Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Miguel Street

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
defined as 'Having qualities regarded as characteristic of women and girls, as gentleness, weakness, delicacy, modesty, etc' (Webster). The charcters in Miguel Street have been ingrained with the pre- conceived notions of the roles that Trinidadian society dictates for men and women. Naipaul not only uses these notions to show the differences of the sexes, but takes another step in telling anecdotes of characters showing their anti- masculine and anti- feminine features. …