Dr. Horn's Metaphor

Eli Pardue
4/22/08
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

It Takes a Family affected me as a person and conflicted with what I believe more than any other piece we have read so far. I deeply regret that Santorum has such a close-minded perspective on child rearing. He puts forth many statistics regarding single-parent households and households where the mother and father are unmarried compared to statistics from “healthy” households with a married mother and father. What Santorum fails to comprehend is that it is not necessarily the fact the parent is single that increases the child’s chance of becoming delinquent, or unsuccessful. It has much more to do with the parents skill in parenting. There is much more neglect and abuse in single parent families perhaps because the parent is not fit to be a parent (this is also perhaps why the marriage failed in the first place). How can I speak from such a perspective? Because I have lived in a single parent household for half of my life, and before that, I lived in not one, but two married households. I have plenty of personal experience with single parent households. I even know the differences of single parent households in two completely different parts of the country, and the differences between an upper/middle class single parent household and a lower class single parent household. Therefore, I very much resent Dr. Wade Horn’s metaphor comparing a single-parent household to a plane that doesn’t always reach its destination. I understand that there is some truth to it. I understand that because my household has at times been dysfunctional. However, I am not upper class. I do not have many of the luxuries that upper class single parents can provide to their children. And yet, my mother has placed me in a private, college preparatory high school and ensured my success. So, given my experience in single parent households, excuse me if I am reluctant to believe that a single-parent household is an inherently dangerous way to rear a child.

Vazquez's Arguement on Homophobia

Eli Pardue
4/24/08
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

Vazquez waits to disclose that Mickey and Brian are straight men because it adds strength to her argument that the men were straight, yet still felt the burn of homophobia. The fact that homophobia can be so intense as to rise above sexual orientation, and instead target those who act or appear stereotypically homosexual. It is horrible that gays alone would be subject to this kind of violence, and we feel that as we read the opening paragraphs. However, it is worse that heterosexual men are also subject to homophobic hate and discrimination based on their appearance and personality. It is worse because now there exists hate that transcends factual knowledge about ones sexual orientation, instead targeting based on assumption. The issue of antigay violence might become more interesting to the masses because of heterosexual victims. It is difficult to say, and more difficult to accept because one would think that the masses would have a basic understanding of human rights, instead of focusing on gay rights or black rights or immigrant rights. It is more than a little bit sick that attention is only grasped when one of the “normals” is subject to hate underserved not only to himself for being straight, but to anyone for any reason.

Imitation of "Girl"

Eli Pardue
4/22/08
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

Wake up at 6:45 every weekday; Go to school on time; don’t forget your lunch; get good grades; do your extracurriculars; excel at sports, because remember, you have to get into a good college if you want to be a doctor! Finish your homework; bring it to me when you are done, because you need to be good at science if you want to be a doctor! Come outside for a bit; work on the garden; prune the shrubs, weed the garden; remember the get the by the root; be sure that shovel is far enough away from your foot; you don’t want to loose a toe. Be home before eleven, or face the consequences!; school comes before friends; work does too. Be sure to do the yard work before you do the dishes or sweep the living room because its important for a boy to do the manly work before the traditional woman’s work because he needs to get a sense of what it is to be a man physically, although I would never tell you that.

Parental guidance differs quite a bit between sexes. Fathers tend to reinforce practical skills and duties, while mothers are more focused on personality and life style. Fathers are ‘manly’ with their sons. In other words, they try to make sure that they will have the qualities of men that they grew up with, and have the qualities of men that they have themselves. Mothers are the same way with daughters, but I do not wish to speak of their relationships, as I have not observed or experienced a mother-daughter relationship.

Man's Sensitivity and Manliness

Eli Pardue
4/15/08
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

I disagree with the assessment that manliness and sensitivity are incompatible. If being romantic towards women, and doing things like opening the door for the woman to display your strength define manliness, and sensitivity is defined by expressing your feelings towards women and treating them as exact equals, why can there not be a middle ground? Being sensitive to a woman’s feelings does not inherently prevent you from being polite and “manly.” And on the other hand, being manly does not inherently prevent you from sharing your feelings and caring for hers. There is such thing as a hybrid. Sensitivity is not being a bleeding heart that can’t hold a door open without an emotional breakdown. Sensitivity is about having genuine feelings that are not related to a man’s natural lust, and being comfortable with expressing them. Being manly is about treating a woman with respect and dignity, yet still recognizing that she is something to protect. This is where the natural instinct of territorial protection plays in. It goes all the way back to the time when man was more animalistic, and women were considered mates rather than partners. Women were protected because they were literally the cradles of life. The hybrid, however, is the man who can be both protective of women, and open to treating them as equals as well.

Eustace's Last American Manhood

Eli Pardue
4/14/08
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

Why does Gilbert believe Eustace is the Last American Man?

Gilbert believes that Eustace is the Last American Man because he represents the last person to utilize the ideals and customs of the frontier era in order to find his manhood. The idea of boys leaving society and striking out on their own in the world is an ideal that was created out of personal manifest destiny, and is inherently a very American idea. In the early years of our nation, westward expansion to create a nation that spanned the whole continent was viewed as the destiny of the nation. This was done by the venturing forth of boys to create their own homesteads in the west once they reached the age where they could provide for themselves. By providing for themselves, the boys of the frontier built their own homes, hunted for their own food, and achieved self-sufficiency. Achieving self-sufficiency granted them their manhood. Eustace is perhaps the last American man able to provide himself with all the things he needs to live. However, Eustace is not the last man to have been born into this sort of custom. That man has not lived for many, many years. Eustace came across the custom of self-sufficiency and manifest destiny through the conditions of his upbringing. His interest in Native Americans, his mothers travels to Alaska, and his fathers constant tormenting all drove him into the forest, where he found refuge away from his home life. This fact separates him from being the last genuine frontiersman versus the last American man.