Dear Reader,

The topic of “social justice” is not something I particularly care about. It’s not relevant in any first-world societies, and third-world societies have bigger fish to fry. It took me a while to think of a topic I wouldn’t be completely forcing myself to write about for this project, but I eventually came to a conclusion.

The people who actually care about social justice and dedicate any amount of time from their lives to the topic typically focus on the emotional aspects of supposed issues, avoiding issues backed by statistical evidence if it doesn’t give them “good-boy points” on social media. One of these real issues is the overwhelming domination of middle-aged white males in suicide statistics.

I don’t consider this topic a social justice issue myself, but it still technically falls under the definition of a social justice issue. To me, this is a outbreak of a mental health issue, and should be handled as such. Treatment should be administered and society needs to be made aware of this as a health hazard, not as an emotional sob story.

-Ryan

THE ISSUE

The most widely hated group is no longer minorities. In the times we live in, men, specifically, white men are criticized for being too “privileged”, so rules and regulation like diversity quotas and “wage gap” accommodation in the workplace, regardless of if these individuals deserve a raise or to even be hired in the first place, eventually turn a fair majority into an unequal, unfair minority. Among the many privileges white men are so blessed with, is accounting for 7 out of 10 suicides in the US (afsp). Though suicide and mental health can affect anyone regardless of race, gender, or social class, one gender of one race making up 70% of recorded suicide rates shouldn’t be ignored in the name of “equality”.

Among the various reasons for the inequality of suicide statistics, I believe commonly propagated misconceptions of the suicidal and ignorantly refusing to teach children about the importance of mental health are major factors next to the social beratement. Many people, myself included, would assume the edgy, angsty, emotionally unstable teenagers would be responsible for most suicides before looking at the statistics, when in fact, these statistics show that adults between the ages of 45 and 54 have been committing suicide the most since 2006 (afsp).

Throughout the history of mankind, boys are raised to believe that they need to be physically and emotionally strong. While this can be healthily promoted as a value every man should have through activities such as sports, it’s often taken too far, to the point where it’s considered embarrassing or too feminine to do something as simple as cry. This sort of environment leads to children growing up believing they need to mask their true emotions to be socially accepted in any capacity by their peers.

It’s okay for men to show their true emotions. It should be common sense for a man to seek help when he needs it. The taboo against maintaining your mental health as a man is only detrimental.

THE AUTHOR

The author I chose for my assignment is Roald Dahl. Though he was not known to suffer from mental illness, some of his dark writing can certainly be related to the topic. He was also heavily criticized by the media for various controversial subjects.

Dahl (1916 - 1990) was born to Norwegian immigrant parents, and was raised in the UK. His teenage years were spent in a school with strict teachers and abusive older peers. This time period was the source of inspiration for much of his writing, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Post graduation, in 1934, Dahl worked as an employee for the Shell Petroleum Company. By 1939, Dahl had been commissioned as a lieutenant in the King’s African Rifles platoon for the British military. Later that year, he had joined the Royal Air Force. In 1940, he suffered from a rough landing, which had fractured his skull and broken his nose. This injury would eventually prevent him from piloting, and to Dahl serving as an instructor, intelligence officer, and diplomat. Upon WWII’s conclusion, Dahl was pronounced unfit for further service.

Post-war, Dahl attempted to start a family of his own, after going through marriage, divorce, remarriage, and suffering the death of some of his children. He made a living as a writer, having previous experience from writing various pieces during his time in the military.

Dahl passed away on November 23rd, 1990, at the age of 74. His cause of death was myelodysplastic syndrome, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. He is buried in the cemetery at St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England.

THE TEXT

Roald Dahl’s story Georgy Porgy is about a vicar named George. The story starts off on the day of his childhood that would be the source of George’s mental issues later. George’s mother, who highly values real world experience and being straightforward with her son much to the dismay of her husband, wanted to show her son a rabbit giving birth. The mother rabbit ends up eating one of her newly birthed offspring. Terrified that his mother would do the same, George runs off, causing his mother to get hit and killed by a car when she chases after him.

In his adult years, spinsters constantly attempt to flirt with George, a now heavily sexually repressed man. He never seeks help for his issues or attempts to resolve them. Instead, he conducts an experiment on a group of rats, separating the males from females with an electrified fence. Eventually, the female rats kill themselves trying to cross the fence, while the males couldn’t care less. George uses this experiment as a sort of validation, confirming his suspicion that females are all driven by sex.

George is pushed into attending a party, crowded by spinsters who give him alcohol and try to seduce him. After some conversation between himself and a spinster, George describes a spinster’s mouth opening agape to swallow him whole. Terrified, he firmly believes this as nothing but reality.

Upon being “swallowed”, George describes the cushion-like internals of the spinster’s stomach, and doctors who have been swallowed before him, who call him crazy and messed up in the head. It is never directly stated, but it heavily implied that George was admitted to a mental asylum and resides in a padded room. The doctors are employees of the asylum who are observing George.

The story of Georgy Porgy, while fictional, shows an extreme end of what can happen to males who suffer childhood trauma. This trauma heavily affected George’s social life, and instead of receiving help from a therapist or psychologist, George attempts a sort of self-medication via the experiment with rats, which only furthers the decline of his mental health.

Nobody could’ve known what George was going through or thinking throughout his life. From the outside, it probably just seemed like he was a sort of shy young man who valued religion, employed as a church vicar. The only person who could’ve possibly had a chance of helping him was himself.

The setting of the story is never specifically stated, but we can assume that it is the same location and time period as it was written in (UK, 1960s). During this time period, every man was expected to be emotionally steeled, as men just recently fought and came home from World War II. Being emotional as a man was completely alien and would be mocked by just about everyone.