The famous quote, “Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor” by Norman Mailer grasps the moral of Ernest Hemingway’s “Indian Camp” and William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning.” “Indian Camp” and “Barn Burning” both tell the story of a young boy discovering what it means to be a man in the face of various challenges that would compromise manhood through the help of their fathers. The stories share similarities as their fathers through a rite of passage lead both young men to manhood. However, the meaning of being a man and how it is achieved differs greatly among the works. In Ernest Hemingway’s “Indian Camp,” the protagonist Nick Adams, a young boy, shadows his father, …show more content…
The protagonist, Colonel Sartoris Snopes, is forced to discover what it means to be a man as he battles between what he believes is right and what his father, Abner Snopes, has attempted to teach him to be right. Sartoris is a ten-year old boy who is very impressionable and like many young men looks to his father for guidance. However, Snopes is not one many would consider a role model, as he lives a life of crime burning down barns. Snopes forces him to participate in his criminal acts as he is taught that it is just part of being a man. Snopes teaches Sartoris that to be a man means to value one’s family above all else. Simply stated it may seem he is providing his son with good advice however, to him valuing one’s family means lying on one another’s behalf. He is taught loyalty to his family comes above loyalty to the law. Snopes also teaches Sartoris that violence is a characteristic of masculinity and an element of manhood. Snopes explains, “You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you,” (803) after he hits Sartoris on the side of the head. Snopes wants Sartoris to realize that going against his family will have extreme consequences. Snopes encounters some issues with the Major de Spain family due to a spoiled rug. When Snopes decides he is going to …show more content…
Each work tells the story of a boy discovering what it means to be a man in the face of various challenges that would compromise manhood through the help of their fathers. In “Indian Camp,” Nick is taught that to be a strong masculine man one must be confident, in control, and able to handle tough situations. He is faced with challenges that had the ability to compromise his masculinity and path to manhood such as, the heart wrenching screams of the woman giving birth and the horrific scene of the newly born baby’s father sitting in the corner with his throat cut. In “Barn Burning,” his father teaches Sartoris that to be a man means putting family loyalty above all else, enduring violence, and to do whatever his family asks of him. Sartoris is faced with the challenge to choose between what he believes is right and what his father has taught him is right. Sartoris knows that choosing to act on what he believes in will compromise his manhood in the eyes of his family. The young men are forced down very different paths to manhood. Nick’s journey is led by a father who has the best intentions for his son, while Sartoris’ journey is led by a father who does not have his son’s best interest at heart and ultimately learns what it means to be a man by breaking from his father’s ways. However, both young men receive some benefit from their situations
In the essay, “The High Cost of Manliness,” writer Robert Jensen discusses the harmful effects of having male specific characteristics, such as masculinity. Jensen realizes that men’s actions and ways of living are judged based upon the characteristic of being manly. He argues that there is no valid reason to have characteristics associated with being male. Society has created the notion that masculinity is the characteristic that defines males as males.
Looking towards the second protagonist, Andy can also be a good role model for young boys. Even though the events that lead Andy into the war are not admirable he does show great attributes during the war. Andy is a young man of courage, maturity, mate ship and just like Henry, integrity and honesty. When faced with danger Andy is quick to quite literally step up to the mark. In combat, the soldiers were hastily called to ‘man the fire step’. Andy showing bravery and courage was the first to volunteer himself, manning the fire step all through the night. It is through these sole actions the reader gets a taste of Henry and Andy’s personalities, highlighting the minor messages in this book such as honor, mate ship and responsibility. If we were to look at the boy’s love lives, we would see the more prevailing message of relationships. Henry and Andy both face hardships in their romantic lives. With Henry in a struggling, unhappy relationship with his girlfriend (Marcelle), Henry finds himself more attracted to his friend’s girlfriend (Janine). When his friend (Trot) is killed off the most un-fascinating and foreseeable way possible, it leaves Henry in a sticky situation. Through all this, Henry can stay true to his moral code just like a real Aussie. On the other side, Andy also gets himself into a sticky situation when he regrettably impregnates a girl (Frances-Jane) while in another relationship (Cecelia). However, Andy does not abandon Frances but instead turns to her and his unborn baby for comfort in his time of darkness and despair. He shows integrity and honesty by choosing to tell Cecelia the truth. In the time of Andy’s story this was an orthodox thing to do. The author accentuates the belief through that even if society tells you it’s the wrong thing to do it is sometimes best to stick to your morals. The actions of these young men are a good influence to the social,
When the man and boy meet people on the road, the boy has sympathy for them, but his father is more concerned with keeping them both alive. The boy is able to get his father to show kindness to the strangers (McCarthy), however reluctantly the kindness is given. The boy’s main concern is to be a good guy. Being the good guy is one of the major reasons the boy has for continuing down the road with his father. He does not see there is much of a point to life if he is not helping other people. The boy wants to be sure he and his father help people and continue to carry the fire. The boy is the man’s strength and therefore courage, but the man does not know how the boy worries about him how the boy’s will to live depends so much on his
Both Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler and Population: 485 by Michael Perry explore ideas of masculinity and manhood, but I think Butler shares a more diverse representation of masculinity through his different characters. What it means to be a man The concept of masculinity is considered as the qualities and characteristics of a man, typical of what is appropriate to a man. In this article, A Community Psychology of Men and Masculinity: Historical and Conceptual Review, the authors Eric S. Mankowski and Kenneth I. Maton, analyze four main themes: "Men as gendered beings, the privilege and damage of being a masculine man, men as a privileged group, and men’s power and subjective powerlessness. " The second and fourth themes are described as paradoxes that have created difficulty in efforts to analyze and understand men’s gender and masculinity." However, the point of view of masculinity that Perry raises in population 485 has a different aspect.
In Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost A Man” the ideas of a young African American man’s coming of age is explored in the early twentieth century. In this short story our protagonist Dave struggles with the true definition of manhood and the rite of passage in rural southern America. He acts in ways that “ suggested a challenge to ideas of manhood”(Fine) by others in the community that he misguidedly finds fitting.
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.
These two novels spoke about real powerful momentous events that occur in the authors’ lives. The authors emerged from the shadows and transformed their mishaps into motivation of overcoming life’s hardships. These two stories exemplify ways of overcoming Life’s hardships and finding sense of oneself. These authors break their vows of silence to prove the beauty of a broken person. They both converse on racial discrimination, relationships with God, & coming into themselves.
The boys live a new life without adults and social norms. Roles in their makeshift society have been carried out but Jack’s self-imposed responsibility only aims to fulfill his personal agenda. Jack’s fervent character is aggressiveness masquerading as passion. This destructive behavior sends Jack to a faster decline to savagery in relation to his peers.
Sarty’s dilemma arises from his father’s destructive envy of his wealthy employers. Abner Snopes frustration with being a poor sharecropper owned “body and soul”(280) by the South’s rich and elite leads him to exact his revenge on the undeserving blue bloods in the only way he knows how-by burning down their barns. While Sarty’s loyalty to Abner is proven after a court hearing held by “his father’s enemy . . . our enemy . . .ourn! mine and hisn both,”(277) after which he challenges and is beaten by a boy “half again his size”(278) because the boy called his father a “barn burner”(278) he is left to make a critical decision between saving his family or his own morality.
Mosse, L George. The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity. New York: Macmillan publishers, 1996.
In life, there are many decisions that everyone must make. And with decision-making comes consequences, some that we are ready for , and some that we may not be ready for. The author of ' The Man Who Was Almost a Man,' Richard Wright, portrays a young man who wants to be a man, but shows that he is clearly unprepared for manhood and the consequences that come with that responsibility. Through decision making based on self interest, wanting to gain respect from his family, and wanting to prove his dignity, Richard Wright brings forth the main character, Dave, a seventeen year old boy, whose actions show that he is only 'almost a man.'
A man who only understands a destitute world believes that men need to be robust and savage to survive in such harsh environments. Most of the children that are raised on the deteriorating streets inevitably arrive on the path of crime and drugs. Yet, if a man is secure from these circumstances, he can dramatically improve his life for the better. When he leaves his normal surroundings, Wes becomes a powerful and just leader who finally sees himself as a man when he is “accountable to people other than [himself] (66).” The two Wes Moores become what America deems is a proper man; a protector. Yet, it’s impossible to play this role when no man can protect himself on the streets of
...author uses satire to give a surprising twist in how the character’s behaviour and personality will affect the plot of the story. He who has both revenge and pride can really influence how he behaves in a positive or negative way, depending on his own judgment. His planning skills and actions are not very tactical or well thought out. Despite that his body is flexible and fast from training for preparations to kill Count Rugen, he is not able to use it correctly because of his foolishness and he cannot comprehend rationally. What he wants is stronger than how he should think with careful deductions before act while still has to learn to be self-reliant more regularly. Although his pride and talents of a fencer compensate for his weak brain, it is not enough to succeed in his goals if he is not able to anticipate what can happen and determine different possibilities.
Ernest Hemingway uses the various events in Nick Adams life to expose the reader to the themes of youth, loss, and death throughout his novel In Our Time. Youth very often plays its part in war, and since In Our Time relates itself very frequently to war throughout; it is not a surprise that the theme of youthful innocence arises in many of the stories. In “Indian Camp” the youthful innocence is shown in the last sentence of the story: “In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern of the boat with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die.” (19) When this sentence and the conversation Nick and his father have before they get on the boat are combined in thought it shows that because of Nicks age at the time that he does not yet understand the concept of death.
In “Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemingway, there is a woman who needs to give birth to an infant. With difficulties, the infant is born, but the father could not handle the pressure, a fact which leads to the Indian father taking his own life. Ultimately, the suicide of the Indian father in Hemingway’s short story “Indian Camp” compels the reader to examine what made the Indian father get so depressed that he commits suicide and how it affected Nick’s life.