Hazing In Pat Conroy's The Lords Of Discipline

The second part of Pat Conroy’s book, The Lords of Discipline, discusses the positive and negative effects of cadre’s hazing upon the participants of the plebe system, particularly that of Bobby Bentley. Bentley is one of twelve people chosen as the target of the cadre’s Taming. Bentley best exhibits the positive and negative impacts of the plebe system due to his lengthy endurance of the Taming. On one hand, Bentley becomes the target of terrible violence and humiliation simply because of events that he cannot control such as his uncontrollable bladder. On the other hand, Bentley becomes the symbol of courage and perseverance who gains the utter respect of his peers.
During the plebe year, Bentley endures the Taming for thirty days and causes a significant impact upon his fellow peers. At first, Bentley becomes the target of the cadre and his own fellow peers because Bentley rejects the notion of giving up. According to McLean, in reference to

Within society, one can argue hazing from multiple sides of the spectrum. On one side, one can argue that hazing is unnecessary in society due to its horrifying effects upon both an individual and a group. The event of the plebes’ hazing against a fellow plebe evidently exhibits this argument’s validity. On the other side, one can argue that hazing is necessary in society for the positive effects. In the text, the plebes unify to protect Bentley and share the suffering as a group. In military scenarios, hazing can improve the stress tolerance of soldiers; even though Bentley is not a soldier, he perfectly exhibits this tolerance when he endured the Taming for numerous months. Looking at both perspectives in the issue, one can clearly see that, despite its negative effects, hazing presents a significant benefit to enduring an immense amount of stress. Hence, hazing becomes a necessity in society but only in certain