Representations Of Masculinity And Femininity In Miguel Street Essay

Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Miguel Street     It has been say around V.S. Naipauls novel Miguel Street that "One ofthe recurrent themes... is the ideal of globeliness" (Kelly 19). To dish kayoed put intofocus what manliness is, it is principal(prenominal) to establish a interpretation formasculinity as well as its opposite, femininity. Masculinity is outlined as"Having qualities regarded as characteristic of manpower and boys, as strength, aught,boldness, etc" while femininity is defined as "Having qualities regarded ascharacteristic of wowork force and girls, as gentleness, weakness, delicacy, shyness,etc" (Webster). The charcters in Miguel Street beat been ingrained with thepre- conceived notions of the roles that Trinidadian society dictates for menand women. Naipaul not only uses these notions to shew the differences of thesexes, but takes another step in telling anecdotes of characters showing theirant i-masculine and anti- maidenlike features. This go forth lead to the discoverythat our definitions of masculinity and femininity prove that thosecharacteristics entertain to the opposite sex in which the women often act like men,and the men often act like women. All of this will be discussed finished lookingat both male and female characters in the adjudge as well as the boy narrator ofthe book.     Finding examples of manliness are found with great ease considering that12 of the 17 stories in some way deal with the theme of manliness (Thieme 24).It doesnt take presbyopic before the first example, a carpenter named Popo, isintroduced. In the chapter titled "The issue Without A Name" we are told that"Popo never made any money. His married woman used to go out and work and this was easy ,because they had no children. Popo said Women and them like work. Man notmade for work" ( Naipaul 17). This attitude at one time makes Popo stand outfrom the rest of the men of Miguel Street. Hat (a character that will bediscussed later) deems Popo as a "man- woman. Not a proper man" (Naipaul 17)because Popos wife makes alone the money. From this brief description of Popo,the reader quickly learns as to what makes a man manly on Miguel Street. Popohas no children which questions his virility. It is also important to noticethat Popos wife has no identity except that of being P... ...42). I think a lot can be looked into that matter.We expect how men and women should act, but yet in Miguel Street it ends upbeing all about illusion. This doesnt apply to the secondary characters of thenovel, as they serve their purposes of being the conventional men and women ofTrinidad and in this case, Miguel Street. But the main characters never turnout to be who you initially think they are. Laura, Emelda, Mrs. Morgan and thenarrators mother are examples of women who take fritter in their homes. Theywork, they beat and raise their childre n, and take on the roles of being themaster of their homes. Hat, Popo, Morgan, Man man (who only acts like hescrazy), and Big Foot (who as big as he is, is really a wimp inside) are examplesof the illusion that men are the superior ones of Miguel Street. Only a modifyread could see that otherwise. When all is said and done it is the women whocarry the qualities of "strength, vigor and boldness" while the men have thequalities of "gentleness, weakness, delicacy" although definitly not "modesty".On Miguel Street, the only male quality the men have is the drop of modesty, therest is all illusion.