Essay on The Citadel

In the article “Toxic Masculinity Is Killing Men: The Roots of Male Trauma,” Kali Holloway explains why the ideal of masculinity is so unrealistic and harmful to men. Holloway also gives many studies and writings to back the idea that to be a strong man you have to suppress feelings and pain. In these studies, it proclaims that both men and women start off equally feminine as babies and that these ideas are taught to boys and girls as they grow up learning how to “be a man.” Holloway goes on to say that masculinity is not just taught by parents, but also taught through television and movies that portray men as masculine and strong. There are many examples given showing the ways men release their stress differently than women. This makes it

Society faces an issue that is not usually addressed because it is seen as the norm in today’s American culture. It is the crisis of masculinity. The notion of how men should be portrayed is not usually identified as a problem; today’s society views men’s apathetic and exasperated exterior as the orthodox behavior of everyday life. Boys at a young age are taught by the popular culture that they need to be a “real man” - strong physically and emotionally. The mask many men put up is based on the extreme idea of masculinity that emphasizes toughness, physical strength and gaining the respect of others through violence or the explicit threat of it. This front is put up by men because they do not want to stray from what is accepted, for men who

Masculinity has changed and evolved since the beginning of human creation. Males have had to adhere to the social norms of their time to survive without undue persecution. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a shift in the way men could attain manhood. It was no longer easy for a man to enter into manhood with straightforward expectations and rituals. The state of manhood became difficult to obtain because of its precarious nature. During the same period, the industrial revolution was in full bloom giving birth to mass information outlets like newspapers, magazines, and advertisement: media. This set a prevailing state where boys and men alike could gain material on how to become or be men

For a long time, men and women have been dealing with the controversy of gender roles. In modern day, the battle for gender equality has been more known. In the story “Guys Suffer from Oppressive Gender Roles Too”, the author Julie Zeilinger explains how males are held to a more macho standard, but do have prevalent emotions. If we were to let go of these rigid rules about what is manly, there would be no standard for any gender. If that was reality, men shouldn’t have to feel humiliated about staying home, and if their companion makes more money than they do. Zeilinger talks about how males detach themselves from some emotions, and live a “life nub to a true range of human emotion” so they can meet this masculinity standard. However if males

Men are treated vastly differently than women. For example, men are expected to not show their emotions. In “why men don’t last” by Natalie Angier, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, she described how even when men are young boys they have their emotions shamed out of them by their parents and their peers (Angier 1011). In “The War Against Boys” Christina Hoff Sommers, a writer of several books, wrote how men have it imprinted on them at a young age that showing your emotions is a sign of weakness. Men are also taught to be self-sufficient and not ask for help (Sommers 1061). For example, there were many times when I was in school but needed help. I never asked because I always wanted to think of myself as self-sufficient, that I did not need the help from my teacher and I could figure it out myself. Now, of course, I realize how dumb that was that there is no shame in asking for help,

Since being established in 1842 as a public military college, the Citadel was a college filled with many tradition and pride that seem to discriminate against female applicants. However, the Citadel’s way of accepting and admitting student has to be challenged at some point in time. In Susan Faludi’s essay, “The Naked Citadel”, Malcolm Gladwell’s essay, “The Power of Context”, Tim O’Brien’s essay, “How to Tell a True War Story”, the authors all came to the conclusion that the actions portrayed by the individuals could have been influenced by their behavior. Gladwell’s theories about the environment and human behaviors can help explain the changes that occurred at the Citadel. The Broken Windows Theory can help explain how the

When someone is thinking of a man, what do they think? Strong? Brave? That’s what most people think; in reality that is a very false image. In “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code,” Michael Kimmel, talks about what it means to be a man and what it takes to be a man in today’s world. Men are pressured into what they “should” be. If they don’t follow certain unwritten rules, which include: not asking for directions, not giving up, not showing fear, or any signs of emotional weakness, such as tears; they are considered less than a man, a wimp. A real man must be aggressive and brave, he must defend his territory: status, family, possessions. Men blindly follow the Guy Code, they must comply in order to be part of the pack, to fit in.

Ulysses S. Grant marched his force of 50,000 men through hard times on the west bank of the Mississippi River in the hope to conquer Vicksburg with a vicious defeat. April 30th, 1863 Grant crossed the Mississippi. The Siege Of Vicksburg was a significant occurrence in the Civil War.

In the heat of battle, against her own people, America fights the most destructive war to the country, which killed more of her own lives than any other war in history. The United States, not nearly as united as before, started splitting in two when in 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, quickly followed by other Southern states, forming the 11th state, the Confederacy. Since the Southern states used agriculture done by slaves as their economy, when Northern states started opposing slavery’s extension into the West, the Southerners feared they would lose their main money source. The Confederacy was “founded upon the truth that the Negro does not equal the white man” (The Civil War). Lincoln did not want to start a war with his own

The first oldest city in Georgia. Savannah was found by James Oglethorpe, and 144 European settlers on February 12, 1733. They sail from England on the Ann. These Settlers were the first settlers to step foot on Savannah. This city is named after Savannah River.

The use of blunt language constantly throughout his narrative conveys the lives of suffering slave during the 1800’s. The author states that “He dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip” when discussing how the slaveholders treated the ones they thought

The movie surveyed a wide array of the troubles faced by boys and men as they try to navigate the realm of masculinity. A common theme was the command “be a man” and the cultural baggage that comes with living up to that ideal. To “be a man” means to not cry, to not be sensitive, to not let people mess with you, to respond with violence, to be angry, to drink, to womanize.

In order to survive in an ever changing environment it is important to be open to the idea of modification despite fear. Though change can be scary, making modifications can be a good thing. The community of the Citadel was so set in their old ways of only accepting and breeding masculinity that Shannon Faulkner’s acceptance into the school resulted in complete pandemonium, “She would be what one Citadel defender called in his

Many would argue with justification that Frederick Douglass has adopted, to forge his narrative voice, a strong tool of the white, educated society which, in its Southern substantiation, has held him captive. Douglass in part takes the reins of his destiny by (eventually and initially nervously, according to the Narrative) addressing an audience which would once have been unaddressable. When Douglass was a slave the most contact he had with the abolitionists was, at best, their addressing of him, in small, distant doses, through the literature of which Douglass managed to get a hold. A slave can take orders from Southern whites and occasionally receive information or ideas from Northern whites (or abolitionists), but a certain degree of power or status, springing out of ability and freedom to articulate, is required to address them in return. The power to address is, in a small way, a sign of equal intellectual and social footing.

In American society, there is an obvious gender hierarchy in which men are viewed as strong, powerful, and valuable while women are viewed as weak and timid. Women face this challenge every day, and more prominently when they are trying to go against the hierarchy. Regardless of how many social norms or “power ceilings” that women break, they constantly face messages that perpetuate stereotypes, which reinforces this gender hierarchy. At the same time, men are also facing similar, gender-related pressures. Because men are on the top of the social hierarchy, there is an expectation that they be strong, brave, and confident. This causes an undue burden on the men that are unable to fulfill these gendered expectations.