Tobias Wolff’s 1989 coming-of-age memoir, This Boy’s Life, subtly explores how a patriarchal society is not only stifling and oppressive for women and children, but also for men. Wolff does not directly comment on the patriarchal values of the 1950’s; nor does he try to condemn them, instead the reader is exposed to the suggestion that had these ideals not been so firmly ingrained in American society, that the individuals in the memoir may have been better off and that, perhaps, Jack and Rosemary could have achieved their ‘dreams of transformation’. Whilst Wolff portrays his mother, Rosemary Wolff, as an independent and optimistic …show more content…
In the society of the 1950’s, the expectations of a boy was to be a perfect son, that is, being a good citizen, a good boy scout, and a good student - none of which Jack truly is, he creates these versions of himself in his imagination, in his letters to Alice and in his forging his grades and letters of recommendation to Hill. He also attempts to live up to the masculine ideal, which ultimately fails. Jack states, “I needed that rifle, for itself and for the way it completed me when I held it.” which plays directly into what society expected of him, as guns are representative of masculinity and control, but this is contrasted directly by his breakdown after shooting the squirrel, in which he is overwhelmed by guilt - this oppressive ideal proved harmful to Jack and creates a duality in him, one of what he should be versus who he is, and that causes him much grief, something which seems not to be resolved, as he juxtaposes his statement of him “needing a war” with “Careful what you pray for”. The patriarchal system creates expectations for individuals in society, and for Jack those expectations were both of masculinity and of being the perfect son, which were oppressive to him as they were impossible for him to live up