Strength of Character More Important than Masculinity Essay -- About M

As male childs grow into hands, many struggle with what makes real men. This struggle practi labely dramatically changes the young person. This struggle is greatly exacerbated by the medias portrayal of men. Gretel Ehrlichs About Men deals with the stereotypical image of men and what real men are like. Richard Wrights The Man Who Was Almost a Man shows a young man who feels so derided by everyone thinking of him as a boy that he buys a gun to make himself more powerful. Tim OBriens The Things They Carried is about a group of soldiers who all have different methods of coping with their ingest emotions at the death of a comrade. The media, Hollywood being one of the main culprits, oftentimes depicts true men as being tall, dark, and physically firm. They dont feel pain and are able to fight, either with their hands or weapons. They are often emotionally hardened, not showing tenderness. The media presents men as macho, and take off happy. (Ehrlich 127). This presents serious prob lems for young boys who are starting to mature into men. Young men are often told to be tough and to man up. Many boys are taught that call is for girls and are called cry-babies if they do cry. This is incredibly hard on young guys who compare themselves to men like Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger and see absolutely no resemblance. These boys are often troubled by a growing insecurity from contrasting themselves to the unrealistic image of men. The insecurity spawned by this idolatry of the machismo can lead young guys to vivify to drastic measures in order to be recognized as men. In The Man Who was Almost a Man, Dave Sunders, a seventeen-year-old African-American in the years later the Civil War, says that he was going to get a gun and prac... ...ood but is open to many more men than just the ones who are physically strong and daring. Since manliness is a presence of character, there is a growing need in society, in families, and in government for real men. There is a call for men to become more, to always grow in qualities like love, gentleness, self-control, and selflessness. These qualities are not like clothes. A man with these character traits can earn the esteem of many, regardless of his age or physical aptitude.Works CitedWright, Richard. The Man Who Was Almost a Man. The River Reader,2nd ed. Natalie Danner. New York Pearson, 2010. 144-154. PrintEhrlich, Gretel. About Men. The River Reader, 2nd ed. Natalie Danner. New York Pearson, 2010. 127-129. PrintOBrien, Tim. The Things They Carried. The River Reader, 2nd ed. Natalie Danner. New York Pearson, 2010. 320-334. Print