Deliverance: The Establishment of "Masculinity" The novel Deliverance by James Dickey portrays the essence of middle-aged men experiencing the mid-life crisis through which they must prove to themselves and more importantly every one else that they still possess the strength, bravery, intelligence, and charm believed to be society's ideal of "masculinity." Dickey's four main characters undertake a risky adventure to satisfy their egotistical complexes and prove to the world that they are still the strong young men their wives married. Each character represents a different stereotype of the middle-aged man, and therefore experiences a different type of psychological and physical journey than their peers. The character Drew Ballinger in Deliverance is a sales supervisor at a soft-drink company who is very devoted to his son and his job. Drew is the character who represents the middle-aged man's desire for talent and attention. Drew plays the guitar and his music is his true companion. Without having any talent, as he would be the first to tell you, Drew played mighty well, throughsheer devotion.(Dickey, 11)For Drew the highlight of this trip is his duo with Lonnie, an uneducated banjo player. Drew obviously finds this the most exhilarating part of the adventure in that he is the center of attention and is playing very well with a talented young man. I had never heard him play so well, and I reallybegan to listen deeply, moved as an unmusical person is moved when he sees that the music ismeant.I could not see Drew's face, but the back of his neck was sheer joyI was glad for Drew's sake that we had come. Just this incident would be plentyto satisfy him.(D...
