Today’s society is one that brings much change from the past. If you ask your grandparents about how gender played a role during their times, they would give you a list of everything a man should do versus what a woman should do. Even before them, the conditions were worse. Today is a new day. It has different ideas and views from the past but even today there are some differences. There is no denying that genders are different and sometimes one characteristic is designed for a one gender. However, Paul Theroux argues in “Being a Man” that being a man is living life as an overrated gender. It is a gender that allows an existence of inequality and unfairness among men and women, not allowing them to meet up to reach equilibrium and it gives
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Men are given a set structure and path to follow to become who we should be. For example, he reported “Be a man… it means: Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly, and stop thinking.” Here we can visualize how men are seen as. These characteristics describe the ideal man others think is made up of. Theroux is trying to emphasize that being a man has many hard qualities like being as strong as a soldier or unfeeling. We don’t, as men, don’t want to be unfeeling or be stupid because it isn’t what truly defines us as men. Society has made a man stupid without the consent of those being effected, only to make men a certain type of gender. We have similar qualities to these from the past, but now we have evolved to grow into a new type of man. In addition, Paul mentions that “… women have a justified grievance, but most men believe – and with reason – their lives are just as bad.” Men have to live by “rules” too in their lives to become the ideal man. They need to consist the qualities of strength and what not need to be included for the world to see. Men have to be how they are portrayed as perfect in cases. It is similar to how men are always (or mostly) seen as the perfect hero in fairytales as stated by “Once upon a Time: The Roles” by Andrea Dworkin. Men have to be how women want them to in a way and women have to do so as well
Men are given a set structure and path to follow to become who we should be. For example, he reported “Be a man… it means: Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly, and stop thinking.” Here we can visualize how men are seen as. These characteristics describe the ideal man others think is made up of. Theroux is trying to emphasize that being a man has many hard qualities like being as strong as a soldier or unfeeling. We don’t, as men, don’t want to be unfeeling or be stupid because it isn’t what truly defines us as men. Society has made a man stupid without the consent of those being effected, only to make men a certain type of gender. We have similar qualities to these from the past, but now we have evolved to grow into a new type of man. In addition, Paul mentions that “… women have a justified grievance, but most men believe – and with reason – their lives are just as bad.” Men have to live by “rules” too in their lives to become the ideal man. They need to consist the qualities of strength and what not need to be included for the world to see. Men have to be how they are portrayed as perfect in cases. It is similar to how men are always (or mostly) seen as the perfect hero in fairytales as stated by “Once upon a Time: The Roles” by Andrea Dworkin. Men have to be how women want them to in a way and women have to do so as well