Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Miguel Street, the character in the book by V.S. Naipaul

Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Miguel Street         It has been said about V.S. Naipaul's novel Miguel Street that 'One of the recurrent themes... is the ideal of manliness' (Kelly 19). To help put into focus what manliness is, it is important to establish a definition for masculinity as well as its opposite, femininity. Masculinity is defined as 'Having qualities regarded as characteristic of men and boys, as strength, vigor, boldness, etc' while femininity is …showed first 75 words of 2063 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2063 total…are examples of the illusion that men are the superior ones of Miguel Street. Only a shallow read could see that otherwise. When all is said and done it is the women who carry the qualities of 'strength, vigor and boldness' while the men have the qualities of 'gentleness, weakness, delicacy' although definitly not 'modesty'. On Miguel Street, the only male quality the men have is the lack of modesty, the rest is all illusion.