How Boys Become Men
It’s a Guy Thing
“Friend stopped, stood still, and braed himself.. see I’m no chicken” (Katz 221). Male maturation is a very complex sophisticated process. In “How Boys Become Men” Jon Katz takes on the challenge and head ache of analyzing this process. He explains how learning one of the central ethics of the gender is experiencing pain rather than showing fear and emotion. We do so by taken on challenges because we feel obligated to in front of our friends in order to not look cowardly. How we demonstrate machismo and lack commitment, how we do whatever we can to fit into the society around us and are willing to do anything just to resemble coolness and absolutely no tolerability of getting pushed around. It called Guy Code, a set of ruthless, unspoken rules and every guy knows one, never show fear. Men are the worst when it comes to expressing any type of physical affection and a lot of it has to do with the way men are raised as children.
Junior, the main character in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I believe does however, conform to the explanation outlined by Katz. Since the beginning all Junior had talked about is how bad his life was. He talked about his extra teeth, his brain damage, his lopsided vision, his seizures, and how he was referred to on the rez as a retard. Therefore leading him to get beat up. Not once did Junior ever complain though. He took the beating and the name calling that was giving to him day by day by others on the rez, but never once told. He demonstrated the characteristic that Katz explained in the unyielding rules in “How Boys Become Men” Empathy is for nerds. Even though Junior knows he is a bit different and most definitely out of the ordinary he still attempts to view himself as one of the others. He tries to fit in and see himself beyond being a nerd. “I felt like Roger had kicked me in the face. That was the most racist thing I’d ever heard in my life…so I punched roger in the face” (Alexie, 65) Even
“Friend stopped, stood still, and braed himself.. see I’m no chicken” (Katz 221). Male maturation is a very complex sophisticated process. In “How Boys Become Men” Jon Katz takes on the challenge and head ache of analyzing this process. He explains how learning one of the central ethics of the gender is experiencing pain rather than showing fear and emotion. We do so by taken on challenges because we feel obligated to in front of our friends in order to not look cowardly. How we demonstrate machismo and lack commitment, how we do whatever we can to fit into the society around us and are willing to do anything just to resemble coolness and absolutely no tolerability of getting pushed around. It called Guy Code, a set of ruthless, unspoken rules and every guy knows one, never show fear. Men are the worst when it comes to expressing any type of physical affection and a lot of it has to do with the way men are raised as children.
Junior, the main character in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I believe does however, conform to the explanation outlined by Katz. Since the beginning all Junior had talked about is how bad his life was. He talked about his extra teeth, his brain damage, his lopsided vision, his seizures, and how he was referred to on the rez as a retard. Therefore leading him to get beat up. Not once did Junior ever complain though. He took the beating and the name calling that was giving to him day by day by others on the rez, but never once told. He demonstrated the characteristic that Katz explained in the unyielding rules in “How Boys Become Men” Empathy is for nerds. Even though Junior knows he is a bit different and most definitely out of the ordinary he still attempts to view himself as one of the others. He tries to fit in and see himself beyond being a nerd. “I felt like Roger had kicked me in the face. That was the most racist thing I’d ever heard in my life…so I punched roger in the face” (Alexie, 65) Even
Cited: Alexie, Sherman. The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. Print. Katz, Jon A. “How Boys Become Men”. Ed Thomas Cooley. The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 7th ed. New York: www. Norton & Company, 2010. (185-189) Print.