Come Back to the Raft Ag´in, Ed Gentry, by Betina Entzminger

In his essay, â€Å"Come Back to the Raft Ag’in, Ed Gentry,† Betina Entzminger argues that at the heart of James Dickey’s Deliverance lies the search for a lost masculinity in today’s world, told through the lens of the protagonist’s canoe trip. He asserts that Ed understands the societal pressures upon each gender, forces that compel us towards the stereotypes that pervade our culture. Further, Entzminger believes, â€Å"Despite the fact that Ed sees these constructions as constructions, he is unable to rise above them† (Entzminger). Ultimately, Entzminger posits, â€Å"Ed dutifully destroys that which challenges his own and his community’s conceptions of gender and sexuality, and he finds comfort in his return to his community at the novel’s close†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦More probable, Dickey meant to impose Ed’s need for masculinity within his own life, his appreciation of a man whom you could, â€Å"eve n see the veins in his gut† (Dickey 103), is simply Ed’s internal longing for manhood rather than a repressed homoerotic fantasy. Ed’s appreciation of Lewis’ toned physique represents to him what has been lost, an inner purity that he hoped to find on the canoe trip. Another major display of a shift in gender roles is the infamous anal rape scene. Ed and Bobby, who is the most effeminate of the group, are taken captive by two (likely) inbred woodland men. These men, pariahs to society, become embodiments of the defilement of nature experienced earlier in the novel, the trash in the river and the poultry processing plant. To Dickey, Man’s encroachment upon nature has not only led to the industrialization that plows fields and fells forests, or littered the wild with our excess and excrement, it has made humanity unable to reunite itself with nature. Once man has defiled a region with our technology and our influence, we may never go back â€Å"Dicke ys novel suggests that there is no free territory†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Entzminger). These mountain men have ostracized themselves from society, searching for a way to shake off the shackles of cultural expectation. However, in their attempt to become one with nature they have simply perverted it. The mountain men rape Bobby while Ed sits, idly waiting for his turn. Entzminger posits that the mountain men,

Chinese vs American Culture Free Essays

Sarah Gonzalez Chinese Culture VS American Culture It doesn’t matter what kind of ethnicity you are, or how you were brought up. Everyone is deeply rooted in their own culture. â€Å"Culture† has a different meaning to everyone. We will write a custom essay sample on Chinese vs American Culture or any similar topic only for you Order Now Comparing American culture to Chinese culture we will find many different meanings to the word â€Å"culture†. For example, we Americans are always looking for something bigger and better for our future, and the Chinese are content with a small reserved lifestyle with no intentions of changing it for something bigger. A culture is a way of life of a group of people-the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. Growing up in America we are taught to never settle for less, that we can do anything that we set our minds too, and when we grow up we can be anyone we want to be. After all we are the â€Å"home of the brave and the land of the free†, right? The Chinese are more set on if you are a girl you are too be the homemaker, and the men are too make the money doing physical labor. The story â€Å"I Answer to Elaine† concluded it all perfectly to me. â€Å"She continued to sign Father’s name. I threatened legal action: â€Å"That’s forgery! It’s not your name†. [Example from I Answer to Elaine] This shows that the Chinese believe that the men are dominate, head of the household, the only say so. In the American home mom and dad have a shared liability for the children and both set of parents go out into the work force. â€Å"A deep frustration set in. I was sickened by her statement’s implication for my future. I hated helplessness, believing it unique to her alone† [Example from I Answer to Elaine]. I feel like Elaine is frustrated with her mom because she knows because of her gender her mom doesn’t expect mush out of her other than to be a care giver. This has to be confusing to Elaine when she sees all over her American friends dreaming about their big futures and what they will do. Elaine should be able to grow bigger than just a housewife. Believe it or not, but American and Chinese culture do have something’s in common. They see eye-to-eye on some aspects. Like providing for their children â€Å"Parents work together for the well-being of their children† [Example from Article]. It is true that parents do the best they can to work towards a better financial life for their kids. That’s why many Chinese parents come over to the states, so that they can provide a better life, and a better education. They would also go to great lengths for their children no matter what the cause â€Å"Parents will risk their life for their children† [Example from Article]. Any parent would risk their life for their children no matter what ethnicity, or cultural aspect! There is no bond like a parent and their child. Chinese and American culture has a lot more differences than similarities. To the Chinese reputation of the individual is very important. If an action will humiliate someone or ruin a reputation, it is avoided. When shame occurs, the person sacrifices their job or whatever it is that will heal the shame. In America, reputations come and go overnight and in the end usually does not matter. â€Å"Go to an American home in exurbia, and almost the first thing you do is drift towards the picture window† [Example from American space, Chinese Place]. It is true that we American’s always want something more than what we have in front of us. We are always looking forward to the big picture of our future. â€Å"Consider the traditional Chinese home. Blank walls enclose it† [Example from American Space, Chinese Place]. The Chinese are very content with what they have, and have no intensions of a â€Å"bigger picture†. They keep what they have close to them. All in all, I think we can see the difference and the similarities between the two cultures. The Chinese are set on their morals. One is to respect all others, the men is the runner of the household, and keep your opinion to yourself. Americans don’t always follow the rules. When we don’t agree with something we are going to speak out about it, and give them out opinion. In the households sometimes there is a man of the house, and sometimes it’s a single mother running the house. I think the Chinese have a better wrap around the meaning of â€Å"culture† they stick to what they believe, and it stays that way for years. Rather than American’s missing the meaning of â€Å"culture† and worrying about what the future has to hold for them. How to cite Chinese vs American Culture, Essay examples

Whats In a Name Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man free essay sample

This paper discusses the identity of the African American and the way in which all individuals should be accepted as they are, with reference to the Invisible Man, author Ralph Ellison, August Wilsons play Fences, Corregidora by Gayl Jones and The following paper attempts to show how the identity of man is accepted or not, by the society within which he lives. The author makes reference to several novels and plays in order to show the challenge involved in communicating across our barriers of race and religion, class, color and region. He cites August Wilson?s play Fences where he expores three generations of African-American men and the generational changes of each man from the Reconstruction Era to the late 1950s. In the other works examined he discusses the acceptance of individuals within a society, family identity and black masculinity. From the paper: ?Go Tell It to the Mountain is Baldwin?s examination into his own family, one that?s more introspective, bound nonetheless by personal experiences. We will write a custom essay sample on Whats In a Name: Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the novel Florence shares some of Ursa?s perception of love and men. Florence is unable to love because she?s jealous of her brother Gabriel, whom their mother devoted her attention upon; the affect of her friend?s Deborah?s rape; and Gabriel?s apparent life of debauchery. She believes all men are distrustful, driven by lust, desiring control of their women. Surprisingly, Deborah married a man to secure the material comforts she never had in life; in fact, she?s become rather obsessive about materialism, preferring it to the humanism that she has discarded from herself. Her hostility toward men, particularly Gabriel, has sterilized her own happiness. The theme of sterility threatens family foundations, especially with Gabriel.?