Shane and the ideas of manhood

I find it really interesting that Schaefer chose Bob to be the narrator instead of someone like Shane or Joe.  Personally, I think it is because the audience can then see the two different masculine man through the eyes of a small child.  Shane and Joe both believe that the other one is a true man.  After reading this book, I found some similar characteristics that both men have.  They both are loyal, trustworthy, chivalrous, dependable, and nonviolent unless there is no other way.  Notice that all of these things are actions, which shows that Schaefer believes that actions make up the man.  There was even a line that Shane said stating that the knowledge that a man has is not important, it is what he is that counts.

Another part I would like to comment on would be the concept of guns.  When I first read that Shane never carries a gun, I did not understand why he did that, just as Bob also wondered the same thing.  In the end, he finally uses his gun but he begins to question if he is a real man or not.  I believe that in this novel, the gun takes away from manhood.  Instilling fear should not be considered being a man.

On a side note, I remembered that we were going to talk about the Super Bowl last Tuesday if we had school.  I watched it with a couple of guy friends and whenever their team scored, it was interesting to see them hitting their chest too.  I also noticed that all the commercials were directed towards men.  The two I remember the most are the Dockers "I do not wear pants" commercial and the Dove "I am a man and I am comfortable in my own skin" commercial.  I was actually wondering why most of the ads were directed towards men.  A bunch of women get passionate about watching these big games too!  Any thoughts?

Amy Cheng