In the modern day setting, many of the stories narrated are inclined to the theme of emotionality across all genders. This theme is considered as the opposite of rationality whereby the ability of a person to make rational decisions is incapacitated and they fail to balance their emotions. This tendency is observed in both real life and theatric world whereby emotions plays the central of depicting the human emotion. War dances is a book written by Sherman Alexis which comprises of various stories that capture the essence of exhibiting emotion especially by the men. It features various characteristics that enable him to bringing out the feeling of nostalgia, longing and most important capture the male entity as emotional. Evaluation of the characters in the short stories enables one to understand in what instances the male species depicts emotions and the intensity of the same.
On reading the title short story, there is a man and his son who are in the hospital. The son watches over his father in the last moments of life. His father complains of feeling cold thus he goes to find a much thicker blanket as compared to those offered by the hospital. The depiction of emotion is illustrated when he meets another Indian as they start discussing about their various issues. both the characters hide their emotion by taking a satirical stance on their relatives sickness. This is evident when the son says that his dad is pretending to be in a trance while he performs an Indian dance on his sister’s bed to determine who the baby. They laugh about it which mirrors the strength of masculinity in hiding emotion and rationalizing a situation. This notion is validated by son who simply says that his dad’s feet have been amputated due to his drinking and alcohol. The aforementioned conditions are responsible for various problems with regards to health and often pose a serious threat to one’s life. The casual manner in which the son mentions about the amputations mirrors the tendency of men to want to look strong and unraveled by circumstances. This is especially pronounced when they are in company of the same gender. There is always a strong desire to want to seem emotionally stable and in control.
The second story that illustrate how men express their emotions is the “Exit Interview for My Father”. The poem illustrates there are various instances where men reminiscence and appreciate the memories shared with family. It pictures interpersonal relationships within the family setting. This is captured when Alexis writes that a son will remember the shopping he used to go for with his dad at Freeman where he would get him red-white- and blue popsicle. Such an instance is likely to be forgotten as someone grows old, but Alexis shows that men are able to appreciate the small gifts bought by their parents during their childhood and what their relationships entailed. The author executes this part humourously to depicts the bonding friendship that can bud and flourish between a father and his son.
The third story is “The Senator’s Son” which touches on how men deal with friendships, loyalty and emotions with regards to the aforementioned interactions. The story is based on two long term friends who met each other in college and became friends. their friendship was close to the extent of being there for each other during hard times. They lost touch with each other only fort them to find out they are both in different paths in life. one is a republican while the other is a gay activist. The republican is against gayism but owing to the fact that his policies are beneficial to the people, his gay friend decides to vote for him. He does so by mentioning that voting is not merely dependant on sexual inclinations but rather people vote for politicians who have the best interests of the people at heart. This actions portrays the emotion of loyalty as a highly respect and honored stance between men. loyalty in this context defies having differences in terms of opinion between friends and foes alike. It borders on the need to support each other despite past and present differences.
It is important to understand the expression of emotions from all genders. The females are liely to be more expressive as they are considered to be nurturers in the sense of ensuring any living being is well taken care of. the male species are more domineering and take up a leading role. They embody the essence of leadership and rationale thinking thus emotion is considered crippling to their personality. The short stories by Sherman Alexis capture the scenarios where men express their innermost feelings and to what extent. It enables on to understand in depth the reasoning on why they hide their emotions and which instances are appropriate to be vulnerable.
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Grammar
F
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Formatting
D
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Organization
B
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Style
D
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