In Yan Bi’s novel Emperor’s Domination, while dueling the protagonist, numerous arrogant youths yell, “I, your father, will defeat you!” The “father” proceeds to enter a state of half-death, beaten until “his parents couldn’t recognize him.” In a prevalent Wuxia-genre trope, after an arrogant statement, convoluted battle, and eventual loss, defeated warriors repent and cry, “I had eyes, but I couldn’t recognize Mt. Tai.” After being disgraced, the insulted protagonist gains revenge through violent victory or, in the occasional scene, an affair with a relative of the repenter. Similarly, when facing challenges, individuals in Ralph W. Ellison’s Invisible Man, Arthur Miller’s Death of Salesman, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Francis …show more content…
For example, when not-Tyler goes to a Remaining Men Together meeting, Bob tells him “the group’s disbanded” for Fight Club (100). Bob desires to prove that he is still a man by fighting against his fate. He doesn’t want to despair; instead, he wishes to achieve the thrill of fighting before a crowd and fill the void in his life with masculinity. Similarly, Tyler starts Project Mayhem to escape being “God’s middle children” (141) and implicitly gain the attention of his disappearing father who is his “model for God” (186). When facing obstacles, some individuals resort to violence to prove that they are still men. By expressing masculinity, these individuals ignore the void in their lives because the morning after they are in a state of “zen” (64); however, Not-Tyler becomes “pissed” that he had “become this totally centered Zen Master and nobody had noticed” (63). When men display masculinity, it is for society to notice and respect them. In addition, Dimmesdale often “plied” a bloody scourge “on his own shoulders in “an act of penance”because he fears admitting he is Hester’s lover (132). Dimmesdale discovers that he cannot provide for his family and he is effectively not a man. As his sins plague him, Dimmesdale desires to prove he is still a man and deny that he lacks the courage to admit his adultery. By self-flagellating, he believes he atones for his sins and …show more content…
Big Bob’s desperation to prove his masculinity by joining Project Mayhem results in his “amazing miracle of death” (178). The only way to escape Project Mayhem, which replaces family and success with masculinity, is death. Project Mayhem suggests that individuals exchange their success for an unsustainable illusion that crumbles as individuals make poor decisions to perpetuate their toxic masculinity. Furthermore, Willy teaches his sons that being masculine and using others will lead to success. Paradoxically, Willy’s need to be “picked” by a woman destroys his own dream for Biff to surpass him in life because Willy can never be satisfied with what he has (38). Biff inherits his father’s toxic masculinity because his “father is” his “model for God” (Palahniuk 141). Biff gains bad morales that lead into trouble because he attacks his problems instead of compromising. Willy taught Biff that, so long as you’re charismatic enough, everyone else will listen to you, resulting in a false confidence. For Willy, success comes from how many people know you, and Billy played in front of thousands, but Bertram presents in front of a small, select group as a lawyer at the Supreme Court. The stark contrast between their current states suggests the backwardness of Willy’s values. Similarly, Not-Tyler’s father passes toxic masculinity onto him by suggesting, “Get married before the sex gets boring, or you’ll never get
The novel Deliverance by James Dickey portrays the essence of middle-aged men experiencing the mid-life crisis through which they must prove to themselves and more importantly every one else that they still possess the strength, bravery, intelligence, and charm believed to be society's ideal of "masculinity." Dickey's four main characters undertake a risky adventure to satisfy their egotistical complexes and prove to the world that they are still the strong young men their wives married. Each character represents a different stereotype of the middle-aged man, and therefore experiences a different type of psychological and physical journey than their peers.
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is set in a 1600’s, religious town in Massachusetts. Due to the strict religious code of this town, Reverend Dimmesdale, the well-respected priest in the town, can not find the courage to reveal his adultery to the townspeople. Roger Chillingworth is angry about Hester and Dimmesdale’s affair and seeks to take revenge on the Reverend. Although they suffer the effects of different sins, they both struggle to find absolution for their sins. Hawthorne's diction and internal conflict show that no matter the negative effects of one sins one can still find redemption in oneself and the world around them.
Smiles, Samuel. "The Scarlet Letter." The Critical Temper. Ed. Martin Tucker. New York City: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1962. 266.
Smiles, Samuel. "The Scarlet Letter." The Critical Temper. Ed. Martin Tucker. New York City: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1962. 266.
It is stated by Standage that, “Sandage believes Willy Loman was a success. But the message of the play, he says, is that “if you level off, you have to give up. You might as well not live”” (Baird 25). This is quite ironic because all Willy does is push to be successful and he when he can’t he puts expects his son’s to follow through so he gives up. He constantly reminds them, “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (Miller 67). This is also ironic because Willy is the man who creates personal interest in the business world, but when everyone passes away he is left with nothing but the past to remember. This false reality that Willy creates for Biff brings on the conflicts between the father and son duo due to the fact that Biff fails as a result of the way he was raised. So by the time Biff goes to interview for his first job he thinks that his success will come with no effort
Great thesis statement ! “The Scarlet Letter demonstrates that a secret or feeling kept within slowly engulfs and destroys the soul such as Dimmesdale’s sin of hypocrisy and Chillingworth’s sin of vengeance, while a secret made public, such as Prynne’s adultery, can allow a soul to recover and even strengthen.”
Throughout Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, masculinity is a recurring theme that is present throughout the novel and is directly linked to the creation of Fight Club in the first place. After meeting Tyler Durden, the narrator’s masculinity and outlook on life starts to dramatically change. As a result of this change, the theme of masculinity becomes very disastrous throughout the novel very quickly because Palahniuk uses masculinity in order to explain the many problems the consumer driven males may struggle with. In this case, the narrator’s masculinity is constantly in question because of his struggles with insomnia, a consumer driven lifestyle, and Marla Singer. In our society today, the view of masculinity has changed a lot where it almost seems that femininity plays a big role in masculinity.
Through a series of events, Biff gradually comes to a realization of what is necessary for success. First, we are shown a part of his childhood where Biff is told that "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." This idea appears in direct contrast to Bernard, one of Biff's childhood friends, who works and studies hard. Biff decides that Bernard will not succeed because he is "only liked, not well-liked," and being well-liked is the cornerstone of success. Nonetheless, later in the play we see that Bernard has become very successful, underscoring one of the messages in the play, that success is not just a result of popularity. Second, we are shown a scene in Boston soon after Biff has just failed math for the year. He discovers his "heroic" father having an affair. Biff comes to the painful realization that his father's values, his views, and everything that Biff had made the foundation of his life, are all completely "fake" and "phony." Unfortunately, he has nothing with which to replace it. Lastly, Biff decides to leave to try and find himself, but an argument develops between Biff and Willy. Biff begins to see himself as like his father, "nothing," just an average man trying to make a living, and quite possibly failing. Biff's earlier image of his father's greatness has crumbled entirely, leaving a lost young man trying to find his way. Biff realized that he now needs to find his own values in life. He has finally tasted reality and now must dive head first into the pot, without any real preparation.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Scarlet Letter”. American Literature: Volume One. Ed. William E. Cain. New York: Pearson, 2004. 809-813. Print
A major part of the reader's animosity towards Willy stems from his responsibility for the ruin of his sons. Willy's affair ends up being the reason that Biff ends up a high-school failure and a football has-been. This blunder both disheartens and destroys his eldest son. It becomes the reason Biff refuses to go to summer school; it becomes the reason that Biff leaves home. Yet, this is all a result of Willy's need to be likeable. He cheats on his doting wife simply because it makes him feel special, because it gives him proof that women other that Linda are interested in him, because it makes him feel well liked. A woman "picked [him]"; a woman laughs when he makes jokes about keeping pores open; a woman pays him some attention (38).
Bensick, Carol. “His Folly, Her Weakness: Demystified Adultery in The Scarlet Letter.” New Essays on The Scarlet Letter. Ed. Michael J. Colacurcio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. 137-159. Print.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ was considered by many as the controversial novel of its time, given its themes of pride, sin and vengeance. It was also set in a time when very few were thinking about the equality of of men and women, but Hawthorne managed to bring gender-based inequality to light through the novel’s male-dominated Puritan setting and by reversing the gender roles of characters, such as Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale.
In Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman’s warped view of the American Dream caused tragedy in his family because he stressed the importance of popularity over hard work and risk-taking over perserverence. *Willy grew up believing that being "well-liked" was important to becoming a success. He believed that being well-liked could help you charm teachers and open doors in business. *He is proud that the neighborhood boys flock around Biff and respond to Biff’s athletic abilities, and in the same breath scoffs at the nerdy Bernard, who is too focused on school and his studies to be popular. Even though Biff turns out to be a failure as an adult, Willy holds on to the hopes that a business man who Biff met years ago will offer him a terrific job if Biff can be his old likeable self and recapture the confidence and grace he had as a teenager.
That kind of favoritism has a profound effect on a child, in order to be acknowledged by his father, Happy believes he must become Willy’s version of success by acquiring wealth and popularity. Happy has been living his entire life in a way that he believes will bring him attention from his father, yet his father ignores him and he becomes more miserable that if he had gone his own way. When a father chooses to favor upon one son over another, the father-son relationship occurs as well as in the son’s life. Within this relationship, the responsibility of the father is to provide values, a role model and leadership for his sons. In almost every family, the sons will look to their father as role model and a hero, which in this case Biff does but Happy does not. It is in the father’s best interest to use this opportunity to give these qualities and allow his sons to become responsible