David's Masculinity In The Works Of King David

Uncle Frank’s action needed to be punished because he was racist and did not have respect for women and especially the Indian people. This transforms David from the young clueless boy into a young even maybe adult person he is by the end of our novel knowing more than maybe even modern day adults about how hard life is and how cruel the world can

David must pretend, not just for the remainder of the novel, but for the next forty years, to be ignorant of Frank’s crimes, and much of what is happening because his parents do not realise that he has

In the beginning of the book, David seemed like a rude, ignorant and negative child. All he ever did was argue and disagree with Elizabeth which was partially because David thought he was a know it all that was better than everybody else. In a few situations, David kept bringing up the fact that he did not need a babysitter, which proved

David was known as the heroic underdog from when he was little to know a grown up adult he faced many difficult challenges growing up and managed to defeat his challenge. finishing high school and trying to make it big in the world spending most of his time working outside of school and spending time going to school David managed to pull through go to college attending University of Redlands and Yale University earning his degree in business and is working as a successful lawyer still achieving his goals till this

David's inauthenticity leaves him always feeling unsatisfied. He doesn't belong anywhere, not amongst heterosexual or homosexual. Everywhere he's a stranger. I truly believe that David knew deep down inside what needed to be done to finally become happy, but he also knew that this was a decision he could not live with. If there was such a thing as a pill to make him be the man his father wanted him to be, David would have taken it in a heartbeat. He wished to be apart of the American dream where he worked to support his good lady and their four delightful children as they lived happily ever after. Unfortunately, he did not

his father and dead mother. David's father has an idealized vision of his son as

David struggles to come to terms with his relationship with Giovanni and the implications that homosexuality has on his perception of the masculine identity and male power relations. David sees his relationship with Giovanni as a form of liberation from his loveless relationship with Hella, but in his attempts to keep it a private affair it becomes more and more of a threat to his masculine identity. In his first encounters with Giovanni’s room, David acknowledges the confines of the space but accepts it. However, as he feels his masculinity stifled by his relationship with David, the room develops into an oppressive symbol, something he must escape from to reclaim his masculinity. David expresses this idea when he says, “But it was not the room’s disorder which was frightening; it was the fact that when one began searching for a key to this disorder one realized… it was a matter of punishment and grief” (Baldwin 87). The room serves as a constant reminder about David’s sexuality as well as his true feelings for Giovanni. David obsess with the idea of masculinity, he is constantly comparing himself to

David also sees himself as having a great deal of influence on others and prides himself on that fact. When David was walking along the street with a coworker, a girl mistook him for a celebrity and David found it amusing to play along. David’s narration describes that the coworker was not amused by this joke and “avoided [David] for the next six months” (DeLillo 2.14). Once David sees the influence his appearance and pride could have on one coworker, he believes that he

With this idea of simply being thrown into a gender category, or so it feels, it brings me to the discussion about As Nature Made Him. The third part of the novel seemed to mainly focus on the truth of the whole situation and not necessarily what John Money published. Within the third part it discussed how many wanted to finally publish the true story about the twins and how David struggled mainly all of his life. While completing all of this weeks readings along with watching the documentaries from last class, I kept thinking about how David had mentioned that he doesn’t understand why people wouldn’t want to hear the real story from him, the person who actually had to live through John Money’s decisions/ David’s childhood. This constant

Although both the previous events did put David into an adverse position, the following experience changed David’s outlook on life for the better. Finally there was someone to tell David the true meaning of mankind, Uncle Axel. Uncle Axel tells him to be proud of his telepathic abilities, instead of praying to be what everyone else thinks is the true image. Uncle Axel also changes David's outlook on the true image of man, he explains to him how it's not one's physical features that define him, but what's in his mind.

First, “why is the story being written?” I believe the author was writing this piece to share his love and odd feelings towards his siblings. David wanted to express his outlook of becoming ancient, and how he filled his time, as well as share his marital relationship. The second question I asked myself about characterizing the tone was, “Who was he writing to?” The author was predominantly speaking towards those of a younger age or era.

At the age of 5 years old, not only did he began to take showers with his father, but when they went to the beach club, his mother bathed him in the shower in the presence of other naked women. By the age of 6 years old, David noticed the power men had over women, “when a male entered the women’s side of the bathhouse, all the women shrieked”. (Gale Biography). At the age of 7 and 8 years old, he experienced a series of head accidents. First, he was hit by a car and suffered head injuries. A few months later he ran into a wall and again suffered head injuries. Then he was hit in the head with a pipe and received a four inch gash in the forehead. Believing his natural mother died while giving birth to him was the source of intense guilt, and anger inside David. His size and appearance did not help matters. He was larger than most kids his age and not particularly attractive, which he was teased by his classmates. His parents were not social people, and David followed in that path, developing a reputation for being a loner. At the age of 14 years old David became very depressed after his adoptive mother Pearl, died from breast cancer. He viewed his mother’s death as a monster plot designed to destroy him. (Gale Biography). He began to fail in school and began an infatuation with petty larceny and pyromania. He sets fires,

David is shown to be cowardly, simply acting courageous, yet this typical masculine trait is seen as fake. This is foreshadowed through his spotless outfit as opposed to Shaun’s blood-covered attire, indicating that until now he has been focusing on self-preservation rather than direct involvement with danger, as Shaun has. A tie around Shaun’s head that mimics ‘The Deer Hunter’ (1978) further places him into a warrior role, supporting the idea that he is actively engaged in fighting; accentuating the dichotomy between the cowardice that David embodies and true bravery. Wright frames him behind Shaun’s head while he shoots her, making him carry out the action since while David attempts to take control of the situation and be heroic and manly, he is simply acting out a facade of courage. This subversion of typical gender constructs challenges this dominant patriarchal ideology.

James Baldwin is a wonderful author in regards to weaving certain topics, both controversial and non-controversial, into his texts. The struggle with masculinity is one of a plethora of topics that Baldwin discusses. Although they might seem insignificant, they serve a great purpose in introducing the societal views of these ideas and definitions through different perspectives. Masculinity and its perception by male characters is a topic that is touched on in many of his texts. Whether it’s through the difficulty behind understanding masculinity or using it as a façade to cloak another secret, Baldwin’s characters bring a numerous amount of questions surrounding the idea of what masculinity is and what it serves others in society. This topic relates to how 21st Century American society views men and the importance of a masculine identity. There is this immense backing of the idea that an ideal man is this macho, testosterone-driven individual who can only discuss sports, drink large amounts of alcohol, and explicit sexual interactions with women, or what is now considered “hypermasculinity”. “Hypermasculinity is what society paints as what a man should be”, states Tratel Ingram, writer for MTV Voices and author of the article The Pressure to be Masculine. “Hypermasculinity can be defined as a term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality… It’s extremely damaging to men and boys everywhere.”

The morals that David exhibit seems mixed and his moral code blurred. It seems as though David himself is confused by his own moral code, perhaps experiencing an identity crisis. His literary hero, Lord Byron, was a great womanizer who once wrote a poem to El Burlador de Sevilla Don Juan Tenorio, who also followed a life down the same path.