Transcending the Myths of Patriotic Militarized Masculinity: Armoring,Wounding,and Transfiguration in Ron Kovic's Born on the Fourth of July

Abstract

Ron Kovic's autobiography, Born on the Fourth of July, offers a narrative look at how a young man from a working-class suburb grew to become a marine recruit, wounded Vietnam veteran, and anti-war activist during the period from the late 1950s to the 1970s. In examining Kovic's story, this article probes the cold war, patriotic, and military myths that informed Kovic's construction of masculinity. By highlighting the significant personal and political moments of his narrative, one can discern how these myths of patriotic militarized masculinity armored and wounded Kovic and many of his cohorts. The article concludes by determining to what extent Kovic's transcendence of these myths carried beyond his story (both in the autobiography and Oliver Stone's film) in the face of the regressive masculinism of the 1980s.

Keywords

myth cold war culture patriotic militarized masculinity armoring working-class soldiers regressive masculinism transcendence and transfiguration Ron Kovic Born on the Fourth of July

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