Toxic Masculinity In Pushing The Bear

The New Oxford Dictionary defines matriarchal as “a form of social organization in which a woman is the head”. In the Cherokee culture marriage is matriarchal, unlike most other cultures where marriage is patriarchal. This is an important detail to remember. One of the biggest problems in the novel is the toxic masculinity directed at women by men. In Diane Glancy’s Pushing the Bear, Maritole’s suffering on the already treacherous journey is greatly exacerbated by Knowbotee’s toxic masculinity, which renders him bitter, misogynistic, and power-hungry.

Psychologists define toxic masculinity as, “the notion that some people’s idea of “manliness” perpetuates domination, homophobia, and aggression. Toxic masculinity involves cultural pressures

Glancy knew what she was doing when she named Knowbotee, essentially pronounced no-body. Knowbotee is no one without Maritole and he is aware of this fact. “For now she was a reminder that I was always dissatisfied with my life. I had to look to other measures. Other than horse, hogs, plow, field, wife.” (194) At one point during the novel, Maritole is allowed back to their home one last time to get anything they need for wherever they are going. Knowbotee instructs Maritole to retrieve three things: corn, his musket, and blankets. After fighting her own mental battles, Maritole forgets Knowbotee’s musket and corn seeds. Knowbotee immediately realizes that if Maritole leaves him, he is left with nothing. His musket is his way of protecting his family: his manliness motif, so to speak. “I saw Knowbotee’s face turn solemn. He could hardly understand what I said. The thought of white men in our cabin made him stare into the trees. ‘The musket,’ he said. ‘The corn, Maritole. What will we plant?’” (16). Knowbotee seems to resort to violence under pressure. “Why hadn’t Maritole been able to get anything when she returned to the cabin? It seemed simple enough. I wanted to strike out at something.” (18) This line is another example of Knowbotee and his constant desire to appear

She soon turns to the white soldier who seems to satisfy her lack of love and attention. Knowbotee begins to feel jealousy and turns bitter towards Maritole. “You aren't fit to wear them.” He shoved me down to rip the coat from me, but saw the trousers on my legs. He was trying to grab them off me, too, when Williams took Knobowtee with his hands and ordered him away from me. Knobowtee pounded Williams. Williams hit back….A woman spit at me. Knobowtee spit at me. I saw hatred in his face as I crawled to the shelter of the tarp.” (170) Knowbotee beings to feel like his masculinity is being stripped from him. His home, work, and gun were all taken from him in an instant. From a white man. The same white man who took his wife and slept with her right in front of him. “Maybe that’s what Maritole could be to me. But she had slept with a soldier in front of me. Cut off her nose. I’d heard that’s what other tribes did. Let her be shamed in front of every- one. Wasn't that the way I felt?”

Knowbotee felt shame. “A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.” (New Oxford Dictionary) He was shameful of Maritoles actions and the weak way it made him look. He hated Maritole for ruining his reputation and sense of manliness, all for a white