The tone and style of Paul Theroux's "Being a Man" is that of a light nature, using exaggeration and stereotyping to not only convey its message but to give the entire piece and enjoyable and fun sense. One of the keys to Theroux's writing is slight misdirection, in which a writer sets up topic for discussion but ultimately has a much different topic in mind. We see this from the opening quote from the alleged "Fetishism" chapter of a book, one gets the sense that Theroux's intent is to point you in one direction so that you don't see real agenda until it is sprung on you. In this case the notion of men and fetish for woman's shoes makes one feel that he is about to analyze why this might be, but instead we find that the shoe fetish is unimportant as it is the idea that being man leads people to think differently of you.

What this piece turns out to really be, is his taking to task the way society has determined that men should act and the inability for men to avoid the imposition of that stereotype without some how being considered, different at best

or "not manly" at worst. And it is in the second paragraph where he sets up the notion of what the world believes a man to be and how that is both ambiguous and constraining at the same time. While there is no definition beside biological of what a man is, he points out that the notion of manliness "insists on difference and connives at superiority." While he is obviously exaggerating somewhat in the insistence that he finds the notion of manliness to be "insulting and abusive, and the thought that he actually dislikes being a man, the use of those strong opinions allows the future analogies to ring more true and deeper rather than merely being a shallow complaint.

Then Theroux uses exaggeration to further his point of how confined men on in their life possibilities. He gives the example of how high school athletes are taught to be social misfits, moral degenerates, sadists, latent rapist and just plain louts. Obviously, one should not take seriously the degree to which he writes that all athletes embody these qualities, but by going far over the line in exaggeration, in terms of sadist and rapists, we are more willing to accept that they might all be louts. This is another key to how one uses exaggeration to give a number of examples of things that are beyond reason, so that the one that is possible seems more likely.

You can also see the use of exaggeration prominently in my parody as I talk about losing as the ultimate sin and how there is nothing worse in life than being a loser. By stressing the win at all cost mentality, such as where it pertains to a Presidential election and the loser having his entire life rendered meaningless, we are more willing to accept that there is a bit more social consequence to losing than the mere act of not winning. Again, you can see this in his description of the quest for manliness to b

Some common words found in the essay are:
Paul Theroux's, Tom Clancy, Richard Simmons, , male writer, paul theroux's, considered manly, considered real, notion manliness, live lives, willing accept,
Approximate Word count = 1247
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)