In the 1950’s, the American society was recovering from war and experiencing the heightened fears of the cold war. During this time period there were several stresses on social formality and acceptance. Homosexuality concentrated a social change that conveyed one of the many fears society was facing. Throughout history there has been a wide variety of social attitudes toward homosexuality. While there have been many authors to manifest a message of homosexuality, Jon Lewis and Jon Mitchell convey the same message in different ways. Both authors support their ideas through text by analyzing a very popular movie, Rebel Without a Cause. Growing up Male in Jim’s Mom’s World is an essay written by Jon Lewis. This essay discusses the idea of an absent male role model in a young male’s life, as well as his inability to conform to societal norms. Lewis related these ideas as being a cause to homosexuality. Jim Stark’s “Barbaric” Yawp is an essay written by Jon Mitchell that supports a lack of positive family reinforcement as being a direct cause to homosexuality in young males. Both authors discuss similar events and occurrences to support their ideas as well as relating them back to Plato, a character with …show more content…
Lewis begins his argument on homosexuality by analyzing the film. “Plato’s relationship with Jim is complicated; it is impossible to miss the homoerotic tension (more on that later), but more superficially what’s at stake is a kind of surrogacy with Jim standing in for Plato’s absentee father” (Lewis 92). This is not the only evidence that suggests’ Plato’s father is absent from his life. “…his mother is nearly as neglectful as his father” (Lewis 92). Leading into Lewis’s main idea, as he states, “The absence of a male role model at home has contributed to Plato’s effeminacy and his (hinted at) homosexuality” (Lewis