In "Shout", Dagoberto Gilb focuses his story on the emotions and headspace of his protagonist, a manual laborer returning home after a hard day's work . As he seeks to escape the toils of his job, this worker realizes that his home life does not provide him with the relief he desperately seeks. At home, the protagonist faces a new set of burdens: the complications of family life and the pressures of his role as provider. Consequently, the author injects a sense of volatility and instability into the atmosphere of the story, a mood that is ultimately symptomatic of the protagonist's inability to separate the stress of hard work from his home life. By including these elements, Gilb exposes the larger problem of male insecurity, in that the protagonist cannot reconcile the hyper-masculine nature of his job with his flaws in his home life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “Shout” opens abruptly and controversially. Gilb writes: “He knocked on the screen door. 'Will someone open this?!' » (Gilb 433). This aggressive image and the demanding nature of the character constitute our first introduction to the protagonist and the situation in which he operates. Gilb goes on to write, “unlike most men, he didn't leave his hard hat in his truck, he took it home” (Gilb 433). On the surface, this statement tells us that the man works in a physical environment and the detail that he brings his hard hat home is seemingly extraneous. However, upon closer examination, this sequence can be reinterpreted as a symbolic moment, foreshadowing the protagonist's inability to maintain his professional life outside the gates of his home. Gilb exposes this conflict by giving the reader more insight into the protagonist's state of mind after a hard day at work. He writes, “All he thought about was unlacing his dirty boots, then taking off those stinking socks, then the rest” (Gilb 433). Gilb seems to figuratively connect the act of shedding the burden of work with literally shedding those work clothes. Additionally, Gilb conveys the protagonist's internal stress to his external environment, as heat and humidity persist as reasons for his frustration throughout the story. After describing the stifling heat and sweating that his protagonist endured on the construction site, Gilb presents the heat as a relentless force from which there is no escape; he goes on to write that the house “was probably warmer than outside” (Gilb 434). As the protagonist moves from work to home, we begin to see cracks in his domineering, hyper-masculine disposition. This rupture is evident in the frequent emotional shifts throughout the play. An example of the character's faltering masculinity can be seen in his very first interaction with his family. Wanting to calm down after his day's work, he is greeted by a bickering woman and restless children. The protagonist attempts to control the situation by yelling at them all to “shut up and shut up!” » (Gilb 434). However, his request is ignored and instead of calming them down, he only makes the chaotic situation worse. The protagonist's masculinity is further undermined by his wife who does not hesitate to challenge his abrasive attitude with her own – in this case, by glaring at him. He responds menacingly to her challenge by saying, "Sometimes I wish you were a manbecause I won't let you get away with looks like that. I wouldn’t take half the shit I take from you” (Gilb 434). Despite this empty threat, this moment signifies a change in the dynamic of the two, as Gilb indicates: “She already wasn't angry with him. That’s how she was, why they could get along” (Gilb 434). Things having calmed down between them for the moment, the wife asks her husband if he has any news, and it is revealed to him that his professional situation is precarious, putting them in a situation in which “they had the impression that 'they were leaving again, and it didn't seem right' (Gilb 434). Gilb seems to coordinate this revelation with the protagonist's resulting anger. Suddenly his back begins to stiffen and he attacks his family again, shouting, "'Everyone needs to shut up!' I can't stand this today! I need to relax a little! (Gilb 435). When his inability to secure a stable and sufficient income as a breadwinner is mentioned, he can't help but lash out. In doing so, he distances himself further from his family, suggesting that he is isolated by his sense of duty and his sense of failure as a male figure. The protagonist's insecurity about his masculinity manifests itself not only in his temperament, but also in his desire to shirk the responsibilities incumbent upon him. He seems to turn to alcohol to help numb his unpleasant reality. Gilb emphasizes this notion, because beer is the only thing in the story that is described as cold, unlike everything else, which is enveloped in unbearable heat: “He was having a cold one in the shower. The second. He had placed the first one right in front of the refrigerator. 'Come on!' Three and four were to be enjoyed, five was sweet, and six allowed him to take a nap before bed” (Gilb 433). Because the protagonist cannot escape the stresses of his life, he turns to alcohol, as well as television, for temporary relief and escape. At the end of the story, there are two instances in which the protagonist's masculinity is restored. First, he scolds a neighbor who speaks rudely to his children and defends his family. Despite this moment of masculine triumph, he admits his inner anxiety that the neighbor might actually come out and hurt him. Soon after, he is surprised to learn that his wife is pregnant, another revelation that affirms his masculinity. He and his wife continue to have sex after he tells her, "I have to do this." We do it. It’s been too long and now it doesn’t matter” (Gilb 436). In that moment, the protagonist's masculinity is restored, and for the first time he feels temporarily free of his burdens. He follows this moment with a cold shower that finally relieves him of the heat, and Gilb describes his emotions by writing, "it was joy, and it was so strange" (Gilb 436). However, this moment is fleeting. Just when the protagonist seems to arrive at a place of peace, he begins to dread the approach of morning: "He thought he should hold this out as long as he could, until he heard the slope of the highway going up, telling him that dawn was near. was approaching and it was almost time to return to work” (Gilb 436). Not only does his feeling of burden resurface with the morning, but it also becomes more intense; after all, there's another child to feed on the way. The man is once again at the mercy of circumstances beyond his control, making his sense of masculinity vulnerable once again. In “On Writing Shout,” Dagoberto Gilb explains: “What I hoped to offer was not a simple depiction of a construction worker..