Masculinity In King's Failed Fatherhood

183 Words1 Pages
In king’s novels external agencies-from alcoholism to supernatural possession, passion through experimental drugs and evil patriarchal men- are invoked not so much to excuse the father’s behavior as to explain the dark roots of victimization. His men may not be fully responsible for their acts, yet Kind should not be taken for a simple-minded patriarch justifying men’s faults. His work is symptomatic of a complex social and cultural situation in which men are split between a masochistic need to assume their guilt and take punishment and a sadistic need to deny guilt and recover their lost privileges. King looks into the darkest aspects of masculinity and considering how the destruction of the current model of failed fatherhood may bring hope