The societal question of what makes a man masculine is not something that has recently started to float into conversations. Instead, the question of masculinity spans across many different countries and time periods. In Elaine Showalter’s scholarly article, “River and Sassoon: The Inscription of Male Gender Anxieties” this topic is viewed in the context of World War 1 male hysteria, neurosis or “shell shock” as it was referred to by soldiers. In the first section Showalter explained how neurosis occurred and how the body portrays it. Some men would cry uncontrollably, paralyses, blindness, deafness, mutism, and more. These overwhelming physical symptoms were due, in the author’s opinion, by the restraining Victorian society, which dictated…show more content… Showalter would go on to talk about how men during the war would come to realize their own sexuality. In addition to talking about the repressive Victorian society and homosexuality Showatler touched on the idea that Lt. Siegfried Sassoon was kept during his stay at Craiglockhart War Hospital isolated, but comfortably so, because of his new pacifist ideals. Sassoon was so vigorous during battle he earned the name “Mad Jack” and for such a accomplished war hear to be saying how terrible war actually is would be very detrimental to society as a whole. To prevent him from possibly spreading those ideal Capt. William H. R. Rivers, a psychiatrist, kept him under careful watch until such time he was deemed as capable enough to go back to the front lines. Showatler sited many works by Sassoon, Rivers, people who had contact with them, and many reputable articles to support her thesis. She spent the most amount of her time quoting “No Man’s Land: Combat Identity in World War 1” by Eric Leed because of the eye opening accounts about neurosis and explaining it in a simpler…show more content… One of the strong points of the article is the ability to bring a new sense of emotion and depth to such a complex subject. Before this article many people would have considered “shell shock” to be another term for PTSD. Despite the similarities these two mental illnesses are very different. In a sense “shell shock” can kind of go under the over arching umbrella of PTSD and yet PTSD is not “shell shock”. The article also explains how Rivers, a fifty-three year old man when he met Sassoon, was never married and after speaking with Sassoon he started to recognize his own suppressed homosexual feelings. Sassoon also expressed homoerotic feelings, sub-textually, in his memoirs. In Victorian society many people would not have realized the depth that homosexuality was repressed and looked down upon, especially in a society where a romantic revival was taking place. A weakness in this article would be not describing the depth that other men had to hide their sexuality or other men receiving careful attention so that the do not spread pacifistic ideals. Having more examples would give the article more substance with its topic. Showatler’s arguments throughout the article bring a new sense of nationalism during this time period and societal repercussions of strict social images that unravel during times of stress, both mentally and physically. The British Empire could
