In Robert Jensen’s article “The High Cost of Manliness”, he states that the idea of masculinity is a bad thing and they should get rid of it. This article debates on the common stereotypes of men, as he states: “That dominant conception of masculinity in U.S. Culture is easily summarized: Men are assumed to be naturally competitive and aggressive, and being a real man is therefore marked by the struggle for control, conquest, and domination” (par. 4). Nonetheless, there are some traits that men and woman share, such as, caring, compassion, and tenderness. These traits often depend on the situation, since a man cannot always be this way, whereas, a woman is often expected to have these traits.
Individuals are consistently pressured by gender expectations within societies, predominantly in rural towns during the 1960’s. Silvey’s utilisation of characterisation and point of view of Charlie Bucktin presents the traditional gender roles in Jasper Jones, set in Australia during the 1960’s. As Charlie prepares himself to set foot on a journey with Jasper Jones, he noted his appearances and display of femininity: “…the application of pansy footwear, is my first display of girlishness… I jog back with as much masculinity as I can muster, which even in the moonlight must resemble something of an arthritic chicken.” This excerpt shows that Charlie is challenged by Corrigan’s gender expectation of masculinity.
Winton uses the characters of Mr Pike and Mr Loon to provide contrasting views on the constructs of masculinity present in Australian society during the 1970s. In Sawyer, there are not many opportunities offered to young Pikelet, but as they are male, they are expected to follow in the footsteps of the other men in town, becoming fishermen or miners. However, a great deal of his masculine identity is shaped by his father’s masculinity. Mr Pike is timid and “naturally subdued” (p12) and as a teenager, Pikelet finds it difficult to relate to him. He is not a strong or inspiring figure and is instead a masculine model who is cautious of the natural world.
Extreme circumstances provoke precarious acts. As man attempts to survive, he forgets his moral code and reverts to instinctual behaviors. The boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies prove this: As the story progresses, their inner evil is evident through their savage actions and their moral behaviors are lost. In the beginning, the group of boys struggle to maintain a democratic environment. The longer they live on the island, their society turns chaotic: No one obeys the regulations set into place and most of them do not take their predicament as serious as they should.
In 1936, just being a man did not fit the idea of what masculinity was, there was more. In Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat (2013), the reader relives the moments leading up to, and through the Berlin Olympics. The reader visualize events through the eyes of a grief-stricken Joe Rantz, who uses rowing as his way of sheer survival. Brown’s characterization of Joe implies that he was seen by others as this masculine male. Brown’s description of Al Ulbrickson, head coach of the University of Washington’s rowing team, also insinuates the same notion.
When observing the male characters, thematic influences that shape their idea of freedom are status and wealth, from analysis of the text it is evident that it provides the men of these stories with a sense of masculinity and power. Taking a look at Walter’s relation to wealth in A Raisin in the Sun, it demonstrates that he believes that the more leisure and free spending his family has, the more of a man it makes him. When Walter, his mother, and his wife, argue over their spending and finances, Walter states, “Well, you tell that to my boy tonight when you put him to sleep on the living-room couch … Yeah—and tell it to my wife, Mama, tomorrow when she has to go out of here to look after somebody else’s kids” (1.2.191).
In Macbeth and The Mask You Live In, the characteristics of masculinity begins with the questioning or threatening of their manhood, which then leads to successive violence, and lastly, the desperate behavior that occurs when ashamed. In Macbeth, and The Mask You Live In, Shakespeare investigates the connection between a man’s questioning and
Masculinity. Baldwin also enlightens the masculinity in both black and white folks in America, according to Katie Riley, “Masculinity is something that is explored thoroughly by James Baldwin works” while researching about James Baldwin, I figure he portrayed a lot of Masculinity in some or most of his works. Although James Baldwin didn't only explore Masculinity in only his race, he also explores Masculinity in other race such as white race. That pretty much got my attention because Baldwin was diverse in topics that he writes about. At the central aspect of James Baldwin works, Baldwin compares both black and white Masculinities and shows that they are both established and “formulated” via similar experiences and circumstances around them.
The ability to understand male role models allows for a more intelligent understanding as to why boys act the way they do, and why our conceived notion on what being a boy changes. While examining the movie Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater, and the entry “Boyhood” by Eric Tribunella, manhood is defined by “the ability to dominate, care for, or exercise power over others”, while “to be a boy means to be flawed, inchoate, or incomplete” (Tribunella). The movie and the entry both enlighten audiences with examples of boyhood and how it changes and shifts from each person. Linklater’s
The notion of separate spheres seen throughout the Victorian period was set up to distinguish the roles of men and women in society. Women fulfilled the domestic sphere and were generally seen as emotionally sensitive and submissive individuals. Conversely, men were held to be intelligent, stable, and fulfill all of the work outside of the home. In Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, the Count seems to actually embody the fear of the breakdown of such separate spheres. However, Bram Stoker breaks down these separate spheres and the fear associated with their breakdown through the theme of the “New Woman” intertwined with the actions and behaviors of the characters in the novel.
In Tim O’brien’s book, The Things They Carried, we see the detrimental causes and effects of the enforced stereotype of male masculinity. Tim uses many factors including the setting, characters, symbolism and other components like these to conveys his feelings and emotions. Many of those feelings and emotions derive from his personal experience in the war. The Things They Carried accurately shows what it is to struggle with the stereotypical image of a man in how it presents itself in everyday life along with its adverse and restricting effects.
Introduction In the Western world, majority of the movies are normally preoccupied with the notion of masculinity that depict men as being the dominant gender with roles requiring them to exhibit male behavior, such as providing for family and fighting, while the women the inferior gender with roles requiring them to exhibit female behavior, such as supporting the husband despite his shortcomings. Anne Lee in his modern Western movie Brokeback Mountain (IMDb, 2015) represents masculinity in different relationships: masculinity as depicted by men who want to be in a relationship with women and masculinity as depicted by men who want to be in the same-sex relationship. In this movie opinions divide significantly concerning masculinity especially when looking at Ennis and Jack who are two gay cowboys trying to be in a secret homosexual relationship. In what follows, we will examine the representation of relationships of traditional Western masculinity in the movie
Obtaining and defending one's honor defines a person's life the community conveyed in Gabriel García Marquez’s novela Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Honor is an intangible prize that is synonymous with worship and good reputation. In the small town that this chronicle takes place in is very divided through gender. For a woman to be respected highly and maintain her honor she must be pure and practice chastity before marriage. Opposed to that, for a man to be considered with honor, he perform hyper-masculinity in everything that he does, and treat everyone with this pugnacious attitude.
In The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, the main character, Jake Barnes, is experiencing life post World War I. In a war that denounced faith and integrity, Jake becomes troubled by the concept of being part of a world without purpose. As a result, he starts drinking heavily along with his friends, who are also experiencing the same problems. However, no matter how much these characters drink, they cannot escape their sadness. To add to this purposeless life, Jake also struggles with male insecurity which all the veteran males struggled with after the war.
Masculinity (also called boyhood, manliness or manhood) is a set of attributes, behaviors and roles generally associated with boys and men. But the culture doesn’t end at the definition, it starts from there. The first thing to come to mind when the word masculinity is heard is usually a man flexing his gigantic muscles, as the word might sound to suggest, and that right there is the current culture of masculinity because sadly, in the world we live in, not everyone has a “muscular body”. So far we know the concept of masculinity, but the culture is what is truly hampering.
