Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Cycle of Dominance in "The Language of Men"

In "The Language of Men," the main character Carter struggles to fit in with his fellow soldiers. He finally found success in the kitchen, and took great pleasure in creating wonderful meals, always adding that extra something to the dishes. He found however, that his efforts went unnoticed, and he began to feel unappreciated. He was an honest man. Everything he did was to make better food and help the soldiers. The soldiers did not recognize his attempts at winning their praise. Instead, they saw him as the stereotypical angry army cook, a role Carter once despised. Carter had assumed a role similar to that of an unappreciated housewife. The troops even had the audacity to accuse him of stealing from them and dealing food on the black market, when Carter refused to give them oil. In response to their outrageous lies, Carter retaliated and served them terrible food, showing them the true value of his efforts. The soldiers finally realized they had taken Carter for granted, and all they took pains to shower him with complements on his meals, whether deserved or not.

I believe that this story lends itself well to Jessica Benjamin's ideas on subjectivity and dominance. When Carter has just started out as a cook, he is happy because his fellow workers recognize him as a good cook, and he recognizes them as hard workers. However, after time passes, he realizes that the soldiers don't appreciate him. They exclude him from activities, and make jokes at his expense. They exercise their dominance over him, and he continues to make them specially made eggs. He is an object in their eyes, and they do not see that he can be worthy of their respect. To them, he is the angry army cook. After the soldiers confront Carter about not giving them oil, he realizes that he should be in the position of power, not them. Carter exercises his dominance by serving them bad food. Once again, neither side his happy; Carter feels guilty for serving bad food, and the soldiers feel sick. When the soldiers and Carter recognize each other as mutual subjects, as prescribed by Benjamin, they become better friends. The soldiers realize that Carter does do a lot for them, and Carter realizes that he can lend them oil sometimes. They see each other as subjects, and respect each other. Though Carter may still struggle with speaking the language of men, he has at least earned their respect.

1 comment:

  1. You have made a great point here. Benjamin's argument fits almost perfectly into the piece. While Carter, as you argued, struggled to assert his dominance as a good cook, I also believe that he attempted to assert his dominance as a more "manly" man in the process of doing so. When he became hostile with the other men in the kitchen, I believe that it was a way for him to act manly in that moment. Thus, he struggles with self-identity because he can not figure out how to become equally as "manly" as the other men. He attempts to do so via dominating the other and switching the roles of the binary, which ends up not working out for him. Benjamin, then, would argue that Carter needed to apply mutal recognition to the situation.

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