Committed to the Masculine Box
Location
Ponderosa Room D
Presentation Type
Presentation
Presentation Topic
English, Masculinity
Start Date
3-3-2023 1:25 PM
Event Sort Order
33
Abstract
Everyone is impacted by the cultural standards that are pressed upon them by society. These standards are based on any facet of an individual’s identity- i.e., their gender, sexuality, physical appearance etc. People who present themselves as masculine face specific societal pressures. In this paper, I will discuss what I refer to as the masculine box. This masculine box refers to the societal standards that are placed on men. Although masculinity is not inherently bad, it is the connection to toxic ideologies and violence that brings concern to the rest of society. An analysis of the masculine characters in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novels The Sympathizer and The Committed demonstrates the negative impact of the masculine box on one’s individuality and one’s mind. These two novels follow an unnamed narrator and his experiences as a spy in America for the ARVN and later in France. Both novels explore the relationship between the narrator and his “blood brothers” as well as his actions as a spy in the first novel, and later a drug dealer in the second. This paper will focus on the narrator in The Committed to develop the ideas above. Ultimately, I will entertain the question: Is there any escape from the masculine box?
Committed to the Masculine Box
Ponderosa Room D
Everyone is impacted by the cultural standards that are pressed upon them by society. These standards are based on any facet of an individual’s identity- i.e., their gender, sexuality, physical appearance etc. People who present themselves as masculine face specific societal pressures. In this paper, I will discuss what I refer to as the masculine box. This masculine box refers to the societal standards that are placed on men. Although masculinity is not inherently bad, it is the connection to toxic ideologies and violence that brings concern to the rest of society. An analysis of the masculine characters in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novels The Sympathizer and The Committed demonstrates the negative impact of the masculine box on one’s individuality and one’s mind. These two novels follow an unnamed narrator and his experiences as a spy in America for the ARVN and later in France. Both novels explore the relationship between the narrator and his “blood brothers” as well as his actions as a spy in the first novel, and later a drug dealer in the second. This paper will focus on the narrator in The Committed to develop the ideas above. Ultimately, I will entertain the question: Is there any escape from the masculine box?
Presenter Bio
A Junior at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Trinity Angle is working towards a degree in 7-12 Language Arts Education. She is from Nemaha, Nebraska and graduated from Auburn High School in Auburn, NE. She plans to graduate in 2024 and teach rurally in the Midwest. This is her second semester in UNK’s Undergraduate Research Fellows Program (URF).
Trinity Angle has had an academic paper published in UNK’s literary magazine The Carillon. She has taken courses in Gender and Ethnic Study, Non-Western Literature, Non-Western Literature in Translation, and Post-Modern Literature. Trinity Angle is involved on campus and dedicated to supporting students through TRIO-SSS as a TRIO Mentor, but also as a Resident Assistant on campus as part of the Inclusion Advocates.