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Masculinity in Deliverance by James Dickey
The novel Deliverance by James Dickey portrays the essence of middle-aged men experiencing the mid-life crisis through which they must prove to themselves and more importantly every one else that they still possess the strength, bravery, intelligence, and charm believed to be society's ideal of "masculinity." Dickey's four main characters undertake a risky adventure to satisfy their egotistical complexes and prove to the world that they are still the strong young men their wives married. Each character represents a different stereotype of the middle-aged man, and therefore experiences a different type of psychological and physical journey than their peers.
The character Drew Ballinger in Deliverance is a sales supervisor at a soft-drink company who is very devoted to his son and his job. Drew is the character who represents the middle-aged man's desire for talent and attention. Drew plays the guitar and his music is his true companion. Without having any talent, as he would be the
first to tell you, Drew played mighty well, through sheer devotion.(Dickey, 11)
For Drew the highlight of this trip is his duo with Lonnie, an uneducated banjo player. Drew obviously finds this the most exhilarating part of the adventure in that he is the center of attention and is playing very well with a talented young man.
I had never heard him play so well, and I really
began to listen deeply, moved as an unmusical
person is moved when he sees that the music is
meant….I could not see Drew's face, but the back
of his neck was sheer joy…I was glad for Drew's sake
that we had come. Jus...
... middle of paper ...
...ecame
a possession to me, a personal, private possession, as
nothing else in my life ever had. Now it ran nowhere but in
my head, but there it ran as though immortally. I could feel it
- I can feel it - on different places on my body. It pleases me in
some curious way that the river does not exist, and that I have it.
In me it still is, and will be until I die, green, rocky, deep, fast, slow
and beautiful beyond reality…The river underlies…everything that I
do. It is always finding a way to serve me…(Dickey, 275-6)
Thus, Ed is the protagonist and hero of Deliverance.
It is through this perilous voyage that Drew, Bobby, Lewis, and Ed undertake, that they prove their "masculinity," or lack there of, to themselves and to the society in which they live.
Works Cited
Dickey, James Deliverance. 1970. New York: Dell Publishing, 1994.
There are three main characters in my story, their names being; Alephonsion Deng, Benson Deng, and Benjamin Ajak. These three boys, young as they were, are driven away from their own home with violence. This caused a significant change in how they viewed the world.“I couldn't understand why people were killing us. Did Alchol deserve to die? What wrong had we done to these people? Oh, Ma, why the killing?” The three boys also act so different compared to how we do, when around their own home they are expected to never cry, even this is put to the limits during some everyday tasks. One thing that is way different from the way we live is that, to be seen as a man, you must have your teeth pulled out… with a fish spear! “My gum felt like it was being torn apart by a sharp razor blade. My mouth filled with blood. Then the fish spear penetrated my teeth, splitting one in two and leaving half of it in the gum.” Also, they speak in quite a foreign way, they talk as if they fear that the other speaker will punish them if they are to mess up. This is what the characters are like in my book, hardened to the core like true people of this time, they were brave and willing to do whatever it takes to keep safe. Throughout the journey, the characters just get harder and harder, tougher and tougher. They will have more hard life experiences during the time period that this book covers than most people in America have in their entire life.
In The Other Wes Moore, male figures, specifically male role models, play an important part both Wes Moores’ lives and and are eventually what make or break their futures.
In his essay, “Come Back to the Raft Ag’in, Ed Gentry,” Betina Entzminger argues that at the heart of James Dickey’s Deliverance lies the search for a lost masculinity in today’s world, told through the lens of the protagonist’s canoe trip. He asserts that Ed understands the societal pressures upon each gender, forces that compel us towards the stereotypes that pervade our culture. Further, Entzminger believes, “Despite the fact that Ed sees these constructions as constructions, he is unable to rise above them” (Entzminger). Ultimately, Entzminger posits, “Ed dutifully destroys that which challenges his own and his community’s conceptions of gender and sexuality, and he finds comfort in his return to his community at the novel’s close” (Entzminger). However, though Entzminger is correct that Ed never does ascend beyond society’s gender constructions, his error is in his assumption that Ed ever wanted to, or that he even should have.
While America was just in its infancy during the late eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century, expanding and competing for its own national identity, there were ideals of manhood competing for dominance amidst the chaos. A couple of notions of masculinity were brought to the New World straight from Europe; the idea that men were to work hard for success and value family, while others maintained wealth and landownership as the characteristics of a man. However, the eminence of industrialization soon made these notions obsolete. Without these longstanding notions, American men were left in a crisis without an identity. It is within this framework that specific paintings serve as material expressions and vehicles for gendering beliefs and constructs.
How can you be a man to your family when you are poor and black? Killer of Sheep poses this question over and over again, and the tension between masculinity, blackness and poverty is central to the movie. The film seems to provide Stan with several choices, all of which are directly related to his masculinity. He can accept the advances of the white woman, which offers him both a way out of a miserable job at the slaughterhouse and a boost to his “manliness” in the form of a tryst with a woman of a higher status. This is immediately unpalatable to him, a fact that is emphasized by the uncomfortable close-on of her hand rubbing his wrist and followed by her sideways smirk. Although he promises to think about her “warm proposition,” the movie never again explores this possibility. Alternately, he can buy the engine, which serves both as an assertion of masculinity and—as his friend notes—as a signifier of class. While he opts to try this, the entire plan is ill-fated; the scene where he picks up the engine contains some of the most imbalanced sequences in the entire movie, and the extreme and off-putting diagonal of the street effectively communicates
Masculinity in itself is very diverse and varies according to each culture and each person. In China, masculinity has traditionally been very different than Western masculinity. Where Western masculinity is known for being very macho and tough, Chinese masculinity has consistently been much more feminine when compared to the Western’s. Chinese masculinity traditionally has always had a very soft aspect to it, however as China continues to change as a nation, it is slowly beginning to alter their normal definition of what it means to ‘be a man’.
Tuss, Alex (Winter 2004). "Masculine Identity and Success: A Critical Analysis of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club". The Journal of Men's Studies 12 (2): 93–102.
... could not help themselves, they were not going to be helped. If struggle were encountered, men had personalized ways to reconnect with the real world, and if a tragedy were encountered which affected the entire company, they also found a combined way to cope with this pressure. The priorities of men during the war shifted greatly toward emotional connections to people and events other than the war, and it was these connections that helped them survive and return home. Coping with the stress and burden of war is not an easy task for anyone, yet in The Things they Carried, O'Brien depicts men dealing and coping as much as they can, using only their primeval resources. They learn how to cope with the barest necessities in life, and they learn how to make use of the smallest opportunities to obtain the most relief and joy from every moment in life.
The Representation of Masculinity and Violence in Henry V and The Rover Representing violence as an essential tool to gaining control, Henry V is dominated by masculine power, in this case, with the control of France. The cast is mainly male, containing just four female characters, namely Mistress Quickly, Isabel Queen of France, Katherine her daughter and Alice, the attendant. The chorus sets the scene of war in the prologue, with ‘Then should the warlike Harry’ and ‘That did affright the air at Agincourt’. This image is further represented when the Archbishop of Canterbury is conferring with the Bishop of Ely about the King, ‘List his last discourse of war, and you shall hear / A fearful battle rendered you in music.
J.D. Salinger’s most famous novel The Catcher in the Rye features a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden who is being kicked out of yet another prep school. Throughout the novel, Holden expresses his masculinity in several different ways. One of the most striking and what I believe makes the book so popular is his perpetuation of toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity in a nutshell definition is types of masculinity that are harmful to both men and women. Toxic masculinity is a direct result of the social constructs upheld by a patriarchal society. Holden’s expression of toxic masculinity happens consistently throughout the novel but I am only going to focus on two specific instances of his behavior. The first is before he is supposed to meet with the prostitute, and the second is when he meets with Phoebe and reflects about his friend committing suicide being his favorite thing. The aforementioned instances exemplify Holden’s obsession and perpetuation of toxic masculinity.
Viewpoints on the concept of masculinity vary on a person to person basis. Some may believe that masculinity is developed through attaining power or demonstrating dominance over others. While it may also be perceived as confidence or the ability of an individual to act independently. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, through cruel and violent actions it is suggested that one’s masculinity is established. The characters Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Macduff, and Malcolm reveal Shakespeare’s brutal and dauntless ideas of masculinity through their words and actions within the play.
Masculinity thus becomes a product, a tangible form that serves as a medium for another man’s use. Throughout the chapters that were assigned to be read, chapter two certainly is where Palahniuk sets this tone. He first uses Bob’s physical appearance which contradicts his emotional and mental state masculinity wise. The narrator first describes Bob as having “broad shoulders and a body builder statue” only to be sobbing on the narrator’s shoulders (16). Masculinity in today’s day and age, revolves around acting and looking “tough”, which is short for not expressing deep emotions. "Being a man" then becomes owning the right watch or car instead of knowing who you are and what your values really are. Bob’s emotional clarity is Phalakniuk’s suggestion of what true masculinity means. Showing true emotions, despite not being common is true
Ruddell, Caroline. "Virility and vulnerability, splitting and masculinity in Fight Club: a tale of contemporary male identity issues." Extrapolation 48.3 (2007): 493+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
Masculinity is changing today as society requires not just a skill set of something that a man should have, but rather certain characters that they should uphold. It is a development of motivating character that stems to actions that define masculinity. Masculinity does not tie to certain set of skills and the process of retaining masculine identity in society today is evolving around one’s knowledge and character. In society today, the concept of masculinity can be possessed in both men and women, depending on certain types of characters that he or she acquires. I this essay, I will discuss about masculinity that embodies in the role of heroes in the two films, Star Wars and The Matrix.
not physical. It is a union of souls and hearts and minds, not something you