Emasculation

Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises had an obvious strong theme of emasculation and feminization. Throughout this novel, Hemingway’s characters search for a meaning in life and for ways to define themselves. Jake Barnes, the narrator of the story, is the most emasculated of all but I believe he is still the only person within the novel with a sense of self. In this essay, I will explain why I believe Jake represents the emasculation of the lost generation and Brett represents the feminization of men. Very early in the novel, it is revealed that Jake was injured in the war, and it left him incapable of having sex. Jake had declined to kiss Georgette, a prostitute, and had told her that he was “sick.” This shows that he is reluctant to really…

himself a rabbit, Harding asserts that he cannot fit in normal society. In further claiming the fact that he and the others are in the institution because they "can't adjust to our rabbithood" (Kesey 58), Harding suggests their emasculation is the reason for their institutionalization, and thus implies it is at least part of their mental illness. Harding's wife is the subject of the first group therapy sessions, and his relationship with her becomes the problem that replaces any discussion of…

The novel states, “Folks of this type could pick Bootstrapping Striver or Proud Pillar, but the most popular brands were Militant or Street, Militant being the opposite of bourgie capitulation to The Man, and Street being the antidote to Upper Middle Class emasculation” (58). There is a contrast emerging between ‘Street” and “emasculation.” Street describes the men who embrace the urban lifestyle and often justify their decisions as survival. Emasculation means to rip away all characteristics…

The idea of emasculation is present in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, which is displayed through the characters and events that occur. Emasculation is defined as, to deprive a man of his male role or identity (dictionary.com) in which many characters like Nurse Ratched successfully accomplish to do so all throughout the book. Nurse Ratched uses emasculating strategies in order to strip away the men’s power in the (1) diverse ward. Many of the emasculating characters…

she justified in the way she acts or is she truly the root of all evil. This complexity of her character makes it very easy to see that she is the symbol and embodiment of power and strength. Through her diction in her speeches, what the chorus has to say about her, and some of her actions she becomes what Cassandra refers to as the Scylla. A sea monster that is uncontrollable and traps and kills its prey with no remorse. Even though she talks and commits actions that a man would have done in…

In One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey uses the emasculation of the patients at the hands of Nurse Ratched paired with the wild abandon and rebellion of the criminal, McMurphy, to illustrate the opposing forces of control and freedom, along with demonstrating the controlling nature of society. Kesey uses the introduction of McMurphy and the depiction of the ward along with the change after McMurphy’s introduction to illustrate the emasculating effect of control. The introduction of…

The emasculation of a man can, and most likely will, result in the deterioration of either his physical or his mental state of being. Not only is it damaging to the self-confidence of the man, but it’s also eradicating a belief that’s been taught since childhood, which is that men are suppose to be strong and phlegmatic, meaning they should always be calm and collected. There are various ways of ridding a man of his masculinity, whether it be his partner finding another man to satisfy certain…

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter portrays the ramifications of a forbidden romance: a romance built around the complications of marriage, sin, and societal positions. As remarked on by Hawthorne, these ramifications solidify each character in the novel as victims to their own frailties, resulting in immeasurable sorrow for everyone. As a result of Hester Prynne's actions and his own, Roger Chillingworth succumbs to a state of desolation where he experiences emasculation and a loss of…

Every day, the patients all gather for their group counseling session, and the emasculation begins. In one particular instance brought to light by Kesey, Nurse Ratched tells the whole ward that Harding, “has also stated that his wife’s ample bosom at times gives him a feeling inferiority” (44). However, this does not stop here, as she then asks if “anyone cares to touch on [the] subject” (44). Here, Ratched carefully chooses her words in a way that can be interpreted literally, touching upon…

Psychoanalytic clarifications of bizarre sexual conduct were at first credited to Freud, who proposed four conditions of youth advancement: oral, anal, phallic and genital (Tallon and Terry, 2004). He saw sexual aberrance as a statement of the uncertain issues experienced amid the phases of improvement. These uncertain issues realized obsessions or hindrances amid ventures of improvement, with ensuing bending of an erotic object or an erotic target (Tallon and Terry, 2004). For instance, the…