Jacob Keany 12H2

Explore the significance of masculinity in The Sailor who Fell from

Grace with the Sea and Fight Club
In both novels Palahniuk and Mashima discuss and explore the idea and concept of Masculinity;
this not surprising as their lives were controlled by it. This, therefore, is divulged in the novels as
both protagonists, Joe and Noburu, try to become this archetype of a macho man. The main
significance of masculinity in both the novels is to show society's impact over who we are and what
we are like because we try to become these superstars published in the media. The books try to tell
people to go away from the normal and to break free from society’s grasp on us but the main
difference is they contradict on what the perfect man should be.

Masculinity is used significantly in the novels to discuss society’s impacts on us and how we must
conform and act with society in order to succeed. This is shown in Chapter 5 of Fight Club when
Joe says “Walter from Microsoft smiles his steam shovel jaw like a marketing tool tanned the color
of a barbecued potato chip” this description of Walter shows him and good looking like a marketing
tool as Walter is the archetypical capitalist man who is attractive, young and works for a big
company. Palahniuk uses sibilance when describing him to show him as a someone who is not
trustworthy because the sounds created by using sibilance makes the reader think of a snake, that is
stereotypically known from the Bible to be untrustworthy. Palahniuk uses this, therefore, to show
that the people who are shown as the American capitalist dream are not whom you think they are
and are people you cannot trust. Palahniuk knows this first hand as he got a degree in journalism
and worked in a white-collar job as a journalist, therefore, he has personally met many of these men
in his work life, he quit being a journalist as he found it boring. This is why he is so negative about
these men in this text and tells the reader to not be moulded by society like them. Mishima’s idea is
very similar as he criticises society's ideas, he disputes against society’s ideas of the bad and the
taboos of societies. In Chapter 5, the narrator says “Soon the shirts would be flapping in the wind
and then he would be killing, breaking the endless chain of society’s loathsome taboos”, Mashima
bluntly tells the reader of his disgust of society's prejudice against killing which he sees as natural
and escapism for young boys. Mashima disliked the new Occupied Japan and was a monarchist as
his grandma installed aristocratic beliefs in him as well as that he is a direct descendant of
Tokugawa Ieyasu the first shogun of the Edo Period. This is shown in his writing as he uses the
masculinity of the boys to show the problems in society because they do something natural which is
seen in society is bad. Overall the significance of masculinity in both novels is that it helps the
writers comment on the problems with the structure and ideas of society. Masculinity is most
significant as it describes society because it tells the reader directly what is wrong with life and
makes them think about something so essential and imperative.

The idea of showing emotion is used in both books to discuss masculinity. In The Sailor in chapter
1 as it says “A large anchor withstanding the corrosion of the sea… that was how he liked to
imagine his heart” the imagery of an anchor gives the impression that Noburu wants to have a
strong, stable heart with no emotion as emotion is described as ‘the corrosion of the sea’, a very
negative description. This, therefore, tells the reader that to be masculine you must show no
emotion as well as that it tells us that Noburu is traditionalist and values these ideas of masculinity
seriously. Linking back to Mashima, when he was told of his grandmother’s death he showed no
emotion according to his father, this could explain the thought of Noburu being a young Mashima
in this novel because Noburu’s idea of masculinity and strength is much like Mishima’s. Therefore
Masculinity is a significant theme in the Sailor as it tells the reader about Noburu’s thoughts and
ideals as well as telling the reader that emotions are wrong. In Fight Club, at the beginning there is a
lot of emotion, for example, “‘It will be alright’ said Bob ‘You cry now’”, this is the antithesis to
the Sailor as Bob encourages the narrator to cry and let out his emotions. Palahniuk uses the irony
of Bob being ‘Big’,’Enormous’ and ‘thick’ with his personality being sad and emotional telling the
reader that it is alright and acceptable to cry as even the biggest men cry also. This could show the
Jacob Keany 12H2
change in thoughts and difference in cultures as Fight Club was published in America 33 years after
the Sailor in Japan; in modern times men showing emotion has, therefore, become more accepted.
Overall, masculinity is important in the novels as both novels discuss emotions and whether they
are acceptable for men, with Palahniuk and Mashima disagreeing because Mashima sees it as not
honourable whereas Palahniuk’s dialogue encourages men to be emotional.

The use of the body is a theme in both novels and links with the masculinity with the use of
language by both writers. In the Sailor, the narrator says “the lustrous temple tower soared erect”,
this description of Ryuji using phallic imagery emphasises Ryuji’s masculinity as the picture
created connotes his penis as large, showing his masculinity. This depiction of Ryuji links with the
idea of the body being a temple, this links with Mashima as he himself kept himself in shape and
worked hard to have a good body in order to emphasise his masculinity. Ryuji is shown as the
perfect physical man who is strong and has a large phallus, telling the reader what Noburu wants to
become and what they should want to be. Palahniuk disagrees and dislikes this romantic, artistic
look at a man as the narrator says “ You see those cars that are complete stock cherry, right out of a
dealer’s showroom in 1955, I always think, what a waste”. The narrator believes that everything
you have, you use up whilst you still have it. Even Palahniuk's analogy of a car links with the idea
of masculinity with males as the manufacturing and idea of a dream car is quite masculine itself.
Palahniuk worked as a diesel mechanic showing that he aligns himself with the narrator as he fixed
used cars himself. In addition to that,Joe also says “It’s nothing anymore to have a beautiful stock
body”, once again using the metaphor of a car and a stock body, the use of ‘anymore’ connotes that
it was acceptable previously and explains why Mashima’s views are different as the Sailor was
published more than thirty years before Fight Club. Overall, masculinity is significant also in the
novels as both novels discuss the idea of the body being a temple but disagreeing with each-other,
the body is described as transcendent masculinity in the Sailor as the imagery is quite beautiful
whereas it is shown as the antithesis in Fight Club as it is shown as immanent masculinity with the
dull, mechanical theme of cars.

Masculinity is also explored through the idea of parental love and the importance of parents on a
child and whom they become. For example, in a Sailor, the chief says “There is no such thing as a
good father because the role itself is bad…They stand in the way of our progress while they try to
burden us with their inferiority complexes, and their unrealized aspirations, and their resentments,
and their ideals, and the weaknesses they’ve never told anyone about, and their sins, and their
sweeter-than-honey dreams, and the maxims they’ve never had the courage to live by” this tells us
that the boys believe that being independent and our own leader is important, these are masculine,
tribal ideas. The use of the syndetic list here shows the chief as quite reckless and immature as the
structure is basic but repetitive. This syndetic list also emphasises his frustration and anger showing
his masculinity directly to the audience. Mashima was raised by his grandma primarily who was
very aggressive and violent towards him, this may be where his beliefs come from about fathers
being pointless and a burden for young men to grow and improve. On the other hand, Palahniuk
disagrees with that as the Joe says “ What you see at Fight Club is a generation of men raised by
women”, this paradox connotes the lack of masculinity in modern life as Joe is saying that modern
men are being raised by only mothers who cannot teach the masculinity they need. This tells us that
Palahniuk believes that having a father is important in developing as a person, contradicting
Mashima. Palahniuk’s possible motives for this are because his parents got divorced when he was
14 years old and often lived with his maternal grandparents, linking with the men in Fight Club.
Overall masculinity is also significant as the two authors disagree over whether having a father
helps or hinders our growth from young men towards independence in adulthood, in the novels it
helps us understand the ideas of the men and boys as well as why they are the way they are as in
Fight Club they need to fight to feel masculine whereas in The Sailor the boys are brutal and crude
with no father figures to control them.
Jacob Keany 12H2
The idea of hope for the future is used by the writer differently, in The Sailor to romanticise
masculinity and in Fight Club to show the homogeneity of masculinity. In the Sailor, Ryuji says
“There’s just one thing I'm destined for and that’s glory” Mashima settles on this idea of fate and
that has every man will have a glorified moment at the end of their life. The ideas presented here by
Mashima are utopian and romantic, saying that perfect masculinity is beautiful. As well as that it
tells us that young men need to have hope and passion to be successful in order to be masculine as
men must have the desire. This links in Japenese culture with Samurai committing Seppuku.
Mashima was a believer in traditionalist ideas like this and during the Mashima incident in 1970, he
committed Seppeku. On the other hand, in Fight Club Pahlaniuk takes the completely different
stance. As in Tyler Durden’s speech he says “You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You
are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else”.The speech is forthright and tells us that
men should not try to be beautiful and will never be individual. Palahniuk is, therefore, saying that
you don’t have to be individual and having hope for is misleading in becoming masculine. The use
of snowflake connotes that being individual is weak and feminine as a snowflake itself is unique
and beautiful however is easily destroyed by water. The speech strays away from the American idea
of the American Dream that we will all become successful and have an individual dream of a life,
Palahniuk himself disagrees with that as he quit his job as a journalist as he found it boring. Overall,
masculinity is significant as the characters discuss their hopes for the future with the writers
disagreeing over the idea of hope for the future as Mashima romanticises it saying that we are all
destined for glory whereas Palahniuk creates the idea of homogeneity for the reader, using the
imagery of a snowflake.

Overall Masculinity is significant in the novels as it tells us how to think. The writers exaggerate
and attack it in order to tell us how to live our lives and what to think about life. These novels are
both heavily political and criticise life in general and ideas in society, therefore the impact of
society is the most important idea raised by masculinity. Mashima criticises occupied Japan and
uses the book and masculinity as a microcosm of a whole generation of children who will grow up
in the world of weak men like Ryuji who once had great hope for the future. This is very similar in
Fight Club as the idea of a generation of men is throughout the novel, Palahniuk wrote this novel to
criticise the change and loss of masculinity in the modern day, sedentary, white-collar America. The
legacy of the two books are important to note as film adaptations have both come up over the films
with masculinity still being perceived as a key theme as it is prevalent in the adaptations as well as
that after the books were published masculinity ideology increased which lead to increased
imperialist beliefs in Japan as well as Fight Clubs popping up around the United States. Masculinity
is significant in the novels themselves as it is the core belief of both main characters which is
cherished and is branched of into several other aspects which let the reader understand the situation
and ideals of the boys/men in the novels.