“The Men We Carried in Our Minds” Essay In this essay “The Men We Carried in Our Minds”, Scott Russell Sanders put on display, for all to read, the most talked about controversy. Gender roles/norms of the twenty-first century remains an unavoidable topic along with the fight for gender equality. Sanders discloses the different perspectives he had throughout his life on this particular topic. Sanders’ first view of gender roles, as a child, were that women had it easy, that men were the only ones in pain and maimed. He wrote, “There were times, studying them, when I dreaded growing up.” after he watched these men’s bodies shrivel up from hard labor. He blamed hard labor for women outliving men, the work killed them faster. The only option a man had was either “killing themselves or preparing to kill others.” Sanders envied women because they didn't have to make that choice they got to stay home. Their only job was to care for the children and run the house, Sanders’ even expressed that …show more content…
The scholarship gave him a chance to escape his impending fate back home. He experienced a whole different side of social spectrum, he met men who knew “they would lead lives of comfort and power.” He also met women who blamed for their oppression, that they kept the joys of the world away from them. This mindset completely baffled Sanders because he had grown up thinking that women had it easy and that men lived harsh lives. He didn’t think about how women felt about just staying home and watching over the kids. His perspective on this was traditional, this was how it always was. Centuries of housewives and hard-working husbands, its hard to let go of familiar ideas and let in change. People have always wanted what they can’t have, “ It was not my fate to become a women, so it was easier for me to see the graces.” and Sanders wasn’t any different envying the “leisurely” lives of