The Manhood The Elusive Goal Analysis

Decent Essays
In the Manhood: The Elusive Goal by Mark Gerzon states that “from the sensible to the absurd, we have answers. We have many shifting, contradictory criteria for manhood that they confuses rather than inspire. “The writing is the journey of a young male into adulthood where there are many encounters of some of the many means of passage in the modern society; smoking, drinking, and violence. Peer pressure is one of the many problem in that friends or peers try to get a person to do what they like to do or what most of them like not what that person likes. In addition to the young boys are influenced by media and the rest of the world round them. Mark Gerzon said that many movies are made as surrogate rites of passage of young men.
There are

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The central focus point and message of these so-called “rules of manhood” is that a man cannot submit to weakness and must never show sensitivity or emotion. In 1976, the social psychologist, Robert Brammon comprised a list of the four basic rules for masculinity: “No Sissy Stuff!”, “Be a Big Wheel”, Be a Sturdy Oak”, and “Give em Hell” (Kimmel 545). Brammon is basically saying to be a man you cannot be gay or effeminate, must have wealth and power, be able to be in control during a crisis, and finally to live life on the edge. The most shocking aspect of this set is that it is…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although Kimmel touches on many of the struggles and anxieties faced by men as they navigate their way to “manhood”, he does so in a way that leaves the reader believing that all guys today are set on a trajectory of aimlessness and a constant fraternity mentality. Kimmel seems to draw the wealth of his knowledge from personal interpretation and interviews with a number of students at various neighborhood bars and coffee shops. I feel like this approach leaves particular groups of individuals marginalized in Kimmel’s research, those driven individuals who may not frequent such places such as those with interests outside of drinking or in search of their next “hook up”. This bias allows the author to make blanket statements about men as a whole, and portray the lifestyle of a few as that of the…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Savage Deterioration of Man Charles Yale Harrison’s remorseless novel Generals Die in Bed strips war of it’s heroic mirage and examines it, rather, as brutalizing. The myths about war’s glory are destroyed by showing the sheer agony of the soldiers’ experiences in the trenches through factors such as abusive officers, lice and starvation. The aftermath of such hardship results in the psychological and emotional ramifications of desperation, barbarism and insanity on the common soldiers. The final chapter, “Vengeance,” highlights these influences revealing the significant transformation of soldiers to shells of men that they once were. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes believed that men, when forced out of civilization and into the environment of war, would eventually deteriorate from their honourable and brave manners.…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mysteries of Manhood Coming of age is something that all of humanity has complete, whether every individual makes this happen is up in the air. In the book,The First Part Last, Angela Johnson describes a young teenage boy named Bobby and how he had to change his life completely in order to fit the description of being a man, and this is shown through symbolism. Being a man is not about how much weight you put on a bar and squat or bench it or how someone never backs down from a challenge. Bobby accomplishes being a man in different ways and by the end of the novel, he fulfills the respectable requirements of becoming a man.…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People are stereotyped based on their looks, personality, skin color, place of birth, living arrangements, grades, etc. While stereotyping is common in the world today, people want to break free of this. They want to be their own independent person. They want to be authentic, original. So, when a person is placed into a certain “box” they will often try to break free of this.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The purpose of this essay is to prove, both “Manhood” and “How Not to Get into College” are similar to each other having few differences. We let pressure take over and blind us, it allows other people…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the reading “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code”, Michael Kimmel critics what it means to be a man and the “Guy Code” they are expected to follow. According to Kimmel, masculinity is a problematic social construct that invokes behaviors that men tend to follow unconsciously. The unconscious behaviors that men tend to follow is know as the “Guy Code” that is passed down to them when they were young. Kimmel claims that boys follow the “Guy Code” at a young age because they don’t want to be considered gay or in masculine.…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Are there rules to being a man? Anything specific you must do? What even separates a man from a boy? Even in today’s society we still question still “what does it take to be a man?” in the essay “Bros Before Hoes” Michael Kimmel does his best to attack these questions and attempt to find an answer to these questions.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Katz believes that in order for boys to become men they must learn how to be boys, first. John Katz states that there is a specific set of “rules” that all boys must automatically follow from a young age. For instance, the rules stated in the text are about hiding your sensitivity and emotions away. If a boy discusses his feelings, fears or problems he is called a “nerd.” The text implies that in order to be a “man” you must be independent and strong.…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Masculinity’s Crossroads The article “Guys vs. Men,” Dave Barry uses satire to explain the problems with masculinity and a new approach to how males should be classified and judged. The article “The Crisis of American Masculinity” by Eric Garland discusses his view of how the traditional image of manhood is dying in today’s society. Each of them give their opinions on what manhood is; the manner that society should treat males with, the importance of masculinity in males, and their opinion of the necessity of these masculine characteristics.…

    • 2174 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The male sex role theory popularized by Robert Brannon created a great foundation for gender studies, specifically studies concerning masculinity. The following essay will uncover his research design and analysis, his key contributions to the theory, and some strengths and weaknesses of his theory. Ultimately, the central premise is to show how his conception of masculinity and the sex role, in particular, has many faults and lacks evidentiary basis, which conclusively leads to its demise. First off, it is important to note that the nature of the research design is lacking in many respects. Robert Brannon’s publication of the male sex role theory adopted a mixed method analysis approach.…

    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is simply naïve to disregard the overwhelming influence that the media and literature has had over the public over the past century and more precisely, in our youth. As a society, we constantly twist ourselves to fit the mold presented to us through various media outlets (e.g. TV, movies, magazines, advertisements, etc.) and in literature we encounter in our lives for a multitude of reasons. Throughout time, men have been presented to fit very traditionally masculine traits based on a preconceived narrative as to what it means to be a man and how to present oneself in order to be perceived as manly by others. Media and literature have branded a hyper-masculine image of men that has in time become what is expected for young boys to follow––be it relayed to them or not.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Helen killer claimed that “character cannot be developed in ease and quite only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened ambition inspired and success achieved “ , so should we say that our society is patirarcle or not , but it is demanding in every situation ? , this essay discusses the issues of suppression of men’s emotional expression in the patriarchal society it also identifies the solutions of the these issues , And one the main points we would consider discussing are the circumstances of being a patriarchal society Accordingly people all over the world are facing a big issue especially in our eastern society which is that parents are raising their youth by wrong backgrounds to their upbringing that their grandparents manners and the “cycle goes on and one “. Basically almost parents teach and their boys not to cry because they convince them and raise a conceptual seed in them that crying is only for losers and it will make you right away a pathetic weak person that anybody can affect you or assault you either. Moreover, parents state that a real man has to neglect expressing his inner feelings and hide them as much as he could for the last breath…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “They know no other way to protect themselves against their bad conscience than to prose as the executors of more ancient or higher commands (of ancestors, the constitution, of right, the laws, or even of God).” (pg. 111) Those who command and are independent from the herd run into the problem of also lacking like the herd and they secretly suffer from this. They would try to cover this up by protecting themselves from their bad consciences and suffering.…

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As a man, I know that men are just as “weak” or “fragile” as women, but I don’t think that I’ve ever heard a man admit that. I also know that statement alone, if it were somehow to be broadcasted, would draw tremendous criticism, and probably even more hatred and disgust, from many other males. But, it’s nevertheless true. However, that isn’t what we, as citizens of the United States, are taught. From early on, we have had the narrative of rugged and fearless men who make tremendous sacrifices to provide for their families, while fawning women daintily clean the house and take care of the kids, forcibly shoved down our throats.…

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays