Being A Man By Paul Theroux Analysis
Hannah Sugano
Koroshec, Period:1
10 October 2017
English 110
Doing the Dance Since the beginning of mankind, humans have categorized and confined each other into specific groups with standards impossible to fulfill. In the process of reducing people to basic labels, we dehumanize them and transform the human race as a whole into a population of “other”. Everyone is guilty of otherness, differing from societal norms, but if so, why does the thought of otherness leave such a bitter taste in our mouths? In the articles “Between the Sexes a Great divide” by Anna Quindlen and “Being a Man” by Paul Theroux, both authors address the concept of otherness through the prospect of gender difference; but while Theroux uses several generalizations and a bitter tone which creates more divide, Quindlen offers up a solution to the great divide which is to do the dance, to take the first step to bridge the gaping gap between men and women and embrace the difference with open arms. Theroux offers perspective into the pressures and expectations behind …show more content…
For example, she tells of the time she planted an amaryllis bulb in a pot that both her husband and son could not identify. It wasn’t the fact that they didn’t know what it was, but the look they exchanged afterwards that made her feel alienated, the look that says “Mom. Weird. Women.” She sees this same look from women directed towards men as well. When Quindlen was talking to one of her friends on the phone about a fight with her husband, she stated “‘I swear to god we are a different species”’(72). Both women and men are guilty of categorizing the opposite gender as “other” due to the differences that notably exist between them. She constantly finds her and friends talking about “men” as a whole after an encounter with one man. In doing so, she generalizes a whole gender based off the actions of one
Koroshec, Period:1
10 October 2017
English 110
Doing the Dance Since the beginning of mankind, humans have categorized and confined each other into specific groups with standards impossible to fulfill. In the process of reducing people to basic labels, we dehumanize them and transform the human race as a whole into a population of “other”. Everyone is guilty of otherness, differing from societal norms, but if so, why does the thought of otherness leave such a bitter taste in our mouths? In the articles “Between the Sexes a Great divide” by Anna Quindlen and “Being a Man” by Paul Theroux, both authors address the concept of otherness through the prospect of gender difference; but while Theroux uses several generalizations and a bitter tone which creates more divide, Quindlen offers up a solution to the great divide which is to do the dance, to take the first step to bridge the gaping gap between men and women and embrace the difference with open arms. Theroux offers perspective into the pressures and expectations behind …show more content…
For example, she tells of the time she planted an amaryllis bulb in a pot that both her husband and son could not identify. It wasn’t the fact that they didn’t know what it was, but the look they exchanged afterwards that made her feel alienated, the look that says “Mom. Weird. Women.” She sees this same look from women directed towards men as well. When Quindlen was talking to one of her friends on the phone about a fight with her husband, she stated “‘I swear to god we are a different species”’(72). Both women and men are guilty of categorizing the opposite gender as “other” due to the differences that notably exist between them. She constantly finds her and friends talking about “men” as a whole after an encounter with one man. In doing so, she generalizes a whole gender based off the actions of one