David Brooks Making Modern Toughness Analysis

In the New York Times article “Making Modern Toughness”, David Brooks takes on the subject of “emotional fragility” and how it relates to today’s college students. Throughout the article he discusses multiple points of view before sharing his own opinion on the matter. He starts by examining stereotypes of the younger generation, moves on to some of the influencing factors that created the older generations, then introduces his own explanation for the “fragility” that many people perceive. Brooks starts by acknowledging the stigma there is against college students, calling them more accomplished, but saying at the same time, they lack the emotional resolve that generations before them possess. He criticizes students for giving affirmations to one another freely. He also talks about “helicopter parents” and mentions the “desire for trigger warnings and safe spaces” in a way that gives the reader the idea that the current generation, is oversensitive. Further into the article, though, Brooks switches focus from almost

He says that the ones who are truly strong are those with something to believe in. That when a person has a cause to which they are dedicated wholly, they become “strong like water”. That “A blow might sink into them, and when it does they are profoundly affected by it. But they can absorb the blow because it’s short term while their natural shape is long term.” This new definition allows people to feel the emotions they have, and in fact encourages them, instead of pretending they don't exist: “People are really tough only after they have taken a leap of faith for some truth or mission or love”. To feel fear or hurt and triumph over it makes you stronger than to have felt it and ignored it or given up. People that fight relentlessly for their cause, their loved ones, themselves, are the ones that are