Shame, Impotence and Self Deception
Shame, Scheff states is the master emotion that promotes the silence/ violence paradox. Inferiority and shame frequently affect most of the male characters in each of the novels; whether it’s the drug users or the unemployed street gang in LETB. The causes of this are; lack of work and their prison like surroundings. The men in the novels attempt to make up for these factors by creating threatening personas. Their cruel behavior, as Giles notes, stems from ‘ a fear of failure that drives men to deeper cruelty’(12). The men in these novels do not have the emotional tools to understand their actions or impotence. As Scheff states:‘The emotion of shame can be directly acknowledged by referring to one’s inner states of insecurity, or feelings of separateness or powerlessness.’ However these men do not accept that they have lost their power. In accordance with this idea, Scheff states that many …show more content…
This can seen in a section of ‘The Coda’, where Mike shows off to his friend Sal by becoming violent and demanding with his wife Irene, telling her to get them something to do eat ‘handing her some money, and smiling at Sal, making sure he understood that he was the boss in his house and just because Irene worked didn't mean he had to take any shit’ (Selby 228). Through this we see that even though his wife is the one that earns the money, he controls it. His need to prove his authority and disprove his impotence is highly prevalent here, and important to the overall scheme of the novel and the ways in which masculinity manifests itself.
Shame in Trainspotting is a many fold theme. For Renton, part of his shame stems from the stereotypical Scottish hyper-masculine persona, so deeply embedded in Begbie. In the chapter ‘The Glass’, he sees a group of thugs walk into the bar and
Shame, Scheff states is the master emotion that promotes the silence/ violence paradox. Inferiority and shame frequently affect most of the male characters in each of the novels; whether it’s the drug users or the unemployed street gang in LETB. The causes of this are; lack of work and their prison like surroundings. The men in the novels attempt to make up for these factors by creating threatening personas. Their cruel behavior, as Giles notes, stems from ‘ a fear of failure that drives men to deeper cruelty’(12). The men in these novels do not have the emotional tools to understand their actions or impotence. As Scheff states:‘The emotion of shame can be directly acknowledged by referring to one’s inner states of insecurity, or feelings of separateness or powerlessness.’ However these men do not accept that they have lost their power. In accordance with this idea, Scheff states that many …show more content…
This can seen in a section of ‘The Coda’, where Mike shows off to his friend Sal by becoming violent and demanding with his wife Irene, telling her to get them something to do eat ‘handing her some money, and smiling at Sal, making sure he understood that he was the boss in his house and just because Irene worked didn't mean he had to take any shit’ (Selby 228). Through this we see that even though his wife is the one that earns the money, he controls it. His need to prove his authority and disprove his impotence is highly prevalent here, and important to the overall scheme of the novel and the ways in which masculinity manifests itself.
Shame in Trainspotting is a many fold theme. For Renton, part of his shame stems from the stereotypical Scottish hyper-masculine persona, so deeply embedded in Begbie. In the chapter ‘The Glass’, he sees a group of thugs walk into the bar and