next.
There was so much she didn't know! Like how to change the oil. Or even check the oil. How to open the hood. How to bake brownies. That was embarrassing, actually, being a girl and all. And what was a mortgage? Did it come with the house? When you breast-fed, did you have to like push the milk out?
This quote satirizes stereotypes about men and women. '[H]ow to change the oil', 'check the oil' or 'open the hood' are all seen as things that men do. Women - Alison in this case - cannot possibly understand how a car works and how to fix it if necessary. What is embarrassing for a woman is not being able to 'bake brownies'. Yet again, this is an example of an idea of what the perfect housewife should be able to do - cook. The quote ends with a series of questions satirizing what are viewed as significant moments in life, causing amusement for the reader.
September 3rd
[...]
Hereby resolve to write in this book at least twenty minutes a night, no matter how tired. (If discouraged, just think how much will have been recorded for posterity after one mere year!)
September 5th
Oops. Missed a day. Things hectic.
This is a very funny quote, especially for readers who have experience keeping diaries themselves. The narrator's determination to write in his diary every day is comically undermined in the space of a few lines with the 'Oops' satirizing the previous vow that was made.
