John Joyce s A Portrait Of An Artist - 2317 Words

A Different Kind of Masculine According to the Oxford dictionary, masculinity is defined as possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men: handsome, muscled, and driven, he s a prime example of masculinity synonyms: virility, manliness, maleness, machismo, vigor, strength, muscularity, ruggedness, robustness, testosterone. Today masculinity encompasses more synonyms perhaps but not too many. Boys are still teased for letting their mothers kiss them, preferring the cello to football, writing poetry instead of not writing at all. This definition leaves out a whole range of men sensitive or not. This definition is putting men into a narrow category that needs to change. The fight for feminism is still being fought and has†¦show more content†¦Whether right or not these stories are what young men have as examples of what to be. Masculine culture has warped the attitudes of boys for centuries giving them one path to follow on their way to manhood. Ireland is famous for its rich folklore and st ories. One of the most popular is that of the war hero and god-like masculine Cu Cà ºchulainn. During a great battle with his kinsman and army he is gravely wounded. He is gutted and his entrails lay before him on the ground. He knew he was going to die but did not want to die lying down. As legend goes Cuchalainn put his bowels back into body and tied himself to a boulder in order to finish the fight and die on his feet. The story of Cuchilainn’s death is just one of many like it representing brave strong Irish men that would continue to give Irish boys a figure of excellence to aspire to. There are plenty of tales of super heroes, war heroes, knights and men doing masculine chores but men who discover create and teach seem to be overlooked and cast aside as feminine. Stories and literature of the time was written by telling events to drive the story onward. For example in the story of Cuchalainn’s death, each action of the story lead up the his actual fall and death. It was rare to read a novel driven by thought and emotion. James Joyce was part of the early modernist movement of the twentieth century. A prominent characteristic of this movement involved rejecting the