Frank Norris’ work “Vandover and the Brute” Essay

The develop workforcet of familiarity in Frank Norris work Vandover and the Brute is an raise reflection of the Puritanical views that Americans have towards charge upuality, promiscuity and the consequences thereof. The importance of this concord is that it openly examined this value system in 1914, a time when Vandovers demeanor, sluice with turn out the lycanthropy, was considered brutish and improper. Yet the American environment was in the midst of the starting line sexual revolution as party young women of the 1920s would get into clothing that revealed their flesh and boyish haircuts for the Roaring Twenties.Again in the 1960s, the next major era of womens unspoileds movements, grammatical gender would be fasten to freedom and women would equate burning their bras and free love with freedom and independence. This book then is a look at how a young man might become the values of the community around him without ever creation taught directly that sex is dirty and that women be somehow degraded when they enrol in it. The raise thing about Norris work, which was published after his death, is that Vandover managed to acquire these misguided notions of sexuality on his own.In the starting line chapter, the author points out that during his adolescent twenty-four hour periods Vandovers single female contact was with the housekeeper with whom he was constantly at odds. In addition, because his father would not discuss sexuality with him, he was forced to turn to an Encyclopedia Britannica to answers his questions about women and sex. He was subjected to the earthy jokes and unconscious sexual immaturity of boys going through puberty, but without a mother, governess or other strong feminine influence to teach him right from wrong.Indeed, if unmatched assumes that the author was in fact trying to make a statement about corporation rather than just tell a story about a maladjusted young man in the late 19th century, it becomes clear from th e very first chapters that one of Norris indictments is against Vandovers father and his unwillingness to talk to his son about the facts of life. In dead, one of the underlying themes through the entire work is the paper that passel only hint at their feelings and do not openly discuss the sexual nature of humanity even though it is a significant assign of their lives.One of the most interesting facets of this book is the sermon of Vandovers first sexual encounter and his embarrassment and guilt over it. If the situation had perchance been handled with some amount of discussion, it might have prevented the events that would later occur, including Vandovers conquering of a good girl, her subsequent suicide, and his eventuality degradation to gaming and alcoholism.The authors message that society needs to quit covert its own nature and covering for the high class when they engage in reckless behavior is evident mid-book when Haight explains to Vandover that several of the youn g, classy women at a cotillion were drunk. Haight tells his friends that society should call a dig a spade and that when women of class drink too much they should be considered drunk as much as any man. This dual criticism of the means by which people receive a sexual education and the double-standards applied to men and women is perhaps the most interesting passage in the book.Another interesting idea that Norris sets forth through the theme of the book and the story itself is that Vandovers sexuality and promisecuity are to blame for the turn of events for him, including the loss of his family fortune and his newfangled role as a werewolf. Interestingly, rather than approaching the invention that Vandovers situation might be a result of his addictive behavior including his sexually predatory nature, his alcoholism and his gambling addiction, the reader is left with the idea that the bad things which happen to him are consequences of his sexuality alone.Though Norris portrays Va ndover throughout the fabrication as a weak-willed individual who is too lazy to work terrible and get what he wants out of life, everything in his life is blamed on his sexuality and his desire for women of a certain type. The fact that Vandover does not ensconce down with a fine, upstanding woman, regardless of his feelings for her is seen as an affront to society as a whole. The most important messages about sexuality that are relayed via Vandover and The Brute are the concepts that sexuality exists as it does because people dont talk about it and that there are consequences for sexual behavior.The first concept is perhaps the most intriguing because it still applies now, almost 100 years later. Though we do not have the same level of closed-mouth attitudes toward sex as Vandover encountered, it is not uncommon even in the modern day to find parents of high school students who do not want their children receptive to sex education for fear that the education will lead to promi scuity. kinda of teaching real information regarding the dangers, both physical and emotional, of beginning a sexual relationship at the wrong time, too many parents brook on the Puritanical approach to sex education, associating it with guilt and sin. Young people are not properly educated regarding the safety issues of sex and sexually transmitted diseases continue at epidemic levels when they could be prevented with adequate discussion of the topic. Ironically, as we approach the 100-year mark for the publication, Norris primary criticism of the teaching of sexuality still stands today.