¶ … Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe was written and published during a time in American history where heroism was not contemplated for Americans. In fact, many have characterized the era featured in the book as the age of the "anti-hero." It was the time during which Nixon had left the White House in disgrace, Vietnam and its atrocities were uppermost in each American mind and Americans were held hostage by Iranian militants during 1979.
Furthermore it was also during this time that statistics are not in favor of the average pilot. Wolfe in his forward notes that almost one in four career Navy pilots die in accidents at a point as late as 1970. The fact that men were happy to risk their lives for this profession intrigued Wolfe, and he proceeded to write the novel about the NASA space program, and the pilots involved in it. Below the concept of "The Right Stuff" is considered in terms of various definitions and connections. The aim is to ultimately arrive at what Wolfe attempts this phrase to mean.
Categorizing the Concept
The most obvious category for "The Right Stuff" would probably be courage or bravery. This human quality is what intrigues Wolfe in the first place. If it takes courage to be a Navy pilot, being an Astronaut would take even more of the same quality. The early astronauts have a daunting task in front of them. They are part of an entirely new and extremely dangerous program. Space travel is in its infancy, and everything can potentially go wrong. Thus the same fortitude that inspires a man to become a Navy pilot, is increased to inspire the same kind of man to become an astronaut. In this way the pilots Chuck Yeager and Joe Walker achieve...
Surprisingly, among the most important qualities possessed by the very few individuals who have the right stuff are attributes (if one can refer to it as being an attribute) like overconfidence. This arrogance is apparently essential for making pilots have the feeling that they should not be left behind, regardless of the circumstances. "Manliness, manhood, manly courage" (Wolfe 66) are also extremely significant for someone engaged in testing for
The pool of qualified candidates immediately dropped from a little over five hundred to less than seventy. Of this number, many were eliminated because they could not endure the various physical and mental tests and the medical exams required. The number finally dwindled down and seven astronauts who are today known as the Mercury Seven were chosen. The Mercury Seven consisted of Alan Shepard Jr., Virgil Grissom, John Glenn Jr.,
Indeed, the cantankerous and authoritarian general would operate with what was necessarily a sense of his individual capacity to lead his men into battle. To Patton, leadership does require some degree of extraordinary confidence, if not outright vanity, if one is to engage organizational goals with the sense of entitlement to exact decisions impacting the lives of so man. Such is also true if one is to contend with
Source C Roberts, Rev. Dr. Mark D. "Oprah, James Frey, and the Question of Truth" markdroberts.com. 30 January 2006. Tone: Moralistic Claim: James Frey's book is fraudulent and should never have been published. Purpose: To explain his outrage at Frey's misrepresentation and the publisher's lack of fact-checking. Important information in the title: Frey's supposedly inspirational and gut-wrenching story was prominently featured on Oprah's book club and became a best seller. Important info in the background material: The
From that meeting, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was born, and France, nor anyone else at that meeting could have envisioned what NASCAR has become today (History pp). The first NASCAR-sanctioned race was held on Daytona's beach course on February 15, 1948, however, it was 1949, when what is now the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, the premier racing division in America, was born (History pp). There were
It is about impression and feeling, about individual recollection. This memoir is a combination of facts about my life and certain embellishments. It is a subjective truth, altered by the mind of a recovering drug addict and alcoholic" (Frey 2006). Defenders of Frey were even more explicit in noting that telling a good story and creating a vivid image in the mind of a reader often demands the use of
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now