Masculinities In The Works Of Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan,one of the most acclaimed contemporary British writers,frequently engaged with the themes of violence,sordid sexuality in his early works,which earned himself the nickname of “Ian Macabre”.His novels also focus on masculinity and gender relationship as well,through which his thoughts on patriarchy,binary opposition of gender and his concern with male predicaments are presented.This thesis,based upon some concepts of gender studies and cultural studies,attempts to discuss masculinities from McEwan’s two novels,namely The Comfort of Strangers and Amsterdam.The thesis mainly analyzes masculinities under the shadow of patriarchy,the diversity and dynamics of masculinities,in the hope that it may shed some light on the current studies concerning masculinities and literary studies.The thesis firstly aims to analyze how masculinities are influenced or shaped by the patriarchal societal norms,how masculinities are presented in male-female relationship and within a family context.To be specific,male characters in the novels claim their male dominance through violence and morbid sexuality;their obsession with power and wealth may lead to the loss of self-identification and the corruption of morality.These masculinities under the shadow of patriarchy through McEwan’s novels demonstrate his critical thinking of patriarchal ideology,hegemonic masculinity as well as gender relationship.Second,this thesis explores the unconventional masculinities shown by the male characters in the novels and present the diversity and dynamics of masculinities.As is rightly pointed out,Leonard,a passive communicator in a male-female relationship and a potential rapist shows more of his self-introspection and atonement in the end;Cliff and Vernon fail to confront the aging phenomenon and death and finally killed each other.In fact,the portrayal of male characters by McEwan perform a certain degree of hegemonic masculinity,together with some factors which contradicts with the traditional masculine traits.Finally,the possibility of reconstructing and transforming a new kind of masculinity is presented.McEwan critically understand the definition of masculinityand femininity,negates rigid gender norms,which seems to deconstruct the patriarchal ideology.Also,McEwan redefines masculinities and rethinks gender relationship by portraying a male character,who shows emotional weakness and inability in dealing with crisis and finally overcomes the crisis with the assistance of the female character.