In the novel The Lost Weekend, the author, Charles Jackson uses alcohol to display that the main character Don Birnam is a homosexual. The reader gets to spend six days with Birnam as he drunkenly reminisces on his past, present, and future. Although Charles Jackson does not indicate that Birnam is a homosexual, the details given suggests that Birnam is a homosexual alcoholic who spends most of the novel in gay bars.
In the beginning, the reader meets Birnam who ditches his brother on a trip out of the city. He rather binges drink and visit the local bars, stealing and borrowing money from friends and family, in order to pay the drinks. At the bar Birnam says ““Sam, I’ll have one more rye.” To celebrate, he said under his breath. To celebrate
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Did she forget herself long enough to prize his, did she lay her head on his stomach, feel his chest and thighs, was he big?” (30) and within the same paragraph he thinks “The handbag caught his eye and he puzzled about it contents” (31). In this scene Birnam’s having drinks at a restaurant booth and notices a couple sitting by the bar. Birnam’s curious, if the woman provide the man with the necessary attention his body deserves and does the man sexually satisfies the woman. He likewise wonders if the man has a big “package”. In the same encounter, he speculates on the contents in the woman’s purse. Mutually the scenes can be indicators that Birnam’s a homosexual because although a woman present in the restaurant, he pays more attention to the physical attraction of the man, and also the details of the woman’s handbag and what she may keep inside of the bag.
Birnam describes a man “sat at the tiny piano, talking dirty songs. The men and girls strained to anticipate the double-meanings;..They were songs called “The 23rd Street Ferry” and “Peter and the Dyke”; camping, queen, faggot, meat were frequently played upon” (28-29). In this scene Birnam’s sitting in a bar listening to songs about fairies and dykes, he states that the men, who he describes as football players, and the girls are uncomfortable when they find out the songs double meaning. The words queen and faggot have history linked to homosexual so we can presume
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There are signs the bars Birnam’s frequently visiting are homosexual areas. Birnam’s contemplating on traveling to Jack’s, believing he’s drunk enough to drink and socialize with strangers. Later in the story he reads the newspaper clip “JACK’s—in Charles Street—WHERE GOOD FELLOWS GET TOGETHER” (85). The newspaper clip Birnam’s reading advertises bringing all men together to have a countless time. The clip’s intended to draw the eyes of men to attend the bar, and not women, thus through both scenes Jack’s a gay bar where Birnam visits when he want to socialize with other gay
Many poets use different types of figurative language to express themselves and convey a message, theme, or idea. In the poem The Day Brushes Its Curtains Aside, by Jimmy Santiago Baca, he describes a man in prison by using figurative language. Reading this poem has helped me grasp a deeper understanding of different ways an author can incorporate figurative language to make the reader feel as if they are in the story right next to the character.
Book Critique of The Longest Day Cornelius Ryan, born in Dublin, Ireland in 1920, worked as a reporter covering the battles in Europe from 1941-1945 and then the final months of the Pacific Campaign. His articles were printed in both Reuters and the London Daily Telegraph. His first book was The Longest Day, published in 1959, selling over 4 million copies in 27 different editions. In 1962, a director named Darryl Zannuck made the book into a movie. Ryan's next book was The Last Battle, published in 1966.
In every walk of life, people seek refuge from the judgmental perception of their contemporaries. Thus, many people live in secrecy. For them, secrecy is an absolute necessity in dodging undesired scrutiny and maintaining normalcy in public. When it comes to gender and the expression of it, lines are often blurred. While some hide, others brazenly parade their sexuality in public and their alternative perspectives on gender roles. In “The Bowery as Haven and Spectacle” from Gay New York, by George Chauncey, explores the emergence of the Bowery “fairy” bars, and how they became a sanctuary for the queer and working-class of New York City. He discusses in great length the tension that arises between the middle-class and working-class, the bars as a spectacle and a place to be entertained, the solicitation of sex work, and the makings of gay culture in the bar scene. The lines of gender were blurred when men took up cross dressing and the mannerisms normally associated with women. On the other hand, Merril Mushroom, writer of "How to Engage in Courting Rituals 1950's Butch-Style in the Bar", complies a laundry list of rules for butch lesbians on methods of attracting other women. Here, females cross gender boundaries and take on masculine personas. With this said, both pieces show the development of alternative gender identities. However, this switch in gender roles seldom occur outside the bar scene. Despite the semi-public gender blurring, those who identify with this lifestyle still feel the need to express themselves in an environment most accommodating to their blatant disregard of gender norms. The aforementioned pieces answer questions in regards to why one must live in secrecy, and how this secrecy gives way to the developme...
Through symbolism the author shows us how Neddy goes from social drinking to destitution. Each stop at a neighbor’s pool gets progressively harder, but he keeps on. Neddy ignores these signs and becomes beaten and finally alone. This truly is a sad journey of a man who destroys himself through alcohol. As the story ends, Neddy realizes that he is alone. Will he change? Get help for his alcoholism? The author leaves us hanging, but at this point we know he is alone, everyone has abandoned him. Neddy has followed the stereotypical footsteps of an alcoholic.
The War selected men and women from across the country with different backgrounds and placed them in sexually segregated camps. “The war severely disrupted traditional patterns of gender relations and sexuality, and temporarily created a new erotic situation conducive to homosexual expression” (D’Emilio pg. 106). At the time of capitalism and war, young men and women whose sexual identities had not been formed where placed in single sex training facilities where they would only interact with their own sex. This made the transition for most soldiers difficult and allowed for some already lesbian or gay individuals to interact and unify because of the confines of the war. The temporary freedom of sexuality allowed for men and women to challenge some of their heterosexual upbringings. In addition to gay identities resulting from the restrictions of war communities witnessed a large increase in bars and other meeting places for gays to meet and unify post World War
Transgressive sexuality has always been part of gothic novels, and the fear of infectious diseases has easily found its way into the genre. During 1980s, infections spread in bathhouses where men had 30-40 sexual encounters a night leads people to homophobia. (Poole 2011). Gay men were viewed as a voracious creatures of the night with supernatural sexual appetite. Antigay activists used vampires’ drinking human blood as a metaphor for homosexuals eating sperm.
It was obvious in the story; the Narrator had already been drinking (96). Even t...
The topic of homosexuality has always been one approached with caution due to its taboo nature derived from its deviation from the heterosexual norm. Traditionally, and across several cultures, homosexuality has been successfully discussed through normalizing the behaviour through heterosexual representation. Gender reversal or amplification of feminine qualities of male characters have often been means by which authors are able to subtly introduce the foreign idea of homosexuality and equate it to its more formal and accepted counterpart, heterosexuality. The works of Shakespeare and Li Yu have assisted in exposing homosexual relationships while still maintaining them under the heterosexual norm, whether it be through direct or metaphorical representations.
In “Dude, You’re a Fag,” multiple boys that were interviewed said they “didn’t like gay people” and were disgusted by gay men but lesbians were “good” (Pascoe). These boys only viewed female homosexuality as “good” because of its place in the heterosexual male fantasy and not because they approved of homosexuality as a legitimate and accepted sexuality (Pascoe). The binary gender system creates a male dominated society that allows for only female homosexuality to exist because even through it goes against the strict normative heterosexuality it can still be a source of pleasure for men. Male homosexuality, however, is not accepted because in a male dominated world it is associated with not being masculine. Through the use of the slur “fag,” people demean and emasculate boys and men (Pascoe). The use of “fag” against someone does not imply that they are homosexual; instead, Pascoe’s study and interview of high school age boys shows that it is used to say that a person is not masculine and therefore not conforming to their gender roles. Even though women can be sexually fluid and have intimate relationships with other women, it is not viewed as legitimate sex because there is no penis involved. Women are allowed by society to have sex with whomever they want, as long as they are still able to perform their gender role as wives and birth givers. In contrast, in
Many people think that reading more can help them to think and develop before writing something. Others might think that they don’t need to read and or write that it can really help them to brainstorm things a lot quicker and to develop their own ideas immediately (right away). The author’s purpose of Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, is to understand the concepts, strategies and understandings of how to always read first and then start something. The importance of this essay is to understand and comprehend our reading and writing skills by brainstorming our ideas and thoughts a lot quicker. In other words, we must always try to read first before we can brainstorm some ideas and to think before we write something. There are many reasons why I chose Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, by many ways that reading can help you to comprehend, writing, can help you to evaluate and summarize things after reading a passage, if you read, it can help you to write things better and as you read, it can help you to think and evaluate of what to write about.
The topic of homosexuality has become a constant issue throughout our society for many years. Many people believe that being gay is not acceptable for both religious and moral reasons. Because being gay is not accepted, many homosexuals may feel shame or guilt because of the way they live their everyday lives. This in turn can affect how the person chooses to live their life and it can also affect who the person would like to become. Growing up, David Sedaris struggled to find the common ground between being gay as well as being a normal teenager. He often resorted to the conclusion that you could not be both. Sedaris allows us to see things through his young eyes with his personable short story "I Like Guys". Throughout his short story, Sedaris illustrates to the reader what it was like growing up being gay as well as how the complexities of being gay, and the topic of sexuality controlled his lifestyle daily. He emphasizes the shame he once felt for being gay and how that shame has framed him into the person he has become.
In the beginning of his story Baldwin speaks of his young adolescence during which various men constantly take advantage of him. In this part of life he speaks much of loneliness. First, as he talks about those who are literally androgynous, containing male and female parts, he guesses at the “…all-but-intolerable loneliness…”(150) that they must feel at not being able to find love by being themselves for fear of humiliation at being so different. Later, he tells of his many encounters with men that appeared to be stereotypical American citizens looking “…like cops, football players, soldiers…or bank presidents…construction workers…”(153). These men would accost Baldwin in dark movie theaters and in the alleys at night begging or bullying him to take them to bed.
In the short story "weekend" by Ann Beattie, there is one main central conflict between the main characters of Lenore and George. This conflict arises from that fact that George and Lenore have a child together, live in the same house, yet they have no apparent relationship. George is always bringing back women to the house in front of Lenore and she hides how it hurts her deep down. George’s character is portrayed as an alcoholic older man who does not seem to care too much about anything that is going on around him. While Lenore is shown to be a “simple” woman who just lets George walk all over her by showing up with younger girls and who rarely shows emotion. Although Lenore is not as simple as she leads on to George, she has a lot of emotion buried inside of her that she does not always show, and her character is a lot more complex after a second glance.
“The unprecedented growth of the gay community in recent history has transformed our culture and consciousness, creating radically new possibilities for people to ‘come out’ and live more openly as homosexuals”(Herdt 2). Before the 1969 Stonewall riot in New York, homosexuality was a taboo subject. Research concerning homosexuality emphasized the etiology, treatment, and psychological adjustment of homosexuals. Times have changed since 1969. Homosexuals have gained great attention in arts, entertainment, media, and politics. Yesterday’s research on homosexuality has expanded to include trying to understand the different experiences and situations of homosexuals (Ben-Ari 89-90).
The word "homosexual" seems to have come into the English language around 1869, introduced by a Hungarian named Benkert but not generally used by the British until the 1880s. Yet, according to Theo Aronson, there were other words used at that time to identify the love between the same gender. "Homogenic love," "similisexualism," and "Uranism" were apparently among the more common references to homosexuality.