The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

For my essay, the topic that I chose is how masculinity can affect people in different ways.

Such as how the stigma around masculinity can force people into not sharing their feelings or acting in ways that fit the stereotypes. Masculinity is perceived in ways that hold people back from their feelings and try to act like they are above others instead of doing the right thing.

In life we often see men who show emotion as weak.But the ones who do show emotion are outcasted and made fun of so they try to cover up by acting misogynistic and being rude or dismissive toward women or other people to try and assert the dominance there so desperately trying to gain. In the book The absolutely true diary of a Part-time Indian we see Junior who is

They are also told that they have to act like they are above women. They have been taught this form from such a young age and don't know any better so they teach their children. It is a never-ending cycle of inequality, misogyny, and toxic masculinity. Rowdy is another character in the book but a totally opposite one from Junior. Rowdy was raised in a household with an abusive father. Growing up in this situation rowdy has learned and been told that showing feelings is weak. Rowdy grows up to become some of the toughest kids on the reservation and he is also Juniors best friend. We see Rowdy in the book beating up other kids and having a reputation that makes other people fear him. Rowdy is growing up in this bubble of negativity where people are feeding him the idea that if he shows any emotions he will be called ‘’gay’’ or ‘’weak’’ and rowdy feels trapped. We only see Rowdy start to break out of this bubble when his best friend Junior shows him that it is ok to have emotions and that others have just built him up to be someone who has to be strong all the time. Junior shows Rowdy that this isn't true and he can share his feelings with Junior because Rowdy knows Junior won't judge

So people with extremely outdated opinions on the world still choose to believe that this lifestyle is wrong. These people are putting the world and our generation back in time to a time when people of this community are not accepted. Maybe they don't know any better, But it is our job to teach these people that the only thing that matters is supporting people who have the courage to be themselves. During Juniors' time at Reardan Junior meets a friend named Gordy. Junior becomes attached to Gordy after he sticks up for him during a class. Junior asks Gordy if he wants to be friends and immediately Gordy says ‘’I am not a homosexual’’.This shows us that Gordy has been taught to believe that showing emotion to other men is ‘’gay’’ which is an outdated stereotype that Gordy is particular about. Gordy is so worried about being seen as gay that he has to pronounce that he is not. Masculinity has taught these boys that being seen as gay is a bad thing it has taught them that showing friendly emotions to each other is not allowed and it has shown them that they have to put on a strong front all the time. Over the journey of the book, we see that Gordy warms up to Junior, Suddenly we see a change in Junior as he starts to make an astonishing comparison between Gordy,his new friend, and Rowdy, his old best friend acting alike with their tough emotionless