Definition Essay on “The Right Stuff”

Category of Right Stuff

In The Right Stuff, Wolfe explores the fraternity of fliers, the military lifestyle, the function of the press, and the nature of courage, providing the reader with an insightful journey into the heart of American culture. Although factual, the book allows itself liberties in the description of events and, for example, the re-creation of conversations or the thoughts that someone may have had (Wolfe, 25).

Definition

The Right Stuff, as described by author Tom Wolfe, is clearly meant to be considered a virtue of the highest order. It is presented as that almost indefinable something that separates the men from the boys. The “right stuff” as most recently defined by author Tom Wolfe is bravery, but it is not bravery in the simple sense. As he applies the word to America's astronauts in his 1979 history of the space program, it refers to the quality that would enable a man to ride into the heavens on the end of a rocket and to “put his hide on the line and have the moxie, the reflexes, the experience, the coolness to pull it back at the last yawning moment” (Wolfe, 26).

Early in the book, Wolfe uses the backdrop of military flight training to demonstrate an example of “the right stuff.” According to Wolfe, those fortunate to possess “the right stuff” shared an “ineffable quality.” This quality, according to the author, was bravery. However, it wasn't simply “being willing to risk your life” that Wolfe considered “the right stuff” (17). As he pointed out, “any fool could do that.” Rather, it was the willingness to risk life and limb consistently and almost humbly, day after day in pursuit of glory that he associated with those possessing “the right stuff.”

Tom Wolfe begins The Right Stuff by introducing ...