Blog Post #2

  When it comes to readings this semester, the most interesting one to me was by far Man Up by Carlos Andres Gomez. Everyone has their own struggles in life but Gomez really shows us how he was basically powerless in his life and within the events that occurred in his life. It came to the point were he almost felt cursed. Through out all the tough events, he was also struggling with having been expected to be something he wasn’t. We definitely get a great feel of his struggle with identity and becoming the person he is today.

One of the most difficult and emotional pages in the book/chapter, was his discussion with his father. His father explaining to him that he is not a man, he is a boy. His father was telling him the things he is not, yet he needs to be. He is selfish, self-centered, and he does not accomplish anything in life. He is not a man, he is a boy. His mother treats him in a way where she expects him to be a man, and he explains how she really wasn't ever emotional towards his feelings. After all the things he was told, he was also piled on with death and disappointment in his life. He explains how he begins to fear the things in life. 

After he learned to grow into fear, he explains how he enjoys fear. Fear is the fuel for his success. It took him many year to realize, in one of my favorite quotes, “In this moment that I have right now, whatever I’m doing, I want to be remembered as being great” (p. 54). I can relate to this because I believe that if you allow to block yourself and refuse to except your true identity, you cannot become great, happy, and successful in life. Gomez learned that it didn't matter what he feared or what life through at him, because even though he feared it, he faced his fears because all he wanted to be was “great”. 

This was by far my favorite reading and one of the most powerful. Most people only believe that women are the ones who struggle with identity and expectations, but not many realize how much boys face as they grow up. Expectations to be a man as if it is what they are regardless of who they feel they want to be. It even comes to the point that if a man wants to be feminine, they are looked at as if there is something wrong with them. Gender is culturally formed and this reading was a great look into how social norms impact not only girls, but boys as well.