Essays on Being A Man

In Plato's "Apology", Socrates' series of dialogues in the period preceding, during, and after his trial provide an insight into his mastery of rhetoric. That is especially true given his ability to arrange his arguments in a judicious manner. While not overly successful in persuading the jury, the final judgment appears to be as a result of bias and prejudice rather than having a weak argument in the various passages of the "Apology." Socrates makes a persuasive claim that it is not possible to separate wisdom from moral virtue. Therefore, by being a man of wisdom, he could not ...

There are different perspective on what and how masculinity should be manifested since the ancient times up to the present. Masculinity seems to have been defining gender and gender roles in different societies all over the world. It is therefore important to understand this concept. Interestingly, there are two authors who have delved with the concept of masculinity thoroughly in their respective essays. These two authors are Peter Tragos and Michael Kimmel. A comparative analysis of their essays reveals that both authors perceive masculinity as a social concept. They also want to liberate the minds of their readers, especially ...

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Introduction The novel, ‘City of Thieves’ by David Benioff, presents an opportunity to analyze the concept of masculinity under the circumstances of war. What is significant in this literary work is that manliness emerges under extreme adversity, which is often considered as the very test of being a man. Although Benioff’s ‘City of Thieves’ is fictional, the circumstances are realistic and is based on a historical incident that happened around six decades ago in Leningrad, which is the present day St. Petersburg in Russia. Becoming a man is one of the most confusing rhetoric there is. ...

Reflection Essay

English Reflection Essay

Introduction

Perhaps the biggest mysteries in life are those that exist between the chasm created by the difference in the sexes. Males and females are different. They appear different to each other. At another level, they are not sure about their own identities. I have chosen three essays that look at the issue of identity through different lenses- ‘Between the Sexes, a Great Divide’ by Anna Quindlen (n.d.), ‘Being a Man’ by Paul Theroux (1985) and ‘Looking at Women’ by Scott Russell Sanders (1989). The thesis of my paper is that men and women would always have doubts ...

Wang Yun’s play A Dream of Glory; talks about a woman who wants to become a man and display his powers before the world. Wang Yun, a Chinese dramatist of the eighteenth century, could have been influenced by a number of incidents that took place in China during the century. The patriarchal system must have played a dominant role in eighteenth century China where men had all the liberty to choose the life they wanted while women were confined to domestic roles. As the name of the play signifies, A Dream of Glory can be juxtaposed to the glorious life of men, and ...

The concept of masculinity involves the question behind what really makes up a man. The society has made it possible for different concepts of labeling that intend to develop the manner of understanding masculinity under the existence of particular elements including being able to face up to the challenges of gender stereotyping that controls a huge part of the world population both hen and now. In the writing of Michael Kimmel entitled Guyland: the Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, the author discusses the most common points of pressure that boys need to deal with as they enter the world of ...

The aim of this essay is to present you with the comparison and contrast of two specific poems. The poems which will be presented in this essay are ‘Dreamers’ written by Siegfried Sassoon and ‘Before Action’ written by Lieutenant William Noel Hodgson. Both poems are considered to belong to the group of those poems which were written within the socio-historical context, which was created during and after the World War I (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918). The aim of this essay is to present you with the analysis of the thematic core of each poem, the literary ...

Identifying Meanings, Issues, and Themes:

Coming of age (becoming a man) is one of the major themes in this book. Schaefer carefully opts to use Bob Starrett to be the main narrator. This is because in the book, he wants Shane as well as the events to be seen through the eyes of a boy. He seeks to appreciate experience of having to know Shane through a learning experience that facilitates the development of Starrett. This concept of existing as a man will come in full circle in which Bob (as a boy) suddenly comes into terms with the fact that Shane is a type of man who wants to ...

Judith Butler, in her book Gender Trouble, presumes that gender is not predetermined by sex, but instead is dictated by the gendered acts of people themselves. No universal gender exists, according to Butler; there is always a way to reinterpret and reassign behaviors to the masculine or feminine, and both biological men and women can exhibit male and female traits and identities. The assumption that there is an inherent identity of women as "female," according to Butler, is erroneous, and it does not need to be represented at all. No one can "be" a specific gender; it all lies upon a certain ...

INTRODUCTION

Rob Reiner’s 1986 film Stand By Me follows a group of four young boys – Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern – as they go about their childhoods one fateful weekend in 1959. They set out on a quest to find a dead body, and on the way encounter their school bullies, trains, leeches, and other dangers. In the process, they learn about each other, and the audience learns what it was like to be a boy in that time period. There are several aspects of childhood (boyhood in particular) that are explored in depth in Stand By Me, which this paper will address in ...

Andrew Johnson is a man who, to this day, remains one of the most controversial American political figures to have ever lived. He is often presented as being a man who fought for the rights of his people but in such a way that indicates that he did not fully understand what it was they wanted. For example, he fought for free public education but did not attend school himself (Schroeder-Lein & Zuczek, 2001, p xv). Andrew Johnson is a historical figure with a number of varying portraits which depend, largely, on the historian’s opinion of him. In his various renditions of Johnson’s ...

Why culture and socialization cannot be reduced to an issue of shared values and how "hegemony" and "counter hegemony" cast a deeper light on the nature of social identities

Socialization refers to the process of inheriting norms, customs and ideologies. Personality views on certain issues, such as masculinity and violence as in the movie tough guise, may be socialized and to that point normalized within a society. Culture in definition is a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that portrays a society. It consists of the beliefs, behaviours and other characteristics common to the members of a particular society. Through culture, people ...