67 pages • 2 hours read
We Are Called to Rise
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Themes
The Consequences of Toxic Masculinity
Toxic masculinity is defined as “Suppressing emotions or masking distress […] Maintaining an appearance of hardness […] Violence as an indicator of power” (Salam, Maya. “What is Toxic Masculinity?” New York Times, 22 Jan. 2019). From soldiers who suffer from controlling their anger to fathers who abuse their wives to husbands who have affairs with younger women, the men in We Are Called to Rise exemplify how toxic males can ruin lives. Though not always at fault (particularly, Luis and Nate suffer from PTSD), the men in this story are largely responsible for the unhappiness and tragedies of those around them. In their inability to control their emotions—and worse, their refusal to open themselves to help—the men threaten to destroy their families. Mothers must rise to pick up the pieces and keep the families together when men fail to do so.
McBride develops the sense of male hardness from early on, and seemingly all the men must deal with it at some point. There are moments when the characters grapple directly with it, like when Avis wonders, “Nate never did tell us when he was hurt. Where did he get that idea? That he couldn’t tell us if something hurt?” (103). In these crucial moments, pivotal characters must come to terms with the men in their lives, and the men themselves must realize who they are as individuals. Only when these men are able to grow by becoming vulnerable and admitting they’re “hurt” are they able to fully help themselves and those around them. With their stories, McBride suggests that men in our society need to change in order to heal our communities and families.
Self-Healing as a Path to Greater Goodness
Every major character must confront their fears or past to help others. Luis must painfully work beyond his anger and hatred from his time at war to love himself and trust his feelings; only then can he save himself and offer assistance to Bashkim. Avis must grapple with her history—she is scarred by a neglectful mother and a dishonest husband—to harness her best self and help her son with his own problems. Bashkim must learn to forgive Luis for his upsetting letter and to accept his father’s failings on the path to his role in redeeming those around him. Lastly, Roberta must manage the trauma of others as a necessary step to continue giving back to those in need. Each character must work towards healing themselves with an open heart before they can play a role in helping others recover.
No character achieves a larger purpose until they first understand their own feelings and flaws. Luis’s character most exemplifies this process as he works with Dr. Ghosh to understand why he is depressed and angry after the war, often battling with himself internally to reach a positive conclusion in order to love those in his life, despite his hardships. As he describes it:
And it drains away then, the anger and the hurt and the bitterness that was beginning to form deep inside me. Abuela’s human, she’s not perfect, and if she made a mistake, if she took something important from me, she also gave me everything I am, everything I ever had. She didn’t kill a boy carrying burned charcoal in a bag (318).
This moment demonstrates how the main characters must learn to heal individually before they can care for others. In doing so, they “rise,” as the novel’s title suggests. This title comes from a poem by Emily Dickinson whose first lines McBride shares at the start of the book, and it highlights the capacity for goodness these characters discover in themselves.
Small Acts of Kindness and Compassion Matter
Without the ability to look out for others, Bashkim and Tirana would have at the mercy of a judicial system that might have been cold and heartless. Without the ability to trust and forgive, Bashkim and Luis would have never grown in their relationship. Without Luis’s abuela, Luis would have been left to grow up without any positive adult influences. The list goes on, but there are many instances in this text of characters who care for others in both significant and insignificant ways. Each act of kindness, no matter how big or small, helps another person succeed, find happiness, heal, evolve, and ultimately, overcome the hardships in their lives.
Roberta’s character is an exemplary model of this, as she works with strangers to improve their lives and sometimes sees the results in her work. In one instance, she visits a formerly homeless youth, Teddi-Ann Mapes, who has grown up and has her own family, and Roberta cries from joy because she knows goodness in the world is possible by caring for others. She says of Teddi-Ann, “she makes me feel like the world’s going to work out; like everything anyone ever does—no matter how small, no matter how inept—is worth it. Because one of these days, the person you help is Teddi” (143).
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