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Iron John - The Iron John Movement
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In 1990 Robert Bly published Iron John: A Book About Men. It analyzed the Iron John story in-depth and used it to examine the nature of the modern man and the male psyche. Among its arguments were that the lack of male mentors (such as Iron John is in the fairy tale) led to adult men who were less than developed mentally and emotionally, and also that few meaningful rites of passage in the modern Western world resulted in no clear division between child and responsible adult. Bly’s book advocated a return of a stronger, more masculine man (in the traditional sense), bu ...

There are many variants, though the important elements are common to all versions. The story begins when a king sends one of his huntsmen into a forest nearby, a huntsman who never returns. The king sends more, each meeting with the same mysterious and unknown fate. The king finally sends all his remaining huntsmen out as a group, but again, none return. The king proclaims the woods as dangerous and off-limits to all. Some years later, a wandering explorer and his dog come to the kingdom, hearing of these dangerous woods. The explorer asks permission to hunt in the forest, claiming that he might be able to d ...

The story of Iron John can be read as a parable about a boy becoming a man. Iron John in his cage can be seen the inner wildness of all men, sexual potency, or the physical strength of an adult man, which can be dangerous if not controlled. In this interpretation the king and queen represent both outward authority (civil or religious) as well as the inner authority of the parent. The ball could stand for childish things that must be discarded when manhood is reached, but also the search for the inner child that remains at the heart of every man. The stealing of the key is therefore the defiance of the mother figure and her au ...

Iron John - The Iron John Movement

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