History ManlyTears / Literature

* "An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow" is a poem by Les Murray about a crowd that forms around a man weeping on the street, "not like a child, not like the wind, like a man." His unrepentant sorrow washes over the crowd, with many joining him. But in the end, the man simply walks away "with the dignity of one
man who has wept, and now has finished weeping."

* In the third of the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' novels, Jay breaks down briefly after starting to read the unfinished field report of a murdered fellow agent. It's the only time he reacts in this way to anything.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]: In the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Halflife'', the Doctor cries because, due to a situation that blurred the line between FreakyFriday and PersonalitySwap, he experienced firsthand just how scary it is to be one of his companions, following around an [[{{Determinator}} incredibly brave]] WalkingDisasterArea. He really doesn't cry often at all — it's mentioned at the beginning of the same book that no one ever saw him crying when his daughter died. He mourned, all right, but was never seen to shed so much as a single tear.

** Arthur Hollywood breaks down several times during Lucy's illness and when grieving for her, including one memorable scene where he becomes hysterical and is comforted by Mina.

** Dr Seward and Morris are relatively stoic. But both shed tears on multiple occasions after Mina is attacked, and Seward has to pause his recording at one point because he chokes up while describing an emotional scene:

* In ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', the male characters cry just as much, if not more than, the female characters:

** Seward and Morris are relatively stoic. But both shed tears on multiple occasions after Mina is attacked, and Seward has to pause his recording at one point because he chokes up while describing an emotional scene:

* ''Literature/{{Circleverse}}'': ''[[Literature/TheCircleOpens Cold Fire]]'': When his firefighters try to fight a fire without Ben Ladradun's help and fail, some of them dying in the process, Ben goes to see the bodies and weeps. Witnesses think it's from grief for the firefighters, when [[spoiler:he set the fire himself as a test, and feels joy "almost too intense to bear".]]

* The night after [[TheChosenOne Fortune]] and [[NiceGuy Cumber]] escape the riot of South Point in ''Literature/{{Dragoncharm}}'', it hits them that their home has been burned to the ground and the hug each other and weep.

* Invoked in ''{{Literature/Flashman}} at the Charge''. Flash bawls his eyes out with shock, fear and self-pity after the prince he was minding gets killed. A brother officer remarks "The most heartbreaking thing I have seen today was Flashman, the bravest of your soldiers, weeping at that dear boy's death. He would have given his own life a thousand times, I know, to bring him back." The moral, according to Flashman, is "It's all right to blubber with funk and self-pity as long as there's a gullible idiot around who'll mistake it for manly grief."

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Harry cries during [[spoiler:Dumbledore]]'s [[MeaningfulFuneral funeral]] in ''Half Blood Prince'' and once again [[spoiler:in front of the graves of his parents]], in ''Deathly Hallows''. In ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'', there is a scene in which [[spoiler: Harry bursts into tears on Halloween's Eve over his sadness at his son Albus's disappearance and guilt that his strained relationship with Albus probably drove him into danger]].

** Dumbledore sheds [[SingleTear a single tear]] when he explains his mistakes to Harry at the end of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'', and sheds a couple more in ''Half Blood Prince'' when Harry says he told Minister Scrimgeour he ''is'' "Dumbledore's man through and through." In ''Deathly Hallows'' [[spoiler: during Harry's brief sojourn in limbo between life and death, Dumbledore cries in earnest over the mistakes that he made in life, until Harry finally manages to comfort him.]]

* From ''Literature/JaneEyre'' : "As he turned aside his face a minute, I saw a tear slide from under the [[spoiler:sealed]] eyelid, and trickle down the manly cheek."

* Elizabeth Kerner's ''Literature/TalesOfKolmar'': In ''Song in the Silence'', Lanen describes Jamie as the most manly guy she's known, but at the end he cries when [[spoiler:Akhor/Varien sings a song he wrote at his wedding to Lanen]].

** In ''Deus Sanguinius'', when open conflict broke out in the chapter, Arkio weeps again, and insists that the geneseed from the other side be harvested, as they might have stood beside him had they had the choice. Later, when [[spoiler:Arkio is dying, [[DyingAsYourself having regained himself]], he puts a hand to Rafen's face, and is grateful to find it wet; he says he is surely condemned but begs Rafen's forgiveness.]]

** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Sabbat Martyr'', when the Saint appears, Gaunt realizes that he is weeping, and that he does not care.

** In ''Literature/TheSilverChair'', the narrator notes that when Eustace cried for Caspian's death, he was not crying shamelessly like a child, or trying to hide it like an adolescent boy, but had reached a level of manhood that can really mourn someone's death in a mature way.

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', when Legolas and Gimli find Aragorn after Boromir's death, he is weeping, and they are afraid he is mortally injured himself.

** All in all, in most Middle-earth societies crying is acceptable, and there are many instances of manly men weeping.

* Creator/JohnLeCarre's ''Literature/TheQuestForKarla'': In ''Smiley's People'', only the police superintendent who is managing Vladimir's murder investigation notices that George Smiley is crying. The superintendent recognizes it for what it is: not exactly grief, more a general weariness and futility.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Discworld/NightWatch'', it's mentioned that the cheerful BawdySong "All the Little Angels" is popularly sung after battles, but has been known to reduce old men to tears-- because, Vimes observes silently, "[[TearJerker They were remembering who they were not singing it with.]]"