From The Journal of A Disappointed Man Flashcards
What are the themes?
Masculinity, changing landscape of gender
What is suggested through the title?
It is an observation from the more feminine man - ‘journal’ suggests a learnerd man
‘discovered’
Suggests narrator has found/uncovered something new
‘new pile/into the pier’
Enjambment - usefulness in society is coming to an end, masculinity as long and arduous. Blue collar is no long useful as there is no progression for old traditional toxically masculine identities.
‘paraphernalia’
lacks meaning to him
‘chains, pulleys, cranes, ropes and, as I said, a wooden pile, a massive affair’
syndetic listing- laborious, hand powered tools - stereotypes of toxic masculinity. vague language, reduces speakers knowledge, doesn’t understand
‘massive style’
narrator adds emphasis to the physicality of the men
‘very powerful men, very ruminative and silent men ignoring me’
strips them of identity beyond stereotypical ideas of physicality - separates himself from hyper masculinity/ feels like an outsider- divided within complex gender landscape of masculinity. Latinate presents narrator as educated
‘all monosyllables’ and ‘they’ ‘them’
juxtaposes narrators polysyllabic language - speaker is atypical in the eyes of hyper masculinity / plural pronouns emphatic of divide
‘I could tell’ ‘I cannot say what’
juxtaposition projecting his inner conflict/ distorted understanding
‘great difficulty.’
dilemma - the work is almost an extended metaphor for the changing landscape of masculinity / end stop shows he cannot resolve the challenges within masculinity
’ I thought’ ‘indifferent’
juxtaposition - builders are indifferent whereas narrator cares about resolving the issues / he is disappointed that other men are not attempting to solve it - gone in a search for answers
‘man’
repetition of narrators deep desire to resolves the issue of what it is to be a man - preoccupied with masculinity
‘crack of Doom’
quote from Macbeth - further emphatic of the stark divide between him and men - the intertextual reference shows he is educated/expressive vs silent
‘finally ceased.’
narrator is perhaps slowly giving up - stereotypical masculinity causes to be useful in society - gradual change/ erosion of stereotypes / sudden decision to stop attempting to solve dilemma
‘one massive man’
alliteration is emphatic of stereotyped physique
‘no one spoke; no one said what they saw’ ‘mystic’(a philosophical thinker)
narrator suggesting that the blue collar worker is almost fantastical p the man has the answers to the dilemmas of masculinity / repetition of negators
‘spit’
monosyllabic contrasts with mystic - almost fantastical portrayal is reduced down to something more primitive
‘descent into the same depths’
plosive alliteration - harsh/blunt ens to the search to solve the masculine dilemmas
‘the tension’
speaker feels somewhat frustrated at his inability to solve the dilemma - men who seemingly don’t care
‘heavy kind of majesty’
shift in poetic tone from ‘monster’ - more appreciative/ in awe - regal imagery
‘suddenly closed’
end stop emphatic of how he has potentially given up - less room for blue collar workers
‘the pile is still in mid air’
left unsolved / emphatic of divide - cyclical, in the same space as beginning
