Masculinity In Frankenstein

What to Take Away from Monster In today’s society, the word masculinity is not easily defined. It is a socially constructed word that stereotypes the male sex, by painting an image that every man has to be big and strong, fearless and show no emotion. In the book, Monster written by Walter Dean Myers, the main theme is that men showing emotion should not be a sign of weakness, and it has nothing to do with being a man. This is all proven with three key examples in the book which include: emotion, reputation and violence. Therefore, a man showing emotion should not be looked at as less masculine than a man who doesn’t. Firstly, it is not often that you see a man show emotion, let alone your own father. In the book,

In the court room Dr. Moody was explaining how Mr. Nesbit died saying, “By the lungs filling with blood” (Myers 146). As this was being said, Steve was gasping for air to catch his breath. After being in shock hearing this, you could clearly see the emotion on his face. While James King, the other person being accused of this crime, “Had his head tilted to one side, seemingly without a care” (Myers 146). While this was being told James, King showed no emotion on his face and didn’t even care that a man was shot and killed. This separated himself from Steve in this case and potentially maybe a key reason why Steve was not found guilty of robbing the store, and he was. Steve was in shock, expressing himself with facial expressions while James King did not show any emotion, to keep his reputation as a tough masculine

In the documentary, The Mask you live in, it is explained that, “with lack of expressing emotions and it building up over time negativity and violence is the easiest way to get rid of all that emotion. Males are the at-risk sex to violence, gangs and crimes due to not expressing themselves, because its not manly, and it will ruin their image” (The mask you live in). Maybe that’s why Osvaldo Cruz admits to being in a gang as he says on trial, “I belong to the Diablos” (Myers 106). Or how he’s alright with leaving his mark on an innocent person just to be apart of the gang as he says, “you got to leave your mark on somebody” (Myers 106). Or how James King and Bobo Evens are okay with plundering a store for some cigarettes and killing a man in the act . If it was okay for all of them to be able to express themselves with their emotions and not lose their sense of masculinity maybe all of the violence in this book could have been