“Being a Man”, is an essay that can in be found in Paul Theroux’s 1985 book, Sunrise with Seamonsters. In “Being a Man”, Theroux argues that “The whole idea of manhood in America is pitiful” (223). The idea of manhood is “like having to wear an ill-fitting coat for one’s entire life” (223). Essentially what he means by this is that just like women, society creates specific norms or expectations that men are supposed to follow.
You can easily identify that he has an irritated tone because in his introduction he talks about a quote from Dr. Norman Cameron’s book Personality Development and Psychopathology, and he specifically says, “I cannot read that sentence without thinking that it is just one more awful thing about being a man” (223). This …show more content…
He interprets it as “Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly and stop thinking” (223). This is important to note because at a young age boys were introduced to the concept of what manliness really is. He also creates credibility and also brings in emotion to win over the reader when he says, “At an age when I wanted to meet girls---let’s say the treacherous years of thirteen to sixteen---I was told to take up a sport, get more fresh air, join the Boy Scouts, and I was urged not to read so much” (224). This creates credibility because he 's experienced being told to take up an activity that showed manliness instead of doing something he loved. He also brings in emotion to win over the reader because he shows how wasn’t able to truly express himself growing up. This also ties back to how manhood in America is pitiful because he shows that at a young age you weren’t able to truly express yourself since you were always being told to do sports or to join Boy Scouts instead of …show more content…
The fact that her essay was featured in the magazine creates credibility because her essay was published in a known magazine that was aimed towards a female audience. This also tells you that she will have a professional tone because she wouldn’t have been featured in the magazine if she hadn’t been professional in her writing. Anyways, Cunningham discusses how society has influenced women to not show their true emotional state. She talks about how even though women are hypothetically free, society still finds a way to control the emotional aspect of a woman 's life. She even says “despite all the work we American women have done to get and maintain full legal control of our bodies,...we still don’t seem to be fully in charge of a couple of small muscle groups in our faces”
You can easily identify that he has an irritated tone because in his introduction he talks about a quote from Dr. Norman Cameron’s book Personality Development and Psychopathology, and he specifically says, “I cannot read that sentence without thinking that it is just one more awful thing about being a man” (223). This …show more content…
He interprets it as “Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly and stop thinking” (223). This is important to note because at a young age boys were introduced to the concept of what manliness really is. He also creates credibility and also brings in emotion to win over the reader when he says, “At an age when I wanted to meet girls---let’s say the treacherous years of thirteen to sixteen---I was told to take up a sport, get more fresh air, join the Boy Scouts, and I was urged not to read so much” (224). This creates credibility because he 's experienced being told to take up an activity that showed manliness instead of doing something he loved. He also brings in emotion to win over the reader because he shows how wasn’t able to truly express himself growing up. This also ties back to how manhood in America is pitiful because he shows that at a young age you weren’t able to truly express yourself since you were always being told to do sports or to join Boy Scouts instead of …show more content…
The fact that her essay was featured in the magazine creates credibility because her essay was published in a known magazine that was aimed towards a female audience. This also tells you that she will have a professional tone because she wouldn’t have been featured in the magazine if she hadn’t been professional in her writing. Anyways, Cunningham discusses how society has influenced women to not show their true emotional state. She talks about how even though women are hypothetically free, society still finds a way to control the emotional aspect of a woman 's life. She even says “despite all the work we American women have done to get and maintain full legal control of our bodies,...we still don’t seem to be fully in charge of a couple of small muscle groups in our faces”