Masculinity And Power In Spunk

The mainstay figure of the short story, "Spunk," whom the story is named after, offers a unique example of the believable, appropriate, and curiously unlikable character. Being a flat character, Spunk thinks of himself as the most dominant man in town which fuels his arrogance, as well as his ego, as shown when he says, "...the dirty sneak shoved me...he didn't dare come to my face"(Hurston). This exemplifies Spunk's firm belief that he is the most powerful man not only between him and Joe Kanty, but between him and the rest of the world. Due to his superiority complex, Spunk exhibits a thirst for control. A perfect example of this complex is when Spunk faces Lena and tells her, "ah'll git the lumber foh owah house to-morrow... when youse inside don't forgit youse mine, an' let no other man git outa his place wid you!"(Hurston). All of these instances shows how belligerent Spunk is and this ties into the universal theme of masculinity and power. Although Spunk has shown his full capacity for being aggressive and intrusive, he transforms throughout the story from a dynamic character with arrogance and bravado into one filled with fear and paranoia. In the

The man versus man conflict of this story is between a man by the name of Spunk Banks and another man by the name of Joe Kanty. This is the major conflict because between the two men they are fighting to see whom the bigger man is, and who will get the girl, Lena. It is also the major conflict because it ties into the biggest themes of the story of male dominance, and love and passion. Other than this conflict there are also minor conflicts in the story “Spunk”. One of the minor disputes is the troubles in the marriage of Joe Kanty and his wife, Lena. Then, there is the most important minor battle between Spunk and himself and feeling guilt for killing Joe making this a man versus