Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for its being lost.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that boxing embodies qualities of masculinity that have been largely forgotten in modern times.
Joyce Carol Oates highlights how boxing, as a sport, serves as a powerful symbol for masculinity and the traditional values associated with it, such as strength, courage, and resilience. By referring to masculinity as a 'lost religion,' she implies that these attributes, which were once revered, are now being overlooked or diminished in contemporary society, making the sport's significance even more poignant.
Themes
BoxingMasculinityStrengthCourageValues
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech on masculinity, one might reference this quote to discuss modern values.
More from Joyce Carol Oates
All quotes βI never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
. . . there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
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He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it.
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Slavery discourages arts and manufacturing ...[and] every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
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