Analysis Of The Men We Carry In Our Minds By Scott Russell Sanders

Memory, a complex aspect of humans that helps us not only remember but also helps us have our own perspective on the situations in which we find ourselves. These memories have an immense effect on us due to the fact that, by having more and more experiences, we will compare certain memories to others in order to make certain choices. This perception and comparison of situations is shown in many works, including “The Men We Carry In Our Minds”, an essay by Scott Russell Sanders. Sanders’s opinion with regards to gender roles and difficulties was greatly influenced by the memories he had of women’s roles compared to men’s roles. The society in which he lived had a major effect on his perspective of this opinion. The author was raised in a time …show more content…
He did not initially understand the new opinion he was faced with because as a young man with a poor background, he resented his male heritage. His father, the model he was to follow, did not have a proper schooling and spent all of his days in a rough laborious job. Not only that, but his father did not have the chance to spend as much time with the children as the mother did. From the author’s perspective as a young man, women were much more fortuitous due to the fact that they had the chance to spend time with their children, their work did not seem overly strenuous and they had the chance to read, something that was very valued by the author. All of these memories from his childhood led him to compare his father’s life to his mother’s and choosing which one he thought was more …show more content…
Most of the wealthier people would watch their mothers stay home to fulfill tasks which were more arduous than the ones completed by their male counterparts. The author, on the other hand, being raised in a poorer environment, compared the work done by females to the one done by males and considered it as easy. This confusion happened due to his poorer upbringing. As Sanders states, “I think my bafflement has been felt by other boys (and by girls as well) who grew up in dirt-poor farm country, in mining country, in black ghettos, in Hispanic barrios, in the shadows of factories, in Third World Nations”. From what he remembered, women had an easier life. Meanwhile, most of the richer people saw their fathers having the relaxed life. These memories and the comparisons made as younger people led everyone to make their very own inference on the lives of men compared to