Images of masculinity: ideology and narrative structure in realistic novels for young adults

A dissertation submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, September 2005

Lisbeth Clemens Graduate School of Library and Information Studies McGill University, Montreal

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The development of media and academic debate on "the cri sis in masculinity" has led to a growing focus on the lives of teenage boys. Studies done on teenage girls have revealed the physical, emotional, and educational costs of cultural expectations. It is important that similar studies be done to examine the cultural forces which influence the development ofa teenage boy's sense of self. This thesis looks at one ofthese cultural influences - the books boys read.

Using Robert Connell's theoretical approach ofhegemonic masculinity and sociologist Blye Frank's work with a group ofteenage boys, criteria have been developed for collecting and categorizing images of masculinity in 103 realistic novels for young adults. These images are organized under body image, sport, other recreational proving grounds, relationships with men and women, school, and work; these are cross referenced by four areas of analysis: being male, competition, violence, and sexuality.

The second part ofthis thesis is concemed with using the theory of narrative discourse analysis, informed by the work of John Stephens, to examine the way in which the ideology of masculinity is mediated by narrative structure. The cultural expectations of the male characters in the novels are compared with experiences of real boys. Race, class, and cultural heritage are all discussed as emerging issues within the study.

The thesis addresses the following questions: Do books written for young adults mirror the subtlety and complexity ofboys' choices? Is the ideology present in the books concentrated on reinforcing the hegemonic image? Does this literature provide a "space" for both the readers and the characters to develop their own highly relational form of masculinity?

The thesis concludes that while the images of hegemonic masculinity remain powerful, the majority of novels studied mirror the everyday struggle of real boys, and that generally, ideological statements in the selected novels move beyond reinforcing specifie hegemonic images to supporting more general humanistic concems. Resumé

L'évolution du discours tant académique que médiatique portant sur la « crise de la masculinité» a mené les chercheurs à affiner leur analyse de la vie des adolescents. Chez les filles, des études de jeunes adolescentes ont montré le cout physique, affectif et éducatif des attentes culturelles. Il est important que des études semblables soient effectuées auprès des garçons afin d'examiner le rôle que jouent ces forces culturelles dans le développement de leur idée du moi. La présente thèse examine une de ses influences culturelles - les livres lus par les adolescents.

À partir de l'approche théorique de masculinité hégémonique de Robert Connell et des travaux du sociologue Blye Frank, un ensemble de critères a été développé afin de recueillir et de catégoriser les images de masculinité retrouvées dans 103 romans réalistes pour adolescents. Ces représentations sont organisées sous les thèmes de : image corporelle, sport, autres terrains d'essai de nature récréative, rapports masculins­ féminins, école et travail. Ces thèmes sont regroupés sous quatre catégories d'analyse: être mâle, la compétition, la violence et la sexualité.

La deuxième partie de la thèse utilise l'analyse du discours narratif, en s'appuyant sur la recherche de John Stephens, pour examiner la manière avec laquelle l'idéologie de masculinité est communiquée dans la structure narrative. Les attentes culturelles des caractères masculins dans les romans sont comparées à celles des «vrais» garçons. La race, la classe et l'héritage culturel font également partie de la discussion.

La thèse porte sur les questions suivantes: les romans pour adolescents reflètent-ils la subtilité et la complexité des choix de ces garçons? L'idéologie présente dans ces romans renforce-t-elle l'image hégémonique? Cette littérature permet-elle aux lecteurs et aux caractères de développer leur propres idées, extrêmement relationnelles, de masculinité?

Cette thèse conclut que bien que les images de masculinité hégémonique demeurent puissantes, la majorité des romans étudiés reflète les épreuves de vie quotidiennes des «vrais» garçons, et en général, les déclarations idéologiques qui figurent dans les romans choisis vont au-delà du renforcement d'images hégémoniques jusqu'à l'appui des préoccupations humanistes d'ordre général. Acknowledgements

The initial stages of this research were funded by Fonds FCAR, Québec, and the J.W. McConnell Foundation.

1 would like to thank the members of my thesis committee, Professor John E. Leide, Professor Peter F. McNally, Professor Diane Mittermeyer, and Professor Claudia Mitchell, for their valuable critical input and their support throughout the en tire thesis process.

Special thanks go to:

Professor Claudia Mitchell, for asking the right question at the right time.

Professor John Leide, my thesis supervisor, for his intelligence, his sense of humour, his patience, and his uncanny ability to simultaneously raise the bar and also provide the necessary support to get over it.

My parents, whose lifelong enthusiasm for learning remains a constant inspiration.

My children, James and Katie, who never lost their sense of humour or their patience, who provided constant support, and remained interested to the end.

My husband, Robert, without whose practical, intellectual, and emotional support this thesis wou Id never have been written.

------Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction 1 The Problem 4 Limitations 10 Delimitations Il Definition of terms 12 The Study - an outline 13 Chapter 2 Literature Review 15 Images of Masculinity 15 Literary Traditions and "books for boys" 26 History of the Young Adult Novel 35 Value, Structures, and Ideology in Young Adult Literature 43 Related Theoretical applications 58 Chapter 3 Methodology 66 Book Selection 69 Theoretical Factors 70 The Nature of the Analysis 71 The Criteria used for the Analysis 71 Specific Procedures: data collection and treatment 78 Books included in the thesis 82 Chapter 4 Images of Masculinity: Fiction and Reality, Description and Discussion 86 Organizational Table 87 Body Image 88 Sport 100 Other Proving Grounds 109 Relationships - Men 122 Relationships - Women 140 School 150 Work 166 Images ofMasculinity: analysis and emerging issues 174 Class and Culture 177 Cultural Communities 178 Chapter 5 Ideology 188 Linguistic Structure 190 Narratological Structure 197 Chapter 6 Conclusion 216 Bibliography General Sources 226 Young Adult Literature 237 Appendix A List of novels used in this study 239 Chapter 1 Introduction

This research will examine Images of masculinity in realistic novels for young adults. In the midst of both media debate and considerable academic research on "the cri sis in masculinity", there is a need to examine the cultural forces which play a part in developing a teenage boy's sense of self. The rise of feminist theory has resulted in a number of studies being done on teenage girls and the cultural expectations which have led to much publicized problems such as eating disorders, rising levels of depression and suicide, and educational failure. Similar studies on problems among teenage boys have been less common and are only now really getting underway.

Teenagers operate in a cultural discourse which includes music, television, films, computer games, and literature. Books, wh ether studied and read at school, or read for pleasure and recreation, contain cultural messages in the form of ideology, and can have significant influence on the development of an individual philosophy of life. (Witness the number of readers who fee1 that reading Catcher in the Rye (Salinger 1951) was one of the most important formative experiences of their adolescence.)

The discussion on the crisis in masculinity can be viewed from a number of points of Vlew. Articles and books, and popular representations of "the problems of adolescence" are common. More recently, concem for boys specifically has been brought to the fore by a number of violent incidents, particularly in schools. At issue is how do boys become men, what type of role models exist for them, what are they watching, listening to, and reading? How can we examine and analyze the cultural messages being aimed at them? The purpose of this research, then, is to look at one 2

aspect of the cultural discourse boys operate within; the books they read and the

messages contained in these books.

The theoretical approach of this research is derived from the theory of hegemonic

masculinity. This theoretical approach has been developed by Robert Connell (1995),

and recognizes the importance of the contradictory and dynamic character of gender, the

construction of masculinity in everyday life, the significance of the differences which

exist within these constructions, and the existence of power within social and economic

institutions in society. Sociologist Blye Frank (1990) explored "the everyday

masculinities" of a group of teenage boys using a similar theoretical approach. Through

his interaction with the boys, he developed a series of themes which he investigated

through the "concrete situations" in which the boys found themselves.

Frank's research suggested an initial basis for establishing criteria for examining

the images of masculinity in young adult literature. An adaptation of his concrete

situations has provided criteria for collecting and categorizing images of masculinity, and

his themes suggested a further form of analysis in the way in which they inform these

images and describe the situational aspects and conflicts inherent in the boys' experience.

1 will be categorizing my images according to the following "sites": body image,

sport, relationships with men and women, work, and other proving grounds (e.g. music,

art, drama). Then 1 shaH use an adaptation of Frank's themes - the concems of being biologically male, the problems of authority, domination, and power, inc1uding "everyday

competition", violence, and sexuality - to further examine the images of masculinity

found in the selected novels. 3

While 1 have used sociological studies to help establish criteria for isolating and examining images of masculinity, my main concern is the link between reality (what real boys see as the motivations and problems of the practice of masculinity in their own

lives) and the way in which a selected group of novels written for adolescent boys deals with these concems and images.

My study therefore has two major areas.

1. To identify, analyse, and discuss the variety of images of masculinity found in the novels. 2. To look at the way the images (as representations of ideology) are presented in the texts, that is, how the texts mediate the ideology/images. A form of narrative analysis will be used to examine the way in which text can communicate ideology.

Frank's work suggests that to survive in their masculine world, teenage boys must

engage in constant dialectical activity between image and reality. His conversations with

his informants demonstrate that each boy is aware of this dynamic, and the ex te nt to

which his own situational construct of masculinity relates to the socially preferred

hegemonic ideal.

This research hopes to answer the following questions:

Do books written for young adults mirror the subtlety and complexity ofboys' choices?

Is the ideology present In the books concentrated on reinforcing the hegemonic image?

Does this literature provide "a space" for both the readers and the characters to develop their own highly relational form of masculinity? 4

The Problem

A major concem of both the media and academic research in the "crisis in masculinity" has been the apparent failure of boys in school, particularly in the area of literacy (Epstein et al. 1998, Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, Hall and Coles 1997, Alloway and

Gilbert 1997, Millard 1997, Davies 1997). Frequently boys are significantly behind girls in test scores of literacy levels (Alloway and Gilbert 1997). Discussion often centres around the need to find suitable fiction texts that will appeal to boys to be used in the classroom and to be suggested as lei sure reading. Although the tendency has been to look for stories which provide sorne kind of link to popular boy culture without considering the messages contained in such literature. As Gilbert and Gilbert wam:

it would be a mistake to appropriate male youth culture narratives into junior and teenage fiction, without problematising the competitiveness and violence of such narratives and the masculine subjectivities they legitimate ... In constructing text material for boys - or tex tuai activities for boys - we need to avoid a construction of literacy which merely embraces and appropriates masculinist discourse (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998,218).

There is no shortage of young adult literature featuring boys as central characters (see for example the list in Appendix A), but little critical research has been do ne on the ideological content of these books and the messages they contain about masculinity.

With the exception of Bereska (1999), who examines representations of masculinity in

North America from 1940-1997 from a sociologicallhistorical point of view, what does exist has generally been literary criticism with a psychological/Freudian component

(Mallan 1999, McGillis 1994, Nodelman 1992). 5

Writers concemed with the lack of strong female characters in young adult fiction have commented that although there is a growing number of such characters, the majority of strong characters remain male (Vandergrift 1996b). Many of these "strong" male characters, however, are defined within the narrow limits of images of hegemonic masculinity. They are expected to be brave, physically adept, not to give way to their emotions, and to successfully surmount any obstacle in their path. Vandergrift contrasts the presentation of male and female characters in young adult literature.

While young men are portrayed as establishing separate identities, beginning careers, and embarking on life's joumeys, females are pictured as reconciling themselves to their circumstances, assuming new responsibilities, and settling in as if at the end of a joumey. (Vandergrift 1996b, 28)

But it is not just the female characters who are being constrained in their choices. In fact many of the apparently "strong" male characters are actuallY socially isolated and hardly see themselves as successful, either from their own perspective or that of their social environment. Their strength frequently lies in their growing realization of their ability to become what they want to be in opposition to who they are expected to be; they are often initially fragile both physically and mentaUy, and not aU of them survive. For example,

Trav in Remembering the Good Times (Peck 1985) is unable to cope with a growing spiral of expectations (his own as well as those of his parents and teachers) and kills himself. In Looking for Alibrandi (Marchetta 1992), John Barton also kills himself for much the same reason

1 don't know what 1 want out ofmy life, but 1 know what 1 don't want. 1 don't want to make promises 1 can't keep .. .1 don't want a lot of responsibilities in life. Does that sound weak and unambitious? Well, that must mean that 1 am weak and unambitious. 1 don 't want to climb to the top, Josephine. l'm comfortable enough where l'm standing. But when you have a father who is a minister in parliament, you are 6

expected to have ambition. And wh en you can't work out your ambition, good old Dad does (Marchetta 1992,47).

These male characters may be "embarking on life's joumeys" but they are doing so in a literary tradition which still rests heavily on an extremely narrow definition ofwhat it means to "become a man". This research investigates images of masculinity in young adult novels to determine wh ether as Rod McGillis suggests, even those authors attempting to "present masculinity in a new and sensitive way" still produce "a vision of masculinity that continues to privilege virtues of strength and a touch of wildness"

(McGillis 1994, 15). The new "hero", for example, even wh en he has aIl the undesirable qualities of a nerd (wears glasses, enjoys reading, is successful at school) still wins through by "[proving] to have aU the masculine virtues patriarchy could wish for"

(McGillis 1994, 16).

Given that "literature as culture and ideology organizes and presents dominant world views to young readers that aid them in their social construction of reality"

(Vandergrift 1993, 26), it is important that those of us who work with young people and books are aware of the messages contained in the literature we are recommending.

This research focuses on images of masculinity in realistic novels for young adults.

It draws together research in a number of fields, librarianship, sociology, education, and literary criticism, and examines the extent to which theories of hegemonic masculinity and a methodological approach of narrative analysis can both isolate and explicate representations of masculinity in young adult literature.

Young adult literature shares with children' s literature a common ideological didactic heritage. These books intentionaUy carry a message to their readers about moral values, responsibility and accountability in life choices. They purport to speak with the 7 voice of teenagers and daim "to tell it like it is". The novels chosen for this research project come from the genre known as realism. The best of this genre

compel belief by the extraordinary strength of their literary qualities: the logical flow of their narratives, the delicate complexity of their characterizations, their probing style, and the insights they convey about the conduct of life as their protagonists move from childhood to adolescence or from adolescence to adulthood. They provide an experience that transcends such objectives as entertainment, information, or catharsis. They touch both the imagination and the emotions (Egoff 1981, 66).

Realistic young adult literature has been seen as a fertile ground for testing the predictions of a number of psychological and sociological theories ( Crew 1996, Maxwell

1994, McGillis 1994, Mitchell and Reid-Walsh 1993, Poe 1986). Such theories aim to elucidate human behaviour in social situations. These realistic novels set out to represent the actuality of adolescent lives, so it is reasonable to expect that the predictive ability of a specific theory could be successfully applied to, and would be reflected in the social situations represented in, the literature. ln a recent paper Smith has both suggested and demonstrated "the possibility of combining research and reading in the investigation of works of literature as possible sites for educational research", when she explored the relationship between ideology and power in Nervous Conditions by T. Dangarembga, a novel of adolescence set in Southem Africa (Smith 2000, 245).

The theoretical basis for the present study is derived from the work of Conne Il

(1995), Davies (1997) and Gilbert and Gilbert (1998), who have developed a notion of masculinity as being the product of a dialectical relationship between "hegemonic masculinity" (that form of masculinity which has established a dominance within a society) and the many contradictory options open to boys which support or oppose this hegemonic image. 8

One of the key problems boys face in becoming male is that of dealing with the dominant image of what it means to be "a man" - the discourse of hegemonic masculinity ... the problems of masculinity are best understood as the performance of a set of gender relations in a context where one set of storylines and repertoires of action is culturally dominant and socially powerful (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 51).

Each boy must construct his own sense of who he is by making choices about ways ofthinking, acting and interacting within the contexts ofhis everyday life, school, family, and relationships. The very complexity of these choices and the di ffi culty of choosing can make the hegemonic view seem the most secure path to follow.

Further depth has been added to the theoretical approach by including aspects of the work of Blye Frank (1990). Frank conducted a sociological study with a group of high school boys and examined the way in which they constructed their "every day masculinities". He isolated a number of central themes and investigated these themes through the concrete situations of the day to day life of each boy. (For a fuller discussion of this approach see the section on "Images of Masculinity" in the Literature Review in

Chapter 2.) An adaptation of Frank's categories has been used to provide a framework for identifying images within the texts of the chosen novels. (This framework is described in detail in the Methodology, Chapter 3.)

One of the most common literary constructs used in realistic fiction for young adults is to present the story, often in the first person, through the eyes of a teenage main character "shown as gradually changing and developing toward greater maturity" (SmaIl,

1992, 283). It would therefore be reasonable to expect that one of the principal plot devices in young adult literature is a description of the central male character's efforts and struggles to create and live up to his own view of being male. It could further be 9 suggested that within the framework of the theory described above, if such a character is successful (within his chosen sphere of social activities, and in the eyes of those around him), this success will have a direct correlation to the extent to which the version of masculinity constructed exists (or appears to exist) within (not in opposition to) the prevailing hegemonic view ofhis society.

This study includes books from a number of different countries including Great

Britain, Canada, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Uganda and South Africa, selected from the time period from 1960 to the present. The realistic nov el for teenagers, although often claimed to be an American "invention" that was born with the publishing of The Outsiders (Hinton) in 1967, actually began appearing in other countries in the early sixties and remains a popular literary genre. (See discussion below on "His tory of the young adult novel", p.35.) The selected books (see Appendix A), share a common

Anglo-American literary tradition and provide a rich collection to choose from.

There are two reasons for choosing books from a variety of different countries.

Firstly, much of the research done on young adult literature is country or ev en book specific, and often North American in content (Bereska 1999, HippIe 1997, Nilsen and

Donelson 1993). There is value in providing a more international collection of books for study. It is assumed that cultural similarities will be stronger than differences as far as the presentation of the hegemonic view ofmasculinity in the literature is concerned. It is recognized that aIl of the countries mentioned above contain ethnic populations, and it is expected that sorne of the books chosen will feature, arnong others, black Arnericans,

British Muslims, people from the First Nations in Canada, and native Australians. The books also contain a variety of European, Asian, African, and Latin American cultural 10 influences. It is expected that the hegemonic image of masculinity presented in the books will have an overall coherence, but that c1ass and cultural background will influence the image presented in specific situations. For example, issues of masculinity examined within the framework for the narrative analysis of the books inc1ude aspects of bravery and agression. Such aspects can be represented by a variety of cultural representations; for example, the necessary rites of passage from boyhood to manhood of an African village described in Dogs of Fear (Nagenda 1971), the idea of machismo present in A

Shadow like a Leopard (Levoy 1981) and the bull fighting culture of Shadow of a Bull

(Wojciechowska 1964).

Limitations

While a large number of texts have been chosen for analysis, the list (see Appendix

A) does not of course inc1ude all young adult novels that feature boys as central characters. The large selection, however, is intended to bring together general themes in the analysis, which will provide as broad an approach as possible.

While every attempt has been made to refine the selection process to ensure that all the texts studied are easily available and indeed read by adolescent boys, this can not be guaranteed and indeed su ch a guarantee pertains to reader response research rather than the theoretical approach ofthis study. Il

Delimitations

The novels to be studied have been taken from those specifically intended by author and publisher for the young adult market (that is, the age group from 12 to 16). This means that books such as Catcher in the Rye (Salinger 1951), which were intended for an adult audience, but which have since been appropriated by adolescents, have not been included. Only young adult novels that feature a boy as the main character have been selected.

This study is concemed with the ideological components of the images of masculinity to be found in the novels. It is not a work of literary criticism, evaluating the literary merit of each text; however, the selection process, choosing books that have won both critical and popular awards, would suggest that aIl the texts have reached a certain standard ofliterary excellence.

This research is not concemed with issues of girls and images of femininity except insofar as theoretical approaches and studies may help elucidate sorne of the experiences undergone by boys. In no sense is a comparison being made between "who has it worst".

Comparison between the sexes is not the issue in this study. A great deal ofwork already exists on images of femininity and the problems experienced by girls in dealing with school environments, social expectations, male-female power relations and other day to day issues. (See for example, Gilligan 1982, The Girl Child 1994, Pipher 1994, Sadker and Sadker 1994, Thome 1993, Weis and Fine 1993). A certain amount ofwork has also been done on young adult literature and such issues as the lack of strong role models for girls, their relationships with their mothers, their fathers and the power of the group and 12 friendships. (Crew 1996, Maxwell 1994, O'Keefe 2000, Poe 1986, Vandergrift 1996b).

The issues faced by boys have come in for far less study.

Definition of terms

There are a few major terms used in this study which are open to different definitions; for this reason, a brief discussion of them will take place here with reference to fuller discussions contained in other relevant sections below.

Hegemonie maseulinity refers to that form of masculinity which has established dominance within society. It is the view of masculinity supported by the media, by

"common sense" buttressed by pop psychology, and maintained by the economic, social and political power relations which structure patriarchal society. A fuller discussion of the theoretical approach can be found on the section on "Images ofmasculinity" on p. 15.

Realistie young adult literature is defined, for the purposes of this dissertation, as that literature written for adolescents, which developed as a specific genre in the early sixties, and deals with everyday relationships, pers on al and family crises, in a realistic present day setting. It excludes historical, science fiction or fantasy novels. A discussion of the development ofthis genre and its place in the history of books written for teenagers is included in the section on "The history of the young adult novel" on p. 35.

The main methodological approach to be used in this research is a form of narrative analysis, similar to that used by Crew (1996), and developed by John Stephens

(1992). This form of narrative analysis looks at the way in which a story is mediated by narrative conventions such as narrative point of view, that is, "who tells the story", and 13 dialogue, "stretches of language which indicate power relationships". Extrapolating from the images of masculinity discussed by Connell (1987, 1995) and Frank (1990) with their informants, one can examine the ideologies representing su ch images in the fictional narrative and how they are presented.

The Study

To help guide the reader, here is a brief overview of the structure of the rest of this thesis. Chapter 2 reviews the literature on theories of masculinity, examines specific sociological studies and literary traditions, "books for boys", and discusses the young adult novel within a historical context. Theoretical approaches to value, structure, and ideology in young adult literature are examined, and related theoretical applications are reviewed. Chapter 3 outlines the methodological approach and explains the process of book selection; a detailed list of the 103 books used in the study is included. Specifie procedures for data collection and treatment are discussed and explained.

Chapter 4 is the heart of the thesis, a detailed description of the images of masculinity to be found in the 103 novels studied. The images are classified under the following headings: body image, sport, other proving grounds, relationships with men and women, school, and work. Each one of these headings is further considered under the following themes: being male, competition, violence, and sexuality. The final part of this chapter includes a discussion of the images of maseulinity isolated in the novels and emerging issues of class, culture, and cultural communities.

Chapter 5 uses narrative diseourse analysis to examine the way in which ideologies of masculinity are mediated by the texts of the novels. Linguistic structure, language 14 patterns, and narratological structure, which includes story, forms of narration, and closure, are investigated to provide insight into ideological representation within the literary structure of the novels. Chapter 6 reviews the initial aims and objectives of the thesis, and describes and evaluates the ideological content of the texts. It considers the ways in which boys interact with this aspect of their cultural environment, and suggests areas for further research. 15

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Images of Masculinity

Twentieth century approaches to a theory of masculinity can be situated in three major areas; Freudian theory and the clinical knowledge acquired by therapists, social psychology and the idea of 'sex roles', and recent developments in anthropology and sociology which emphasise a less rigid, more dialectical approach to gender, relationships, society, and power (Connell 1995, 7).

The theoretical basis for the images of masculinity to be examined in this research cornes from the third approach. This approach recognizes the importance of the contradictory and dynamic character of gender, the construction of masculinity in everyday life, the significance of the differences which exist within these constructions, and the existence of power within social and economic institutions in society (Connell

1995, 35). This research is concemed specifically with adolescent boys and the process of their becoming men: masculinity as a performance, "a reenactment and reexperiencing of a set of meanings already socially established" (Butler 1990, 140).

Boys must construct their own version of masculinity in every major social situation they enter. They must make choices from competing, often opposed styles of masculinity and they must make these choices within the framework of hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity refers to that form of masculinity dominant within a society. It is "the most readily available set of ideas and exemplars, and its interpretatians are the mast familiar and the mast easily assumed." (Gilbert and Gilbert

1998, 59). It is the view which appears in movies and television and is idealized in news reports and magazines. It is an integral part of the economic, social, and political 16 organization of patriarchal society. Popular media views of masculinity often grow from the ideas expressed in "self-help" books such as the two mentioned below.

Reaction to feminism and perceived loss of power by men resulted in a variety of responses often centered around a concem with the loss of sorne form of "essential masculinity". Iron John: A Book About Men written by Robert Bly (1994) in the United

States and Manhood: A Book About Setting Men Free written by Steve Biddulph (1994) in Australia are examples of what has been called the mythopoetic man's movement

(Connell 1995). Romanticized notions of a warrior past and of societies which are seen as giving a secure framework (rites of passage) to boys growing up are described in nostalgie terms:

If we look at oIder cultures we see immense and focused efforts going into the raising of boys - rituals, teachings and processes which have only feeble equivalents in our culture .... The Sioux hunter, the Zulu warrior ... .1ived glorious lives and cared for and protected their people and their worId. Why should modem man be any less a man than his ancestors? (Biddulph 1994, 12).

Essentialist theories main tain that aIl men share a "core of rationality and character which defines masculinity" (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 31). These theories are usually derived from scientific research but they have a populist agenda and often ignore the results of the research in favour of their own need to generalise about traditional gender divisions and what they interpret as the scientific or psychological justifications for rigid distinctions. Gilbert and Gilbert (1998, 31) divide essentialist arguments into psychic essentialism and biological essentialism. Psychic essentialism has moved a long way from Freud and has conveniently forgotten (or never knew) that although "his theoretical language changed, Freud remained convinced of the empirical complexity of gender and the ways in which femininity is always part of a man's charaeter" (ConneIl1995, 10). 17

From 1930 to 1960 psychoana1ytic theory moved to the right and gender theory as a result became far more rigid. Mental health became inextricably tied up with the correct practice of gender, and conventional heterosexuality (and marri age) were seen as the

"natural path of development". Any other form ofbehavior (particularly homosexuality) was regarded as pathological. "Psychoanalysis as a practice increasingly became a technique of normalization, attempting to acijust its patients to the gender order" (Connell

1995, Il, my emphasis).

Psychic essentialism in its popular form maintains that the core of masculinity is contained in cultural memory and repressed personality. This theory exists within a very narrow framework. lt posits the existence, and therefore the possible attainment of, an ideal of masculinity, free of conflict and with univers al cultural application. It makes no allowance for individual constructions of masculinity that exist within a dialogue of change.

Biological essentialist arguments use evidence from scientific studies of sex differences, structure and functioning of the brain and theories about testosterone and biologically based aggression. Research on specific aspects of biological sex differences is appropriated by popular writers and leads to statements which often find their way into media representations of "common sense" knowledge about basic differences between men and women.

Man keeps his emotions in their place; and that place is on the right side of his brain, while the power to express his feeling in speech lies over on the other side. Because the two halves of the brain are connected by a smaller number of fibers than a woman's, the flow of information between one side of the brain and the other is more restricted. It is then often more difficult for a man to express his emotions because the information is flowing less easily to the verbal, left side of his brain (Moir and Jessel 1991, 48). 18

Or as in the case of the following quote, biological based excuses for extremes of behavior:

boys are biologically driven via a drug-like hormone that is one of the most powerful manipulators of behavior the world has ever known. It is this force that pushes boys to be aggressive and inspires them to win at aIl costs .... [It] tums a playful nine-year-old human into a fourteen­ year-old "Incredible Hulk". From conception to manhood, this force triggers the human male body and brain to take a masculine form. It is the hormone testosterone (Elium and Elium 1992, 17).

Given the somewhat ironic situation of the almost superstitious importance attached to theories supposedly grounded in scientific research and observed "natural phenomena", the concem is that statements such as the ones above provide ammunition for a rigid differentiation of gender and, concomitantly, a sexual stereotype of masculinity which supports an extremely narrow definition of what it is to be a man.

This narrow view, supported by the media is part of the dominant, or hegemonic image of masculinity in our society.

The area of sports is another crucial area used to define popular images of masculinity.

ln many respects, men's sports is the archetype of institutional masculinity, and the images of men which dominate its ideology are the quintessential manifestation of the masculine ethos (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 60).

Nevertheless, like other social institutions, sport contains both positive and negative elements, which are difficult to separate.

The boys interviewed by Gilbert and Gilbert (1998) and Blye Frank (1990) are very clear about the importance of sport in the school context and the extent to which their level of involvement has a direct connection with their image. 19

1 played basketball this year on the B team, and 1 was on the wrestling team .. .I play a lot of sports just with the guys ... Generally 1 think that sports has a big impact on this school. Wh en you first come [here] a lot of the people who are thought to be nerds get treated badly. They are the people who enjoy intellectual things rather than physical things, and people don't associate with them ... [they] don't get invited to parties that 1 do just because they enjoy playing with a computer rather than a round piece of leather (Frank 1990, 92).

Basketball has always come first ... Sports is an important part of my life ... The men in the family play, and the women in the family support it. At the same time that its good for me being a jock, it is sometimes a bad thing ... like if you go to a party ... someone is going to pick a fight with you automatically to prove that they're as good as you ... To be an elite player in any sport is very rare, so a lot of people are out to get you. But if 1 was in any trouble ... 1 could just call on three or four guys who would just come ... we're there to prote ct each other (Frank 1990,95).

There is acknowledgement among the boys interviewed that involvement in sport is a "key indicator of their masculinity" (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 63).

Luke: You're nothing ifyou don't play sports.

Derrick: Sports is an aspect of being manly. lt shows that you are a real man.

Jim: If you want to be seen as a real man by the other guys, then basketball is the way to do it (Frank 1990, 166-68).

The boys also acknowledge that there is a price to be paid for involvement in sport, particularly as far as other school work is concemed (Frank 1990, 173-4). This is the case not only because they have limited time left after sports practice to devote to the academic side of school but also because

the image of the cool sociable sportsman is constantly set against the picture of the boy whose interests might be to read a book, a practice most often associated with girls. In this respect, sport is one of the number of masculine pursuits which mn counter to a commitment to schoolleaming (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 63). 20

Involvement in sport also brings with it violence, injury and pain and the culture of winning, aIl aspects of the hegemonic view ofmasculinity.

Increasingly, the criteria for judging successful involvement in sport become those of "being a man", but the image of manhood created is increasingly narrowly defined as being tough, competitive and dominant ... based on an ideology and practice which are crucially connected with the most anti-social aspect of masculinity (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 64-65).

Danny: You do what you have to do to win, and if that means hurting a guy on the other team, weIl you do it. And if that means not playing by the rules, then you get away with what you can ... No pain, no gain. Ifyou're going to win, there's pain involved.

Derrick: What you have to do is learn not to care about anyone wh en you're out there in the game. Sometimes l'm told to injure another guy on purpose, so you can't think about who he is or ev en that he's another human being. You just go for him.

Wayne: l'd never show anyone that 1 was hurting even ifit was pretty bad. You got to be made of iron most of the time. One thing you never want to be is a wimp. Even if 1 was in really bad pain, l' d never let on.

Mike: If you didn't fight, it would mean you're a wimp, you're a pussy, you're a woman. You have to fight to prove yourself (Frank 1990,170-1,177,179,182).

The ability to put up with pain is seen as central to becoming a man ('boys don't cry '). Unfortunately an extension of this belief can result in the notion that hurting others is aIl part of the exercise of real masculinity. A further extension of this is lack of sympathy for those in pain; the stoic ideal does not give sympathy, nor expect it.

ln the ory, sport can help boys develop qualities of independence, pride, resilience, self-control, fitness and 'strength'. In reality "independence can become an exclusive concern for one's own success; pride can become the will to dominate or even injure; self-control can become a disdain for compassion and sensitivity to others; and strength 21 can be interpreted as aggressiveness and the ability to exert power over others" (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 70).

Leisure activities su ch as watching movies and television and playing videogames can also contribute to the maintenance of the hegemonic image of masculinity. Violence is an acceptable part of these forms of entertainment. Movies such as Pulp Fiction and

Fight Club are praised for the stylish way in which they present violence. But perhaps

the most insidious lei sure activity in this regard is the videogame. Like sport, with its

male only participation, emphasis on the body, and violence, the videogame culture

"speaks a politics of gender: a politics ... that aligns masculinity with power and

aggression, with victory and winning, with superiority and strength, and with violence

and misogyny" (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 72).

The poli tics of gender represented in videogames is not just one of the he-man

heroes, but is also present in the depiction of women as sex-objects, either female

warriors or maidens in distress. As far as participation is concemed, ev en though sorne

girls do play the games, boys generally see videogame playing as an aIl male activity

(Alloway and Gilbert 1998). Advertisers emphasise the aIl male aspect not only in regard

to women but also at times by being overtly homophobic.

Both videogame playing and sports provide arenas where boys can "play" at a

specific form of masculinity, competitive, aggressive, rule-based with a structure that

allows no latitude for different interpretations. Bath arenas are about "leaming ta do

masculinity from within dominant and hegemonic discourses" (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998,

80). 22

As mentioned earlier the theoretical approach to images of masculinity in this research maintains that boys have to construct individual images of masculinity on a day to day basis, within a social framework which inc1udes a hegemonic image.

In a study done in 1990, Blye Frank examined the ways in which a group of high school boys constructed their "everyday masculinities". During his initial interviews with his informants he isolated five central themes:

1. Authority and domination and the continuous struggle around power, especially with other men (inc1uding fathers). 2. Responsibility, control and freedom and the social privilege of being biologically male. 3. Competition as the "stuff' oftheir everyday lives. 4. Violence of vary~ng degrees against other men, women, the environ ment and themselves as an acceptable and even encouraged way to settle conflict. 5. Sexuality as part of their everyday/every night worlds (Frank 1990, 79).

He investigated these themes through 'concrete situations' in which each of the boys was involved. Sports, relationships with guys, relationships with girls, body images, familial relationships, time alone, work and the future (Frank 1990, 80). The conversations that he recorded showed:

... a complex intervening of practices that are established and contested in many social sites and through a wide range of social experiences: different family patterns and different courses of growth and personal choice, different kinds of emotional attachments (for instance, homosexual and heterosexual, or a combination of the two), and different ways of participating in sociallife (Frank 1990, 256).

While acknowledging the existence of a hegemonic view of masculinity that inc1uded "heterosexuality and patriarchal and physical strength through the body" (Frank

1990, 256), each boy was involved in a constant effort to balance public and private and social and psychological practices. For example, a boy privately acknowledging his homosexuality, would publicly indulge in homophobic remarks 'with the guys' or 23 develop other strategies to ensure a main stream persona (having a girlfriend, or being a jock). This didn't mean that aIl boys were willing to aim for a conventional masculine image, but they were aIl sensitive to the cost of "being different". Frank notes that not all of the boys "were equal agents of the oppression of women" but that all of them

"sustained patriarchal heterosexual relations in varying degrees ... because it was to their benefit" (Frank 1990, 257). The position of women, (wives, sisters, girlfriends), might differ simultaneously on class lines and in specific social situations, but a fundamentally unequal power relationship existed at all times.

Within the institutional arenas inhabited by the boys (school, sport, home) there was

often heavy pressure to conform to a specific narrow image ofmasculinity, but a number

of the boys still managed to construct positive alternatives for themselves. These

alternatives, however, always had to exist within the power relationships that structure the dominant view of masculinity.

In our society heterosexuality as a institutionalized norm has become an important means of social regulation, enforced by laws, police practices, family and social policies, schools and the mass media (Kinsman 1987, 104).

Within the hegemonic image, there was also the ever present possibility of violence

against other men, against women, and against oneself.

Most men feel the presence of violence in their lives. AIl of us had experiences of being beaten up or picked on wh en we were young. We learned to fight, or we learned to run, or we learned to pick on others or we learned to talk or joke our way out of a confrontation. But either way, these early experiences of violence caused an incredible amount of anxiety and required a huge expenditure of energy to resolve. That anxiety is crystallized in an unspoken fear (particularly among heterosexual men): aIl other men are my potential humiliators, my enemies, my competitors (Kaufman 1987b , 17-18). 24

A number of Frank's informants commented on the presence of violence in their lives. For sorne ofthem it was a way of defining who they were.

Trent: The way 1 can get away with not being involved in sports is through violence. That's how 1 had to do it. That's how 1 can survive in this school with my hair cut like this, because a lot of people who oppose it are scared of me ... 1 feel sorry for the people who aren 't smart enough to resort to violence. 1 feel sorry for them because that's one of the only ways you can get through it aIl (Frank 1990, 167).

This is an example of the power of the hegemonic view of masculinity and the way in which boys who refuse to be part of one of the crucial defining arenas (sport), still have to define themselves through another (violence). For others, part of their daily practice of masculinity concemed strategies for avoiding violence and confrontation (as Kaufman comments above).

AlI the boys were aware of the importance of body image and appearance and this awareness played a large part in the construction of individual images of masculinity and perception of power.

Derrick: Size is very important. The little guys get picked on. There's a lot of nicknames and name caIling ... l've been caIled 'squirt' for years because of how short 1 am. The basketbaIl team always used to pick me up and toss me around (Frank 1990, 134).

Mike: The ultimate for a man is to be big, big. Big men are it. The big body builder body is the pinnacle, it's the gladiator, it's the warrior (Frank 1990, 144).

Thomas: ln the end, that's aIl men have is their masculinity. Money really doesn't do it. Women can leave you ... AIl you've got left is yourself, your masculinity, and that's aIl you can count on, and the best way to demonstrate it is through your body (Frank 1990, 145).

ln his final analysis Frank explored the voices of the boys in three main arenas, sport, the body and sexuality. 1 have discussed the first two areas above showing the 25 awareness of adolescent boys to the prevailing hegemonic image of masculinity and the ways in which sorne of them have constructed their own "everyday version". The hegemonic image for sexuality is heterosexual and usuaIly defined very narrowly. For

Frank's young men "masculinity and heterosexuality were intricately tied together" and

aIl of them had to find ways of negotiating their own image in their everyday life.

The process of struggle around sexuality involved the struggle for and the struggle against what it means to be masculine, often by the same boy, not just in their relationships with young women, but with their relationships with other men: at school, at home, in the playing fields, at the dance, simply walking down the street, going to the school washroom, and putting up their hand in dass to answer a question. Within this struggle the power relations got defined and re-defined, shaped and re-shaped, in any situation (Frank 1990,204).

The boys' awareness of this power relationship shows in their comments. They

recognized that the doser they were to the hegemonic image of heterosexuality the more

power they had.

Luke: Sex is aIl about image. 1 think a lot of guys wh en they go out, they put it on. It's like this hard sheIl. It's like a jacket. They put it on before they step out the do or, and they strut their stuff, and then they take it off when they come home ... And a big part of that IS making sure that others know you're not a queer.

Thomas: Strength and power over women and men and hetero­ sexuality are at the top (Frank 1990, 207).

As mentioned ab ove this did not stop sorne of the boys from constructing images outside

the narrow confines of the hegemonically approved one, but they paid a heavy price for

this decision and often retained other instances of the mainstream view in an effort to

hold onto sorne of the power they felt they had lost, (by the expression of sexist views of women, and racisrn, for example.) 26

Adolescent boys are in a process of"becoming", of choosing what type of men they will be. These choices are made daily in all areas of their lives, school, sport, personal relationships, in the development of individual philosophies and hopes and plans for the future. Connell (1987) feels that examining the day to day practices of the construction of masculine identity such as that undertaken by himself and Frank, will result in a

"realistic sociology of masculinity built on actual social practice rather than discussion of rhetoric and attitudes" (1987, 140). Analysis of the young adult novels selected for this research will include the examination of the day to day masculinities constructed by the adolescent male characters and the relationship of these images to the hegemonic image which, it is expected, will be embedded in the ideology of the individual texts.

Literary traditions and "books for boys"

ln November 1993, the National Council of Teachers of English Convention in the

United States celebrated the "Si1ver Anniversary of Modem Young Adu1t Literature."

(Ni1sen 1994, 30) This field of literature was seen as a young one, and many writers date its birth from 1967, when S.E. Hinton pub1ished The Outsiders, a realistic depiction of teenage gangs. Other founding members include Paul Zindel, The Pigman (1968), and

Robert Cormier, The Chocolate War (1974). These authors were aIl American and in many ways "young adult novel" can be seen as a quintessentiaIly American term, a direct outgrowth of the te en novel, written for the group hovering between childhood and adulthood. 27

"Y oung adult literature" as a category might be a relatively new term, but as Aidan

Chambers (1985, 84-5) points out, literature designed for teenagers has been in existence for sorne time. In 1802, Sarah Trimmer, an outspoken educationalist and author, wrote an article caIled "Observations on the Changes Which Have Taken Place in Books for

Children and Young Persons", (first published in1802 reprinted in Salway 1976, 19-22) in which she discussed the importance of separating books into two classes depending on the age of the reader. She suggested that given the "multitude" of books now being produced and the necessity of selecting the "safe and good ones", we should consider

aIl young gentlemen and ladies to be Children, till they are fourteen, and young persons till they are at least twenty-one; and shaIl class the books we examine as they shaIl appear to us to be suitable to these different stages of life (Salway 1976, 22).

In fact in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, writers such as Charles Kingsley,

Thomas Hughes, R.M.BaIlantyne and G.A.Henty were producing adventure stories aimed at teenage boys, and books like Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868) were being read by teenage girls.

A number of writers have mentioned the images of masculinity which existed in these early "books for boys". See for example, Butts 1992, Hourihan 1997, Inglis 1992,

Murray 1998, Nelson 1991, Phillips 1996, and Richards 1992. Claudia Nelson contends that although literature for children and young people in the mid nineteenth century had a didactic purpose, "the education Victorian children's fiction sought to provide for its readers was primarily an emotional education" (Nelson 1991, 1). The primary aim of this literature was "the socializing of gender", the encouraging of the approved qualities of manliness or womanliness. While being male or female was seen as a function of biology, manliness and womanliness were functions of ideology. 28

Nelson makes a case for the

novelistic mechanism by which the ideals of womanliness were presented to Victorian boys as the ideals of manliness ... the same code of selflessness, emotional warmth, purity, and concern for others that typifies the ideal of the Victorian woman also consistently appears in works explaining manliness (Nelson 1991, 4-5).

She refers to the ideal of "androgynous manliness" su ch as that presented by sorne of the characters in Tom Brown 's Schooldays (Hughes 1983, originally written in 1857).

This novel contains a number of versions of masculinity, including Flashman, the school bully and at the opposite end of the scale, the frail George Arthur. Tom, the hero, is shown as gradually learning the nature of true manliness. This includes not just the more obvious physical toughness, including independence and athleticism, but also moral toughness. Moral toughness takes Tom much longer to acquire, and is leamt in part from the suffering of the weak and ailing Arthur, and from Dr Arnold (the Headmaster). Its components are moral courage, nurturance, self-discipline and humility.

By the end of 1900, the type of "manly purity" celebrated in books like Tom

Brown 's Schooldays had become not only undesirable but was seen as degenerate, and characters such as George Arthur were regarded as "sissies".

Toward the end of the century the "manly" boy increasingly contains an admixture of the animal, as boy's novels spend more and more time dilating on the width ofthe hero's shoulders and less and less on the depths of his principles. Manliness becomes less of a state of mind than a state of muscle and its new antonym is "effeminacy". (Nelson 1991,49)

Nelson sees this change as the result of a mid-century (1850) shift from the goal of

"individual spiritual salvation" to that of "the biological survival of the species" (Nelson

1991, 48). Darwinism had begun to influence a number of writers and sexual didacticism had changed direction. Schoolboy homosexual relationships had not been ignored by 29

Hughes in Tom Brown 's Schooldays but he had made a definite distinction between the manly, pure friendships of Tom and the relationships of

the miserable little pretty white-handed curly-headed boys, petted and pampered by sorne of the big fellows, who wrote their verses for them, taught them to drink and use bad language, and did aIl they could to spoil them for this world and the next (Hughes 1983,182).

Hughes differentiated between "noble" friendships, (emphasizing spirit, not body)

and the relationships between older boys and the "white-handed curly-headed boys",

which were seen as a denial of the requisite qualities of true manliness; self-discipline,

dut y, pi et y, and repression of the flesh. In the thinking of the day, these relationships

were not seen as unhealthy because they implied lack of masculinity, but rather because

they were in fact "masculine in the worst sense of the word" (Nelson 1991,46).

By the end of the nineteenth century "sensitive boys", androgynous ideals, and

purity had become not only regarded with suspicion but also often equated with

perversIOn. As far as masculine behaviour was concemed "the key to the distinction

between normal and abnormal was often effeminacy" (Nelson 1992, 51). So in 1897

Havelock Ellis could write

there is a distinctly general, though not universal, tendency for sexual invcrts to approach the feminine type, eithcr in psychic disposition or physical constitution, or both (Ellis 1908, 162).

The effect of this change in attitude was a drive for greater distinction between the

sexes, which resulted not only in rising homophobia towards any appearance of

femininity in boy's behaviour but a concomitant emphasis on womanliness as being

viewed as the antithesis of manliness (Nelson 1991, 53). 30

Tom Brown 's Schooldays was the first in a long tradition of school stories, (still continuing today in the phenomenally successful Harry Potter series, which has added a fantasy/magic element to the traditional boarding school background). It is in these early school stories and the beginnings of such popular publications as "The Boy's Own

Paper", that we also begin to see the rising importance of "Muscular Christianity" and the philosophy of athleticism. The link between masculinity and ability at sport continues to be a powerful one, as can be seen by the previous discussion on issues of masculinity, and the viewpoints of the adolescent boys interviewed by Blye Frank.

From the 1850' s organized sports were a feature of the English public schools ... they were transformed into an obsession which bred an entire philosophy - athleticism. The concepts of gentleman and sportsman became interchangeable ... and the revived chivalry of the nineteenth century fed directly into the athleticism cult ... athleticism had its gods and heroes, its hymns and rituals and was invested with the kind of religious fervour that Arnold had sought to channel into Christian commitment. (Butts 1992a, 6) (Thomas Arnold was the real life headmaster of Rugby School and featured as a character in Tom Brown 's School Days.)

Organized sport was regarded as a means of social control and good character formation, and provided a way of directing boyish energy and agression into what were seen as "productive channels". The daim was made that sport "promoted manliness and chivalry through the ideas of team spirit, leadership, loyalty, bravery, fair play, modesty in vic tory and humility in defeat" (Butts 1992a, 6).

While there were those writers like Kipling (Stalky & Co, 1899) and Wodehouse

(Mike and Psmith, 1908) who were critical of athleticism and the code of the public school, they were rejecting "not so much the ideals behind the pious model schoolboy as the conventions that had come to mark him" (Nelson 1991, 81). Stalky and his friends might refuse to play sport and generaIly flout aIl authority but they nevertheless had a 31

"code" of fellowship which when taken to its 10gical end produced a willingness to die for King and country, which was in effect the natural extension of "school spirit".

The influence of the school story spread far beyond those boys who would actually attend public schools. Through such magazines as The Magnet and The Gem, lower middle and upper working class boys became familiar with the ideals of "gentlemanly behaviour". Robert Roberts, an historian with a working class background writes

Over the years these simple tales conditioned the thought of a whole generation of boys. The public school ethos, distorted into myth, and sold among us weekly in penny numbers ... set ideals and standards ... Through the Old School we learned to admire guts, integrity, tradition ... (Roberts 1977, 160)

School stories were not the only stories aimed at boys. By the mid nineteenth century the adventure story was flourishing in the hands of writers like Captain Frederick Marryat

(Mr Midshipman Easy and Children of the New Forest), and R.M. Ballantyne

(Snowjlakes and Sunbeams, or, the Young Fur Traders, and The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacifie Ocean). In 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island and in 1885

H. Rider Haggard wrote King Solomon 's Mines.

The adventure story arose from a peculiar confluence of cultural traditions, and ... took different forms in North America and England. In America, it was the product of Frontier resourcefulness, Puri tan righteousness, and private enterprise. The cis-Atlantic version was appropriately more bookish and with a more visible class-provenance. It blended a vaguely Homeric courage ... a high-spirited, yearning and objectless idealism ... and the stern roster of duties demanded by the Imperial service in or out of uniform (lnglis 1992, 86-7).

Writers such as R.M. Ballantyne were intent on providing educational stories with a strong moral tone. The cult of Muscular Christianity was present in these stories, not through sport but through the boy hero's confrontation with the wilderness of sorne far flung outpost of Empire. 32

Realistic ... images served to naturalize a set of values relating to race, class, empire, and gender, values enmeshed in an ideology of hegemonic masculinity (Phillips 1996, 50).

Ballantyne's white, middle class, British boys were brought to manhood through their

adventures in such places as the idealized wildemess of Canada's far north and the jungles of Africa. In the Gorilla Hunters, the hero Ralph Rover considers that

boys were intended to encounter aIl kinds of risks in order to prepare them to me et and grapple with the risks and dangers incident to a man's career with cool, cautious self-possession, a self-possession founded on experimental knowledge of the character and power of their own spirits and muscles (Ballantyne 1861, 49).

There was no room in Ballantyne's stories for the sensitive androgynous hero of the early

school stories. It was his view that aIl boys should conform to a single masculine ideal

(Phillips 1996, 52). This construction of masculinity also required strong relationships

between men and boys, a sort of idealized "mateship", unthreatened until the end of the

nineteenth century by concems of homosexuality, and totally exclusive of women. If

women featured at aIl in the classic adventure story, they were either a threat, (as in She

by H. Rider Haggard 1886), or the conquering hero's reward (as in Greenmantle by John

Buchan 1922).

Mid nineteenth century American adventure stories for boys had moved beyond

concems su ch as westward expansion.

Males came to be defined by skills other than working on the land or taming the wildemess: entrepreneurship, business acumen, and professional skills assumed major importance. By mid-century, physical prowess, assertiveness, and business success stood as the paramount values that male authors admired, and hence these values were lifted up in the fiction they produced (Murray 1998,67).

Writers su ch as William Taylor Adams (best known pseudonym, Oliver Optic), and

Horatio Alger produced whole series of books for boys. The heroes of these books were 33 not perfect, they had their faults, but they were honest and compassionate, and recognition of these qualities led to financial success; not necessarily spectacular financial success but de cent middle class employment. Alger's heroes in particular were intent on moving up from the working class to middle class respectability (Murray 1998,

71). The hero of Ragged Dick could admit to smoking and spending a whole day's eamings going to the theatre or gambling, but balancing these faults was the fact that he was

above doing anything mean or dishonorable. He would not steal, or cheat, or impose upon younger boys, but was frank and straight­ forward, manly and self-reliant. His nature was noble and had saved him from all mean faults (Alger 1985, 7, originally published in 1867).

The notion of the "good boy" was mildly subverted by the appearance of the "bad boy" in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century. The bad boy, seen as "a sanctioned rebel," was "not really bad only 'mischievous,' and it is clear that when he grows up he will be a pillar of the community" (Fetterly 1971,299). The quintessential bad boys were

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. When he published "The Story of the Bad Little

Boy that bore a Charmed Life" in 1865, Samuel Clemens was satirizing the popular

Sunday school stories and portrayals of good boys. Intended for adults but effectively

"creating a new model ofboyhood", Clemens soon found an eager audience of adolescent boys as well. "Never deliberately mean nor a bully, the 'bad boy' gets himself and others into continuaI trouble; nonetheless, he survives and flourishes" (Murray 1998, 73).

Leslie Fiedler (1960) maintained that this type of new hero defined America in the mid- nineteenth century (1850). The "good bad boy" was America' s vision of itself, "crude and unruly in his beginnings, but endowed by his creator with an instinctive sense of 34 what is right". Certainly by the late nineteenth century the moral certainty that had been a foundational ingredient of American children's literature was under assault (MacLeod

1994,114-116).

By the early twentieth century the moral certainty of the traditional British adventure story had also been shaken by the tragic reality of the battle of the Somme and the work of su ch writers as Robert Graves and Wilfred Owen. "Thereafter, as the light faded on empire, self-confident and righteous adventures fell gradually away" (Inglis

1992, 85). Nevertheless, as Inglis goes on to remark, although

the old blitheness of adventure has gone along with the imperial preference ... the class and national righteousness, the sheer ignorance about the world ... the adults who make up stories for children, and buy and sell them also, still want boys to be boys, to be brave, a bit reckless, dauntless, heroic at a pinch ... the novelist-for-children has to find a form of action and a character style which live out these qualities and encompass the exiguous demands of modemity (Inglis 1992, 88-9).

The images of masculinity valued in the nineteenth century school story and adventure story have carried directly over to today's young adult literature. The masculine habit of violence, and the virtue attached to being able to put up with pain, remain markers of manliness in books like The Chocolate War (Cormier 1974), and the importance of sport as a gauge of successful masculinity is central to such books as Bad

Boy (Wieler 1992) and Stotan! (Crutcher 1986), while the homophobia implicit in the active rejection of any quality seen as girlish or feminine has become today's violent bullying in books such as Men ofStone (Friesen, 2000).

Along with the extension of these images, and perhaps a partial explanation of the darkness to be found in so much of today's young adult literature, is Inglis' contention 35 that, when we gave up the boisterous simplicity of the adventure story we replaced it with the disenchantment of experience.

Procedural or instrumental reason has gone to work upon meaning and tumed much of it, including adventure and heroism, into delusion or superstition ... modem consciousness puts aIl its faith in the minimal concepts of political freedom: individual rights, negative liberty (freedom to do what you like so long as you don't infringe the liberty of others to do the same ... (Inglis 1992, 87)

In the next section we will see how twentieth century literature for young people changed and how the advent of "young adult literature" was seen as heralding a new forrn of realistic writing for young people.

History of the young aduIt novel

In the early years of the 20th century, the development of complex urban indus trial society and more prolonged schooling resulted in the development of a social group between childhood and adulthood called "adolescents" by psychologists and other theorists , and later "teenagers" by the market conscious media. In 1904, G. Stanley Hall published his two-volume work on adolescence and the notion of the adolescent experience as one of "storm and stress" was on its way.

In the United States, it wasn't until the 1920's and 30's that publishers began to acknowledge the existence of this group by giving it a specifie category in their lists.

Previously they had had either "children's" or "adult" categories, now they added the terms "junior" or "juvenile" to represent books for teenagers (Nilsen and Donelson 1993,

562-563). This may have clarified the situation for publishers but it tended to confuse the public who considered that "juvenile" in particular meant fiction for young children. 36

Growing interest among educators resulted in research projects investigating which books "adolescents" were reading (Rank in 1947), and the development of educational theories on whether the "junior nove1" was a suitable form of literature for study in the high school classroom (Norvell 1946).

Between 1940 and 1965 the teenage market began to be regarded more seriously and a number of books appeared aimed specifically at this age group. The quality of writing was increasing but the characters and plots tended to be limited.

Books dealt almost exclusively with white middle-class values and morality. The endings were almost aU unifortnly happy and bright, and readers could be certain that neither their morality nor their intelligence would be chaUenged (Nilsen and Donelson 1993, 568).

Dunning's survey conducted in 1959 among fourteen school and public libraries found that among the ten most popular books were Seventeenth Summer (Maureen Daly 1942),

Hot Rod (Henry Gregor Felsen 1950), Going on Sixteen (Betty Cavanna 1946), The Black

Stallion (Walter FarleyI941), and Double Date (Rosamund DuJardin 1951) (Dunning

1959). The titles alone give a fairly clear idea of the subject matter. Criticism of the junior novel was common. Teachers frequently felt that students should be encouraged to read "good literature" which usuaUy meant the classics and that the popular junior nove! was poorly written and dealt with trivial subjects. As late as 1965, J. Donald Adams, editor of the "Speaking of Books" page in the New York Times Book Review made a scathing attack on literature for teenagers.

The teenage book, it seems to me, is a phenomenon which belongs properly only to a society of morons. 1 have nothing but respect for the writers of good books for children; they perform one of the most admirable functions of which a writer is capable. One proof of their value is the fact that the greatest books which children can enjoy are read with equal delight by their eIders. But what pers on of mature years and reasonably mature understanding (for there is often a wide 37

disparity) can read without impatience a book written for adolescents (1965, 250-252).

Two years later S.E.Hinton published her novel The Outsiders (1967) and heralded the development of a whole new debate on the literary value of the young adult novel and its treatment of realistic themes.

The changing emphasis in theme and content started by Hinton and continued by writers such as Zindel, Cormier, Blume and Lipsyte was seen as growing out of the social influence of the 60's and 70's. The balance ofpower was changing between the generations.

ln a world tom with war and racial strife, crime and violence, economic and ecological irresponsibility; in a world where old standards of personal morality have broken down, cynicism and self­ seeking are observed everywhere and a high proportion of marri ages collapse, it is hard for adults to feel that they know best and are entitled to tell the younger generation what to do. And young people themselves are not automatically inclined to listen (Townsend 1983, 292).

The new realistic novel for young adults was also the result of literary influences, the most important ofwhich was J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye (1951). In fact as John

Rowe Townsend noted in 1983, "the number of lesser Holden Caulfields narrating in the first person and in the same tone of voice defies computation" (Townsend 1983, 292).

The new realism was supposed to deal honestly with its teenage audience, to show life as it really was. These books were characterized by "documentary explicitness in the presentation of emotional and social development ... streetwise deflationary humour, physical candour, cultural insulation from the adult community and a kind of disabusing gospel ofwariness ... a mirror image" of the teenage experience (Hollindale 1996, 316). 38

Robert Cormier is one of the most popular and most criticized exponents of the realistic novel for young adults. His first book, The Chocolate War (1974), tells the story of fourteen year old Jerry Renault who is attending a Catholic high school run by a secret society of bullies and a sadistic priest. Afraid of becoming a nonentity like his father

Jerry makes a personal stand against taking part in the school's annual fund-raising chocolate sale and refuses to sell his share. In the end he is punished by the secret society, savagely beaten while the priests stand by. The story, which begins with the words "They murdered him", ends with an image ofhis smashed and beaten body.

For AIleen Nilsen and Kenneth Donelson (1993, 106-109), The Chocolate War is their "favorite example of a modem problem novel for young adults". They see Robert

Cormier as demonstrating to teenagers that life is real and hard and that sorne problems can never be solved. They main tain that he respects his readers and never writes down to them and that his book is full of subtle symbolism. Cormier's books became very fashionable and successful, although interestingly the majority of sales were to teachers using the books in the cIassroom. 1 am the Cheese (1977), the story of a teenage boy who is in a mental institution after seeing his parents murdered because of a failed witness protection scheme, and After the First Death (1979), which deals with a tcrrorist attack on a school bus and incIudes the deaths of two of its three main teenage characters, one of whom is betrayed by his father and commits suicide, are frequently suggested for study in high school English programs (Brown and Stephens 1995, 24, Monseau 1996, 13-21).

Annie Gotlieb talks of Cormier "setting free the subjeet of despair" and mentions that the

American Library Association's Booklist gave the book a black-bordered revlew

"suggesting an obituary for youthful optimism" (Gottlieb 1984, 24). 39

Other critics have reacted strongly to Cormier' s images of violence and despair.

John Rowe Townsend (1983, 340) considers Cormier too extreme, and the emphasis on violence and corruption to be sensationalism. Michelle Landsberg (1987, 92-93) goes further. She is repelled by Cormier's cynicism and sees the effect of The Chocolate War as being one of "unremitting ... hysterical violence and a sweeping revulsion that taints everything and everyone". For Landsberg, the much praised energy and conviction of the book demonstrates "a flinching, Jansenist horror at the human body and the human soul", and the story masquerades as a profound analysis of moral choice when in fact it is just the opposite, it provides no moral choice at aIl because there can be no possibility of redemption in Cormier's universe.

The "new realism" was welcomed by many who felt that teenage novels should mirror reality. Writers such as Mary Q. Steel commented that

we [should] respect our children's intelligence enough to suppose that the world need be presented to them in no rosy light, but as it is - as most of us know it is - a hard road strewn with stones and bordered with thorns ... The world has not spared children hunger, cold, sorrow, pain, fear, loneliness, disease, death, war, famine or madness. Why should we hesitate to make use of this knowledge wh en writing for them? (Steel 1981, 281)

Townsend, Landsberg and other critics of Cormier would not disagree with Steel about the importance of honesty and realism as suitable themes for young adult novels, but what they do object to is Cormier's unremitting images ofpain and betrayal. Such stories

"leave children nowhere to live at aIl" claims Fred Inglis (1981, 279). Inglis is not against realism and exposing the hypocrisies ofhistory and society but what is wanted, he says, is the novel "which brings off the artful balance of tact and plain-speaking, of 40 making imaginable the intolerable, of keeping innocence while teaching dire knowledge"

(Inglis 1981, 281).

American writers such as Nilsen and Donnelson (1993) tend to refer to the birth of realistic literature for young adults as a purely American development. Nevertheless, writers in Canada, England and Australia were also exploring the new realism.

ln books of the past children were almost invariably what may be termed "safe survivors" ... in sharp contrast, most children in modern realistic fiction are "dangerous survivors". Their lives are no longer bounded by the protective waUs of childhood but involve situations in which they live without adults. Open and vulnerable, they must struggle to survive and cope on their own, often in the face of disaster. And in the process, they change. They may gain a courageous independence, a self-reliance and resourcefulness, but they also suffer the loneliness of isolation and the heavy insecurity and responsibilities of that independence ... whatever the impetus for the events that involve them, the protagonists share the common pattern of internaI struggle, ultimate catharsis, or even defeat (Egoff 1981, 35).

Books like Southall's Hills End 1969, Ash Road 1967, and To the Wild Sky 1967

(Australia), and John Rowe Townsend's Gumble's Yard 1961 (England), put groups of children into threatening situations, deprived them of the security of adult presence and described their fight for survival.

The "young adult problem nove}" as a construct was part of a common trend during the 70's and 80's. Authors chose controversial topics such as death, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, abandonment by parents, violence, betrayal, aU areas supposedly of relevance to the adolescent, although at times one suspects that thoughts of marketing success influenced at least sorne of the problern novels produced. Ron Buel, a publisher at Dell during the heyday of the problem novel commented "1 often felt that 1 was doing a certain book because 1 knew the controversy alone would sell it ... 1 would certainly hope 41 that it was worth doing, and weIl written, but l knew that if it got banned in a couple of places it would sell" (Gottlieb 1984,24). Many problem novels were as much "formula" books as the earlier denigrated teen novels. These formula novels could be relied upon to deal with suicide, child prostitution, child abuse, incest, mental illness and parents who, wh en not dead or dying, were often abusive, alcoholic or psychotic, and frequently

irresponsible and selfish.

The problem novel focuses on an unfortunate event or life experience that a basically optimistic person would not foresee in his or her life, for example, experiencing an accident or grave illness, having serious troubles in one's family, being a victim ofphysical harm or violence, suffering from extreme forms of social pressure, or becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol (Nilson and Donelson 1993, 101).

Examples of issues dealt with include the following.

Violence and betrayal- This is a common theme in sorne author's work, for example

Jerry Renault's savage beating in The Chocolate War (Cormier 1974) and the

betrayal of Ben by his father in After the First Death (Cormier 1979).

Sex - Always controversial, its treatment can range from that of Judy Blume's

Forever (1976) which has been seen variously as honest, graphie, commercial

and humourless, (HippIe 1992, 10; Landsberg 1987, 158-162) to a more balaneed

approach, an ability to "write about sex without crudity, without banality ...

[with] tact, emotional depth and a sense of the power of the unspoken word"

(Landsberg 1987, 172), as in Goodnight, Prof, Love (1970) where John Rowe

Townsend manages to describe, with humour and sensitivity, the relationship

between teenager Graham and the older working class girl he meets working in a

local restaurant. 42

Death - This is also a common topic, frequently the death of a parent, often the death

of a friend. In Looking for Alibrandi (Marchetta 1992) it is the unexpected

suicide of a close friend that brings death into Josie's 1ife; in Out of the Dust

(Hesse 1997) it is the death of her mother and baby brother that shatters Billie

Jo's world.

Mental illness - One of the first novels to de al with this subject, and still one of the

best, is Lisa, Bright and Dark (Neufield 1973). Lisa, aware that something is

wrong, tries desperately to get her parents to acknowledge she needs help. In Ali

Together Now (Bridgers 1979), twelve year old Casey moves to get her

community on side wh en it looks as if her friend Dwayne, a retarded thirty-three

year old, is to be put in a home.

Drugs and alcohol - These a1so feature in young adult novels, perhaps not quite to

the same extent that was apparent in the early days of the problem novel, but they

remain a major concem and in at least one recent award winner, Junk (Burgess

1996), they are the central issue.

Farnily relationships - Understandably, this is one of the major themes in young adult

literature, although images of the happy family, or the successful relationship

between a teenager and a parent, remain few and far between. More than twenty

years after the problem novel's initial concentration on dysfunctional families,

abuse, incest, alcoholism and the unhappy family remain among the major issues.

Nilsen maintains that the young adult problem novel of the 90's has changed. Over the last fifteen years much of what was seen as shocking is now part of daily media coverage (Nilsen 1994). In other words, it is no longer necessary or even possible for the 43 problem novel to survIve solely because of its controversial subject matter; more substance is required and competition from other types of literature has led to changes in tone and plot.

Recent problem novels are ... likely to contain more excitement, romance and optimism. Being forced to compete with the unrealistic wish fulfillment of formula romances, as weIl as the equally unrealistic chi Ils of occult and horror tales, has made authors less likely to write starkly grim stories (Nilsen and Donelson 1993, 110).

Nilsen and Donelson maintain that there has been a blurring of the division between the problem novel and other types of story such as romance, historical fiction and adventure stories and there has been a concomitant development of increased literary value and complexity.

Value, Structures and Ideology in Young Adult Literature

The books selected for this study have ail been evaluated in sorne way. Sorne have won awards, such as the Carnegie or Newbery Medals; sorne are on Best Books Lists chosen by teenagers, librarians and teachers, who regard them as 'good' books. The word 'good' in this context refers to two linked categories, literary worth and the representation of desirable values, contained in the ideological component of the text.

John Stephens (1995) caUs these two categories the aesthetic and the applied. He maintains that they are 'inextricable' in that "the first is both culture-specifie and gives shape and form to the second" (Stephens 1995,255). He also maintains that neither form of criterion is objective but is "deeply implicated in social ideology" (Stephens 1995,

255). 44

1. Aesthetic Criteria

Stephens' Aesthetic Criteria inc1ude traditionalliterary evaluation of elements such as theme, setting, plot, characterization, style, structure, suitability of language, and narrative outcome. The criteria inc1ude:

1. The book is enjoyable to read. 2. The characters are complex, convincing, and memorable. 3. The setting has an expressive function within the narrative. 4. The story unfolds in a way that maintains tension and engages the reader's attention. 5. The narrative does (or does not) achieve an appropriate balance between 'sharing' and 'telling'. 6. The narrative outcome is arrived at by means of a satisfying sequence of motives, actions, and events. 7. The book's chosen genre is handled competently; the book extends the genre or challenges our presuppositions about it. 8. The language used in the book is rich and imaginative, readily accessible to its target audience (Stephens 1995, 256).

As mentioned earlier, many young adult novels make use of particular conventions in the areas mentioned above, and a recognized pattern does exist. This pattern has been challenged by sorne of the more recent novels such as Strange Objects (Crew 1991). In an article entitled "The Literary Value of the Young Adult Novel", Robert C. Small discusses what he considers to be "YA Novel Characteristics", and groups them under what he considers to be "general elements of the novel form" (Small 1992, 282). 1 have used his general elements as headings: plot, characterization, dialogue, setting, point of view, and style; and 1 have enlarged upon his points in the following li st.

Setting The setting is contemporary, home, school, and the local town or city, with care taken to include the material components of a teenager' s life. 45

Plot Books are usually short, with a linear plot and a short time span, rarely more th an a year. The events and problems described are intended to be specifie to teenage experience. The outcome of the plot is directly related to the actions and decisions of the main characters.

Characterization

The main character is a teenager, usually the narrator, and always the focus of the novel.

This character is frequently introspective, sensitive and intelligent, and during the course of the novel develops greater maturity through experiencing the consequences of personal actions and decisions. Small (1992, 283) asserts that adult characters are generally more of a hindrance than a help in solving problems, and are frequently the cause of the original problem. One convention that Small doesn't mention is an extension of the unreliable adult: the dead parent. Ruth Starke (1998) has written an amusing article on

The Absent Parent in Australian Young Adu/t Fiction, detailing the extent to which the death of a parent has been used as a plot device, primarily to ensure the aloneness of the central teenage character. (The death of one parent effectively also removes the influence of the remaining parent who is preoccupied with grief.)

Dialogue and language

Language used in the novels reflects teenage speech patterns and vocabulary including slang, although even the most recent realistic novels still tend to have relatively mi Id language compared with that used in reality. (Melvin Burgess was actually criticized by one reviewer for not using more realistic language in Junk (1997).) 46

Style

Small (1992, 283) has characterized style as "simple, employing a limited vocabulary and

fairly short sentences." This is certainly the case ofwriters like Judy Blume. Writers like

John Rowe Townsend and Ivan Southall, and many others have developed interesting

literary styles which go far beyond the simple approach. Small (1992, 283) also

comments that devices such as allegory, symbolism and flashbacks are uncommon.

While true for sorne of the earlier novels written for adolescents, it is no longer true for

many of the more recent ones which, as noted earlier, have increased in complexity in both the areas of literary construct and richness of language.

Point of view / narrator

Almost without exception young adult novels have a teenage narrator. Small

identifies two forms of narration, "first or third person, but entirely from the perspective

of the main character" (1992, 283). These forms of narration are intended to provide an

interpretation of events and characters from an adolescent viewpoint, a convention which

sorne critics such as Egoff, have seen as limiting. Certainly the traditional form of

narration for many young adult novels has been first person and character bound, as in

this example from The Moves Make the Man.

Now, Bix Rivers has disappeared, and who do you think is going to tell his story but me? Maybe his stepfather? Man that dude does not know Bix deep and now he never will, will he? Only thing he could say is he's probably secretly happy Bix ran away and got out of his life. How about Bix's momma? Can she tell you? 1 reckon not - she is crazy in the hospital. And you can believe they don 't let crazies have anything sharp like a pencil, else she poke her eye out or worse. So she won't be writing any stories for a long time. But me - 1 have 47

plenty of pencils, number threes aIl sharpened dark green enamel ... and 1 have four black and white marble composition books. Plus 1 can tell you sorne things, like Bix was thirteen last birthday (same as me), Bix was a shortstop (supreme) ... It's me gets to tell the truth (Brooks 1984,3-5).

Often considered to have been influenced by Catcher in the Rye and the character of Holden Caulfield (Salinger 1951), this style of narration was and is one of the most popular in young adult literature.

Also common is third person narrative, as III this example from Permanent

Connections

Rob awoke slowly, pulling himself out of a foggy dream of being trapped somewhere, a steeply rising place tangled with rhododendron and blackberry briars. Above him, beyond this thick wet mist, there was a summit familiar from sorne other dream ... He could feel his limbs fighting against him as his body tried to sink back into sleep, but his mind darted upward, tugging him out of the nightmare, away from the rumbling sound of a storm he heard moving toward him in the distance ... He lay watching the ceiling and waiting for a sound, because he suspected the storm in his dream was real ... There was a hissing along the wall, his mother's anxious voice kept low, spitting in frustrated rushes ... the rumble was his father, heavy thunder before the squall. In control as he always was but pushing ... bringing the storm relentlesslyon. They were arguing about him (Bridgers 1987, 1-2).

Crew (1996, 65) has identified three other types of narrative which also occur in adolescent literature:

First, a split narrative pattern in which an anonymous narrator shares the telling of the

story with a first person character bound narrator as in Josh (Southall 1971).

Next, a plural narrative in which different chapters are narrated by an anonymous narrator from the differing viewpoints of more than one character as in Junk (Burgess 1996).

Burgess alternates his chapters to have events described from the points of view of six of his main characters. 48

Finally, plural narrative patterns in which the telling of the story is split so that story is narrated by more than one first pers on character bound narrator . This method is used creatively with a number of characters in A Hera Ain 't Nathin' But a Sandwich,

(Childress 1971), and in Eye ta Eye (links 1997) with two characters, the artificial intelligence of a spaceship, and the boy who discovers it crash landed in the desert.

2. Applied Criteria

Stephens' "Applied Criteria" de al with ideological evaluation and concern such issues as whether:

9. The book deals with topical issues and ideas ... intelligently and informatively ... 10. The book examines: the problem of moral choice; the process of coming to terms with loss and pain; the power adults wield over young people, and its effects; the impacts of peer-group pressure; how society fails sorne of its members. Il. The book promotes positive attitudes with respect to gender, ethnicity, social class, ecology; admiration for the resilience of the human spirit; positive relationships between children and adults. 12. The characters experience growth, development, identity formation; they learn to recognize their own worth; they learn to recognize each other's worth; they offer appropriate role models for young readers to identify with. 13. By it's close, the book has put the world into sorne kind of perspective. 14. The book is universal in its scope. 15. There is more than one layer of significance ... 16. Self-reflexive ... strategies are used to remind readers that the text is representation, not reality. 17. The language used in the book will stretch and ex tend a reader's vocabulary (by expanding the limits of language, reading expands the limits of the world). 18. The book will encourage young readers to seek out other books: it thus promotes positive attitudes towards reading and contributes to the development of critical literacy, empowering children for life in a textualized world (Stephens 1995, 256-7). 49

Stephens put together this list from criteria he found to be currently used, and they are quoted virtually in full because when the criteria for awards such as the Newbery Medal,

the Carnegie Medal, Y ALSA's Best Books and other critically evaluated selections are

examined, these same requirements are reiterated. These criteria emphasize a level of

moral responsibility required of authors who write for young people, which has a long

tradition.

Historically, literature for children and young people had a strong moral-didactic

content. Egoff claims that it was the Puri tans who simultaneously

"invented" both children and children's books [and] also gave children' s literature its first genre, realistic fiction ... intent on teaching children the lesson that one's actions even in the very earliest years of one's life, had inescapable moral consequences, [they] hoped that by dramatizing this lesson in a narrative filled with realistic detail they could make their message both more interesting and more convincing (Egoff 1981, 31).

Literature for young people was expected to teach moral lessons and support the value

system of the dominant society. Part of the controversy which developed around the new

realistic novels for teenagers which began to appear in the sixties and seventies

concerned the writers' attitude to this expectation. Although books for young people

written earlier had depicted tension between the generations and rebellion, the new

realism carried with it a disturbing change in viewpoint.

The literature written for adolescents in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries showed young people struggling to make their way in the world, facing uncertainties with doubts arising from their inexperience, but succeeding finally in taking their part in respectable and prosperous society wh en they accepted advice from older people and strove to emulate adults they admired ... [but] ... in the 1970's ... the new realism with its candour and championing of the teenage viewpoint, and its attention to the conflict between the adolescent and the adult worId undermined what many thought of as the proper role of 50

good reading for the young, that of inducting them into society by teaching them social orthodoxy (Nimon and Foster 1997, 8-9).

Critics were concemed that these books contained no signposts for adolescents, that instead of supporting the traditiona1 values of society unequivocally, the books sometimes ev en actively questioned the worth of these values and called them into doubt.

Even those willing to concede the literary merit of su ch books as The Chocolate War

(Cormier 1974) were disturbed by the subject matter and the lack of hope of the new realism.

It is as inaccurate to present only the sordid and call it realistic as it has been in the past to present only the idealistic ... The Chocolate War endorses and supports the thesis that one is better off not struggling for what is right because one cannot win and this is, in effect, an object lesson in futility (Bagnall 1980, 217).

Bagnall, like many other critics of young adult literature had very specific expectations about the images that these novels should project, she is committed to the notion that

"adolescent fiction is, finally, hopeful" (Mertz and England 1983, 20). Hopeful in this sense tended to mean often a rather simplistic approach to closure of the narrative.

Endings were supposed to leave characters with their problems solved, with conflict resolved, good having won out and society's values accepted unconditionally.

More than a decade later, writers and critics continue to debate the components of the realistic nove!. Writers su ch as Melvin Burgess (Junk, Carnegie Medal Winner 1996) and Gillian Rubinstein (twice winner of the Australian Book of the Year award for

Labyrinth 1989 and Foxspell 1995) have no doubts about the ability of their readers to cope with disillusionment and reallife.

Kids like characters they can identity with and they like books that have a bit of bite. Mine are a bit outrageous, a bit tough, with an edge 51

to them. Kids also respond to the atmosphere that makes them feel the characters are living in a realistic and dangerous worId, and which acknowledges that young people themselves are in fae! living in a dangerous worId ... Today children seek reality ... Perhaps they no longer believe consolation is possible. Instead they want to be told the truth and about how it really is and that makes them feel strong (Gillian Rubinstein in an interview with Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, Nieuwenhuizen 1991,237).

Melvin Burgess, whose book Junk was about teenage drug addiction, feels no obligation to provide happy endings or protect his readers from the harsher realities of life.

Children at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and younger, are looking forward to aduithood, not back to childhood. They're finding out about the pleasures and dangers of youth, and letting go of the safety of childhood. They have a complete and absolute right to discuss, to read, to understand that worId, and we have a dut y to produce material that helps them ... There are only two choices. You can either try to make your child's mind up for them ... or you can allow them to prepare themselves to make real decisions themselves (Carnegie Medal Acceptance Speech, Burgess 1997).

Writers of literature for young people tend to have an agenda (Nieuwenhuizen

1991). Often this agenda has grown out of their own childhood experiences or is an extension of strongly held beliefs. John Stephens, who has a particular concern with narrative fiction written for chi1dren and adolescents, fee1s that

fiction presents a special context for the operation of ideologies because narrative texts are highly organized and structured discourses whose conventions may be used to express deliberate advocacy of social practices or may encode social practices implicitly (Stephens 1992,43).

Stephens' theoretical approach to examining the ideology present in literature for young people combines elements of narrative theory and critical linguistics with a concern for types of ideology and levels of subjectivity (1992, 5). In his introductory discussion on ideology he builds on a theoretical approach put forward by Peter Hollindale (1988), who 52 identified three aspects of ideology: explicit ideology, passive ideology, and ideology and language.

A. Explicit Ideology

Ideology can be overtly or explicitly present in a particular text, with the writer's political, social or moral beliefs being clearly indicated by the story line, theme and resolution. Hollindale quotes as an example Henry Treece (British author of twenty-five books for young people written in the 50's and 60's) talking about the message he would like his books to convey. His comments are quoted in full because it is interesting to compare them with those of Rubinstein and Burgess above, made twenty years later,

1 feel that children will come to no harm if, in their stories, an ultimate justice is shown to prevail, if, in spite of hard times, the characters come through to receive what they deserve. This after aIl, is a hope which most of us share - that aIl may yet be weIl provided that we press on with courage and faith. So in my stories 1 try to tell the children that life may be difficult and unpredictable, and that even the most commendable characters may suffer injustice and misery for a while, but that the joy is in the doing, the effort, and that self-pity has no place. And at the end and the gods willing, the good man who holds to the permanent virtues of truthfulness, loyalty and a certain sort of stoic acceptance both of life's pains and pleasures will be the fulfilled man. If this is not true, then for me, nothing is true: and this is what 1 try to tell the children (Hollindale 1970, 176). ln many ways Treece's warld, on the surface at least, is a much more black and white one than the world as seen by Burgess and Rubinstein, neither of whom would be likely to suggest to children that good will win and virtue bring its own reward. Just as Burgess' and Rubinstein's ideology is mirrored in their books, which emphasize the uncertainty of life and the arbitrariness of retribution, Treece's books, mirror his belief in ultimate justice and the importance of established social arder. 53

Richard Peck is a good example of another writer with a clearly stated agenda, both in his writings about young adult literature, and in his novels (Peck 1973, 1975,

1983, 1986). In Remembering the Good Times (1985) Peck has a teenage character,

Trav, who commits suicide. His two friends Kate and Buck are aware that he is unhappy

but have no way of helping him cope with the level of alienation he is feeling. Wh en he

kills himself, his friends struggle with their grief and growing disgust at the attitude of the

school and community, both looking for somewhere to lay the blame.

This is a community problem. No school however caring and compassionate, is equipped to cope with a problem essentially rooted in home and family. (The school assistant principal)

This evening l've heard from the assistant principal that the school assumes no responsibility for our son. 1 hear the annoyance in [his] voice that Trav's death has caused academic disruption. 1 hear the relief in his voice that our boy did not die on school property. My wife and 1 hear that this death is our fault, that we pushed our son over the edge to his death. Yet we've watched him come home from school day after day, unfulfilled and hungry for a challenge he wasn't getting in even the advanced classes. He didn't believe this school was preparing him for the future. He grew desperate ... (Peck 1985, 176).

Finally one of the oldest members of the community takes everyone to task for trying to

avoid responsibility.

For Peck, Trav is the "quintes senti al adolescent suicide" in that he seems to have

everything. Peck's aim is to "address the main stream of readers more directly .. .the

conventional children of privilege and permissiveness" (Peck 1992, 71). His agenda is

clear.

There's mounting doubt in the minds of young people who are drifting between the permissive home and the selective school. When parents' demands are only occasional, when teachers' standards are always negotiable, you may suspect there's no value in growing up to play such weak roles as these. You may ev en panic at the thought. This is the generation being pressed to be competitive and successful in adult 54

life without the necessary stretched attention span, personal discipline, and communication skills. This is a generation with new reason to fear the future (Peck 1992, 73).

Peck's stated aim, which cornes through strongly in aIl his books is to provide sorne type of solid moral framework and a sense of direction for his readers. His message is clear whether the subject be rape, suicide or religious fundamentalism and censorship. Like other writers who write for adolescents he has had sorne of his books removed from library shelves by irate parents, overprotective teachers and concemed administrators.

B. Passive ideology

Hollindale's second category of ideology is passive ideology, which is represented by the individual writer' s unexamined assumptions. (1988, 12). This is a more subtle level of ideology than that discussed above, and possibly more powerful because it consists of

"values taken for granted in the society that produces and consumes the text". (Stephens

1992, 10). For Hollindale, the power of this type of ideology lies in its ability to reinforce such values.

Sex ro1e stereotyping, the stay at home mother, the father with his 9 to 5 job, who takes no part in housework, who is inarticulate when trying to communicate with his children, and whose expectations mIe the family, is one of the most obvious examples.

With the advent of feminism, this type of stereotyping became less common, but images of adolescence often appeared to mirror shaIlow, media driven, popularly accepted notions such as: aIl adolescents fight constantly with their parents, are obsessed with sex 55 and their bodies, and are completely self-centred, and incapable of complex analytical thought.

Judy Blume perpetuates such images in her books. In Are you there God? It 's me

Margaret (1970) she spends 149 pages describing Margaret's obsession with both getting her first bra and her period, and then finally being like everybody else. Even Margaret's religious concems appear to hinge on her need to conform rather than any serious consideration of differences in belief.

Are you there God? It's me Margaret. 1 just told my mother 1 want a bra. Please help me grow God. You know where. 1 want to be like everyone else. You know God, my new friends aIl belong to the Y or the Jewish Community Center. Which way am 1 supposed to go? 1 don't know what you want me to do about that (Blume 1970,37).

Written in 1970, Judy Blume's book was seen as ground breaking because it dealt with

"real" issues. The prose style, however, was simplistic and what little introspection went on as far as the central character was concemed, was extremely shallow. IdeologicaIly,

Bloom's image of teenage girls was completely in keeping with popular media images; her character's concem for brand name products, the colour pink, and images of a materialistic society aIl served to project complacency about, and support for, the status quo. Blume's characters bring with them the tacit assumption that the most important thing for any teenager is to belong. Characters (and author) are unquestioning in their acceptance of society' s standards; values and assumptions are never questioned.

C. Ideology and language

Hollindale's third dimension ofideology is concemed with language.

The power of ideology is inscribed within the words, the rule-system, and codes which constitute the text ... When a text is written, ideology 56

works to make sorne things more natural to write; when a text is read, it works to conceal struggles and repressions, to force language into conveying only those meanings reinforced by the dominant forces of our society (Hollindale 1988, 14).

This third type of ideology refers to the actual literary structure of the book and the use of language as a form of communication within this structure. Discovering this level requires an "analysis of discourse" which, based on Stephens' theoretical approach would consist of an examination of the linguistic and narratological components of the text.

Linguistic level includes the actual structure of language, grarnrnar, patterns of speech, conversational encounters and the use of simile, metaphor and imagery as part of cultural context. Narratological level, Stephens' "domain of a more literary purpose", includes analysis of story, (order and sequence of the narrative), relationship of story to audience, type of narrator, point of view, (including character focalization and the implied reader), and forms of closure.

How a narrative is resolved has been seen as very important in fiction written for young people, with the emphasis on hopeful, positive conclusions (Metz and England

1983, 123). These hopeful endings carried with them an acknowledgement of the importance of social order and the need for the reader to feel secure,

the desire for closure, both in the specific sense of an achieved satisfying ending and in the more general sense of a final order and coherent significance, is characteristically a desire for fixed meanings, and is apparent in the socializing, didactic purposes ofmuch children's literature (Stephens 1992, 41).

Much of recent realistic literature for young adults has tended towards a more open ended style of conclusion. Questions are left unanswered, circumstances unresolved, and characters left facing major decisions, or the unpleasant results of events. It is Stephens' 57 contention that ev en an open ending "can still be ideologically powerful by evoking particular values and assumptions by its very evasion of them" (1992, 252). He uses

Cormier's The Chocolate War (1974) as an example. This book finishes with the main character, Jerry Renault, being badly beaten during an unofficial school boxing match.

Initially Jerry fights back but as he begins to sense his own physical power, he realizes that he has allowed himself to be manipulated by the very pers on he despises.

A new sickness invaded Jerry, the sickness of knowing what he had become, another animal, another beast, another violent person in a violent world, inflicting damage, not disturbing the universe but damaging it. He had allowed Archie to do this to him (Cormier 1974, 183).

He stops fighting and allows himself to be beaten unconscious and the story finishes with

Archie, head of the school gang called the Vigils, and Brother Leon, the school principal, consolidating their power.

Endings reaffirm what society regards as important issues and preferred outcomes. This still happens even when, as in Cormier's novels, "good" fails to win out, simply because readers formulate their sense of en ding in those terms (Stephens 1992, 43).

An examination of ideology and language requires not only an analysis of stretches of language within each text, but also the literary structure of the text as a whole. Analysis of the selected texts will include an examination of all three levels of ideology mentioned above, the author's agenda, statements of purpose in the text, implicit ideology, and analysis of linguistic and literary structure. 58

Related theoretical applications

This research will examine text for images and meaning from a combined social science, literary and linguistic approach.

Historically, there have been three major social science and literary approaches to textual-discourse analysis ... content analysis with the quantitative approach ... semiotics with the structural tradition in literary criticism and narrative discourse analysis (Denzin and Lincoln 2000,639).

AIl three of the approaches mentioned above are used in a number of different disciplines and as a result come in many variations. Therefore the following definitions are necessarily broad and intended as a general introduction to the different ways in which textual studies can be undertaken, and to situate the method chosen for this study within other methodological approaches.

Content analysis is an enumerative strategy. The researcher lists, counts, and categorizes the words or sometimes images, within a particular text or medium (Fielding and Lee 1998, 52). Analysts can look at how words in a particular text are associated with each other, as, for example in a study made of Australian School Readers, to compare the number of male and female characters to be found over a twenty year period

(Anderson and Yip 1987). Images can be quantitified as in a study done of the number of female characters in American Caldecott winners and honor books over a five year period

(Dougherty and Engel 1987). This latter study presented sorne interesting statistics on how many characters were male or female, but made little mention of what type of the roles the characters had, and as su ch provided little of interest on the subject of gender stereotyping other than there were more male characters than female in the texts studied. 59

Content analysis can be useful in linguistically oriented studies such as an anthropological study searching for the use of indigenous terms within a text, or to count the frequency of use of specifie terms, but it has limited use in qualitative studies when meaning and context are of prime importance (Manning and Cullum-Swann 2000, 464).

Semiotics, defined as a form of applied linguistics (Berger 1995, 73), has the sign as its most important concept, and provides a theoretical approach to how meaning is generated and communicated. Structuralism "is a method of analysis based on linguistic theory and anthropological thought, that focuses on the relationships that exist among elements in a system instead of on the elements themselves" (Berger 1995, 97). Jonathan

Culler maintains that semiotics and structuralism are "in separable",

for in studying signs we must investigate the system of relations that enables meaning to be produced and, reciprocally, one can only determine what are the pertinent relations among items by considering them as signs (Culler 1975,4).

Linda Christian-Smith used a semiotic methodological approach in her study of "the representation of femininity in popular fiction". The questions she asked incIuded: How do adolescent girls interpret romance novels, What views of femininity do the books present to readers, and What patterns of power and control are implicit in textual definitions of femininity (Christian-Smith 1990, 5)?

Christian-Smith considered that the texts used III her study were "meaning producing systems". She felt that moving away from a traditional identification of meaning, to an examination of how texts make meanings required a particular methodological approach. She states that

Semiotics provides such a method through its focus on understanding both the meaning of social practices and how these meanings are constructed. Semiotics studies culture as a message system structured 60

like language. Central to semiotics are the categories of "sign" and "codes" ... Codes are critical constructions derived from the analysis of signs which permit the interpretation of literature. Interpretation then involves identifying the codes, analyzing their meaning and making connections between the codes in individu al texts or among texts (Christian-Smith 1990, 146-147).

In her analysis she compared and contrasted codes she named romance, beautification and sexuality and compared and contrasted their elements. She discovered that by separating the novels into groups according to the content of the three codes, she was able to detect changes in the codes over time and analyze the novels within an historical context.

Bereska used a similar methodology to investigate the construction of masculinity in North America over a set period of time, by examining three groups of novels read by young adults. (Two of the thirty novels selected are Canadian, the rest are American.)

She identifies her methodological framework as "a discourse analysis informed by social semiotics" (Bereska 1999,77) and de fines it in the words of Barsky (1993)

A cross disciplinary method of inquiry which studies the structure of texts and considers both their linguistic and sociocultural dimensions in order to de termine how meaning is constructed (Quoted in Bereska 1999, 77).

Essentially she, like Christian-Smith, uses a semiotic approach to the texts she studies, and identifies a series of codes to aid literary analysis. In particular she identifies

"cultural codes" and "connotative codes", terms derived from the work of Roland Barthes

(1970).

Cultural codes are messages or meanings that share a common cultural currency and which can be found in a range of texts produced by that culture (Bereska 1999, 78).

American democratic ideals for example, and the romantic notion that it is possible for an 61 individual to change the system, are common codes present in television, movies and fiction. Such codes can be considered "the axioms and proverbs of a culture" (Scholes

1982, 100) and frequently represent common religious or political beliefs.

Connotative codes "are meanings that can be grouped together into what the reader

sees as themes" (Bereska 1999, 78). Bereska and Christian-Smith use these codes in their

analysis of text. Two of the codes that Bereska identifies as partially comprising the

structure of meaning of masculinity in her selected texts, for example, are "collectivity"

and "agression" (Bereska 1999, 80).

Both Christian-Smith and Bereska locate their codes within the "discourse" of the texts they analyze. Discourse has been variously defined as:

"a collection ofknowledge, the product of social formation" (Bereska 1999,80).

"connected speech or writing, a linguistic unit as a conversation or story" (Merri am

Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 1999, 331).

"not merely a linguistic unit, but a unit ofhuman action, interaction, communication,

and cognition" (Dillon 1994, 207).

"language as a system of signification" (Stephens 1992, 1).

Stephens points out that both linguists and narratologists use the term discourse to

"refer to the surface" of the texts they work with and gives the following definitions.

Linguistic: 'Stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive ' (Cook 1989, 156). This usage is commonly employed to refer to discoursal actions in general and to specific discoursal types, such as the discourse ofparent-child conversational encounters. Narratological: the means by which a story and its significance are communicated (including temporal sequencing, focalization, and the narrator's relations to the story and the audience (Stephens 1992, Il). 62

The term discourse then, (with a variety of definitions) can be used in both a structuralist-semiotic approach and in the final approach to textual analysis mentioned above: narrative discourse analysis. In fact while the first of these approaches (content analysis) can be c1early defined, there is often a merging of theoretical components between the other two approaches to text analysis, often related to the disciplinary point of view of the research, (Sociology, Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Literary

Studies for example). The theoretical mix can also be compounded by the frequent multi­ disciplinary approaches to research in the field of text analysis (Anthropological

Linguistics, for example).

Traditional narrative analysis tended to be focused on literary construction and inc1uded discussion of such aspects as plot, characters, setting and style. A crucially important part of any text analysis relates to defining who tells the story (narrative position). Traditional analyses of young adult novels examining narrative position have tended to use models of narrative theory that use the terms "first person point of view" or

"third person point of view". These terms are too limited to analyze the increasing number of different strategies used by authors of young adult literature who have increasingly been using more sophisticated narrating techniques "that provide multiple viewpoints for a reader by setting up more than one narrative agency in a text" (Crew

2000, 14-15). (For more information on this see "point of view/narrator" in "Value, structure and ideology in young aduIt literature" on p. 45).

Feminists have drawn attention to the potential of literature to provide literary experiences for young people in which protagonists have agency (that is, they are represented as having the potential to take action or exert power) (Crew 2000, 13). Crew 63 sees this as a question of "voice", a critical issue in feminist studies particularly wh en considering female adolescence, a time when writers such as Brown and Gilligan (1992,

2-3) consider that girls "afraid to voice their own thoughts and feelings" lose their voice

(Crew 2000,13).

For Crew, narrative discourse analysis provides a methodological approach which can help identifY the voice within a particular text. She informs her analysis by comparing and contrasting traditional and feminist theories of adolescent development and psychoanalytic and sociological feminist theories of the mother-daughter relationship

(Crew 2000, 9). This type of approach allows her to investigate the perspective of the story being told, which inc1udes not just whose voice is heard (mother or daughter), but

"the racial, social, and cultural contexts in which the voices speak", as well as how the power relationships work through the dialogue in the text.

Trites is also interested in relationships, power and ideology in young adult literature. She considers that although the subject of personal growth appears to be the central issue in young adult literature, an integral part of any "growth" is the understanding and experience of differential power relationships.

During adolescence, adolescents must leam their place in the power structure. They must leam to negotiate the many institutions that shape them: school, govemment, religion, identity politics, family ... to balance their power with their parent's power and with the power of other identity figures in their lives. And they must leam what position of power they wield ... because of and despite such biological imperatives su ch as sex and death (Trites 2000, x).

Like Crew, Trites feels that traditional theories have failed to explicate the issues of power and ideology in young adult literature. She is particularly interested in how

"theories that enable us to understand transactions between text, reader and culture" and 64

"theories that de mon strate the relationship between narrative structures and ideologies" can enable us to examine the often contradictory messages present in the texts (Tri tes

2000, x). Her narrative analysis is informed by a variety of theoretical approaches which include psychoanalytic theory, Baktinian theory (also used by McCallum, and discussed below), and an examination of focalization (who narrates), and the subject position of the reader.

McCaIlum's work examines "representations of dialogic conceptions of subjectivity in adolescent and children's fiction using a Baktinian approach to subjectivity, language and narrative" (McCaIlum 1999, 3). Her use of narrative analysis as informed by

Baktin's theory of narrative requires a language of its own, ("addressivity",

"chronotype", "heteroglossia", and "ideologeme", for example) to be used as an analytic tool (Mc Callum 1999,261-264). Her work is full of literary allusions (adult literature and poetry as weIl as children's and young adult literature) and is extremely technical in approach. Essentially, her work is theory driven, literary analysis and as she says herself

1 have often found need to canvas difficult and rather complex ideas in order to find ways to define and articulate the radical diversity in adolescent fiction, in the representations of subjectivity and ideologies of identity, the constructions of implied readers, the narrative techniques, structures and intertextual strategies, and the ideological inscriptions oftexts (Mc Callum 1999,260).

She is particularly interested in how a close reading of certain selected texts demonstrates a level of sophisticated literary construction and deconstructs these to show the elements as examples of her theoretical approach.

AlI three of the writers mentioned above have used narrative discourse analysis, informed by various theoretical approaches to examine specifie issues in young adult literature. 65

Crew, Trites, and McCallum have used narrative discourse analysis, informed by various theoretical approaches, to examine specifie issues in young adult literature. This research will also use a form of narrative discourse analysis based on an approach used by John Stephens (1992) and informed by the the ory ofhegemonic masculinity which has been discussed in detail above. Stephens' approach to narrative discourse analysis is discussed in more detail in the following chapter on Methodology. 66

Chapter 3 Methodology

The methodological approach used in this research is qualitative rather than quantitative. Qualitative research as a general term refers to a whole selection of investigative procedures which share common characteristics. The major differences between qualitative and quantitative research can be clearly se en in the following companson.

Quantitative Qualitative Test hypothesis that the researcher begins Capture and discover meaning once the with researcher becomes immersed in the data Concepts are in the forms of distinct variables Concepts are in the form of themes, motifs, generalizations, taxonomies Measures are systematically created before Measures are created in an ad hoc manner and data collection and are standardized are often specific to the individual setting or researcher Data are in the form of numbers from precise Data are in the form of words from measurement documents, observations, transcripts Theory is largely causal and deductive Theory can be causal or noncausal, and is often inductive Procedures are standard, and replication is Research procedures are particular, and assumed repli cation is very rare Analysis proceeds by using statistics, tables, Analysis proceeds by extracting themes or or ch arts, and discussing how what they show generalizations from evidence and organizing related to hypotheses data to present a coherent consistent picture (Neuman 1997, 329)

In qualitative research there are no statistics to be evaluated; rather "analysis proceeds by extracting theories or generalizations from evidence and organizing data to present a coherent, consistent picture" (Neumann 1997, 329). Researchers who favour, or who are more familiar with the more linear approach of quantitative research may find the more cyclical path of qualitative research suspect, even "disorganized, undefined chaos" (Neumann 1997,331). 67

But the diffuse cyc1ical approach ... can be highly effective for creating a feeling for the whole, for grasping subtle shades of meaning, for pulling together divergent information, and for switching perspectives. It is not an excuse for doing poor-quality research, and it has its own discipline and rigor. It borrows devices from the humanities (e.g. metaphor, analogy, the me, motif ... ) and is oriented toward constructing meaning (Neumann 1997,331).

A cyclical approach consists of making a series of passes through steps, often moving backward and sideways before moving on, and this is exactly how the process of using analytic memos (see the section below on a detailed description of methodology) is used to abstract images of masculinity from the texts being studied. Such an approach implies subjectivity, both in the choice of texts and the images to be studied, as well as the conclusions reached.

One of the advantages of a multi-disciplinary approach is the chance to examine a theory in a number of different applications (sociological, psychological, literary, educational). In the case of hegemonic masculinity this can provide proof of a consistency of conclusions which cQuld be said to provide construct validity. This means there is a community of shared subjectivity as far as defining images of masculinity is concemed, and in investigating both the theoretical application, and the practical research of those su ch as Frank (1990) and Gilbert and Gilbert (1998). Although it does not eliminate the subjectivity of the research, it does provide a framework linked to existing results.

The books selected for this study do not comprise an exhaustive collection of young adult novels for boys, but the list could claim to include sorne of the most popular (peer reviewed), most accessible (in public and schoollibraries), and most recommended (teen- agers, teachers, librarians and reviewers). The growing concem over boys and literacy, 68 and the idea of boys as reluctant readers, has resulted in a proliferation ofreading lists,

from concemed parent organizations (http://kidslikeours.com/books/boy.htm, http://supportingoursons.org), teachers (http://guysread.com), and school and public

libraries (http://www.scotch.vic.l.du.:m/library/about/litpromo/bookboys.htm. http://www.st-charlcs.lib.il.us/low/booksaboutboys.htm) as weil as the publication of at

least one book, Great Books for Boys (Odean 1998).

This study is concemed with the way in which realistic young adult literature represents the teenage boys' constructions of masculinity in their everyday lives, within the framework of an ideology of masculinity, referred to as "hegemonic masculinity" (see the definition of terms below). The books listed in Appendix A were chosen because they shared the following characteristics:

the central character is a teenage boy; the setting of the book is "realistic" (see discussion on young adult literature); the book was written specifically for young adults, i.e., not an adult novel appropriated by them, such as Catcher in the Rye (Salinger 1951); the book had been published between 1967 and 2002; the books inc1uded a variety of cultural backgrounds and came from a number of different countries (see explanation above); the books were accessible to teenage boys; the books were consistently recommended for boys by booksellers, teachers, librarians, and others who are instrumental in constructing the cultural discourse within which boys must operate.

There was a random element to my selection process in the sense that 1 could obviously not choose aIl the books which satisfied the criteria mentioned above. Because

1 saw access, that is, the practical availability of the books for teenage boys, as an important issue, and 1 hoped to choose books that boys were actually reading, the books were initiaIly selected from school and public library lists, and peer reviewed lists. Sorne books were chosen from the shelves of school and public libraries, sorne were chosen 69 from lists which contained brief descriptions of the stories (see p. 68). As might be expected, many of the books have awards, starred reviews and other indications of literary worth.

The aim of this research is to isolate and study the ideological components of images ofmasculinity found in a selection of young adult novels. The first step will be to identify the images through a procedure of matching specific aspects of the practice of masculinity described in the books with images already delineated and discussed in the research of Connell (1993), Gilbert and Gilbert (1998), and Frank (1990). The second step will be to analyze the images using a theoretical approach based on the work of

Stephens 1992. This approach blends linguistic and literary analysis.

The methodological framework for this research requires an explanation of the following:

Step 1

A. The basis for book selection. B. The theoretical factors (i.e. the images of masculinity), to be identified while reading the books.

Step II

A. The nature of the analysis to be made of the images. B. The criteria to be used to achieve the analysis.

1 A. Book selection

The books selected for this study are aIl classified as young adult literature. They have a central character who is male, and who is engaged in constructing his own version of masculinity, sometimes in opposition to, and sometimes in agreement with, the social constraints of his day to day existence, and his personal relationships. 70

The novels from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Australia, South Africa,

Uganda, and New Zealand represent a variety of cultural backgrounds. Many have won awards, aIl of them appear on booklists chosen by teenagers, librarians, or teachers (see

Appendix A).

1 B. Theoretical factors

After studying the theoretical approaches to hegemonic masculinity discussed above, a method for isolating and identifying images of masculinity in the selected books was developed. Following Frank (1990) 1 chose to select a number of "concrete situations" in which to search for representations of masculinity. Frank (1990, xi) chose the following sites: sports, relationships with other men, relationships with women, body image, familial relations, time al one, work, the future. 1 have adapted these somewhat, reordered them, and added sorne sites of my own. 1 will be using body image, sport, other recreational "proving grounds", relationships with men, relationships with women, school, and work.

An adaptation of themes developed by Frank, the problems and concems of being biologically male, competition, the constant struggle for power, violence, and sexuality

(Frank 1990, 79), will be used to cross reference and inform the images of masculinity isolated in the above situations. It is interesting to note that while 1 have based my theoretical approach on earlier studies by Connell (1995) and Frank (1990), both their recent work, Connell (2000), Frank (2000, 2003) and the studies of Gilbert and Gilbert

(1998), Laberge and Albert (1999), and Phoenix and Frosh (2000) continue to emphasise the importance of their theoretical approach. 71

II A. The nature of the analysis

The primary purpose of the analysis will be to estahlish the images of masculinity represented in each book, and identify and isolate the ideological representations encoded in these images and the way in which the male characters construct their own versions of masculinity within the hegemonic framework, as mediated by the construction of the narrative.

II B. The criteria used for analysis

Two linked criteria, linguistic and narratological, will be used.

Linguistic criteria

Stretches of dialogue Power relationships revealed through text

Linguistic analysis

Linguistic analysis will be accompli shed by examining stretch es of language within the text, particularly conversations, and isolating the power relations which exist within the pattern of communication, inc1uding semantics and syntax.

Texts ... encourage inferencing and disc10se significance through features of conversational exchange. Especially important in gui ding reader response are representations of the ways in which power operates in unequal exchanges, and the observation of turn-taking within an exchange (Stephens, 1992, 34).

The way in which a conversational exchange within a text can indicate ideological assumptions and character conflict can he c1early seen in the following extract of The

Machine Gunners by Robert Westall (1975). The central character Chas, is about to face 72 the school bully after intervening to save another boy. Recognizing that ev en if he tries to fight he will effectively be beaten to a pulp, he throws gravel into the bully's eyes and then hits him with his gas mask. The reactions of the adult establishment show quite clearly the extent to which he has transgressed against the favoured masculine tradition.

The group escorts the injured bully to the hospital.

"How did this happenT' [the Sister] said like a High Court Judge. "1 hit him," said Chas. "What with?" "Me gasmask." "Y ou 're a wicked, vicious boy," said the Sister. "1 shall ring up your headmaster personally. You grammar school boys should know better. You might have killed him." "He was bigger than me!" "That's no excuse. British boys fight with their fists!" Chas felt like a cri minaI.

"British boys fight with their fists," said Chas's dad ... He didn't speak to Chas for two whole days, and neither did his mother, ev en through the air raid.

"Britishers do not use weapons, they fight only with their fists," said the headmaster, flexing his cane. "Bend over boy!" It was six of the best and very painful. The class treated him with awe-struck and horrified silence. It was their opinion that Bodser had asked for it, but Chas shouldn't have doneit. "But what do you do if you're small?" asked Chas hopelessly. Nobody answered ... (WestaIl1975, 67-68)

Given that at the time the story was set, the British were in fact fighting the Germans with every weapon they could lay their hands on, it is no wonder that Chas is confused. He is faced with two opposing versions of masculinity, both apparently approved by society at large, but only one of these versions is approved as far as his own behaviour is concerned. 73

Narratological criteria

Story Significance Types of narrative / who tells the story / focalization / subject positions constructed for reader Closure

Narratological analysis

Story

Story is "what certain characters do in a certain place at a certain time" (Stephens

1992, 17), essentially a form of plot recognition acquired by primary reading, that is

"reading for sense."

Significance

Significance concems a deeper relationship with the text; the mechanics of how the narrative is constructed (secondary reading, reading for meaning), not just a recognition of characters and events, but also efforts by the reader to situate these within a cultural context which explicates the theme and illusion within a text. Story and significance are linked together as part of the reader's experience of the discourse of the novel. Ideology is present at both levels. In story

ideology is implicit in the way the story an audience derives from a text exists as an isomorph of events in the actual world; ev en if the story's events are wholly or partly impossible in actuality, narrative sequences and character interrelationships will be shaped according to recognizable forms, and that shaping can itself express ideology in so far as it implies assumptions about the forms of human existence (Stephens 1992, 2).

At the level of significance, ideology is present in the form of theme, moral or other value laden social messages contained within the text. 74

Type of narration, focalization, and subject position ofthe reader.

AIl these aspects are c10sely linked.

The most important concept for children to grasp about literary fictions is always that of narrative point ofview, since this has the function of constructing subject positions and inscribing ideological assumptions. No mode of narration can be devoid of ideology; ideology merely operates in different ways and is inscribed within texts slightly differently ... (Stephens 1992,56, my emphasis).

The three "principal" narrating processes outlined by Stephens are omniscient, first-

person, and focalization.

Omniscient narration can transmit ideology in two ways. The narrator can directly

address the reader ("we share this view, don't we?") and therefore exert overt control; or

in the absence of a narrator, statements within the text that imply common, shared

assumptions between narrator and narratee can have the same effect. Character and

setting can be presented in such a way that social and cultural ideology is implicit in the

shared experience.

First pers on narration can also operate in two ways. The reader either shares the

subject position of the narrator, completely identifying with the narrator's world view,

and is therefore directly implicated in any errors of judgement or representations of

personal prejudice that form the ideological framework of the text; or the unreliability of

the narrator may be confronted and the text used to construct an oppositional world view

demonstrating what is "right" in the sense of expected social behaviour. (The reader si des

with text against the narrator.)

Focalization as a mode of narration refers to the construction of a subject position

for the reader, which is the same as that of a main character within the text. 75

In aligning themselves with a focalizing character, readers match their own sense of selfhood with ideas of self constructed in and by the text, not principally because of the inherent nature of events and characters described, but through the mode through which these are perceived. Thus a crucial textual distinction, broadly put, is between narratives which encourage readers to adopt a stance which is identical with that of either the narrator or the principal focalizer and narratives which incorporate strategies which distance the reader (by sharing for example, a separation between narrator-perception and focalizer­ perception, as wh en it is obvious to readers that a focalizing character is misinterpreting an event or a situation) (Stephens 1992, 68).

This distinction exists as a range of possibilities rather than an either or situation, but the difference is crucially important as regards the type of reading position a reader will develop in relationship to each individual text. Total identification with a focalizer, a strategy of reading frequently encouraged in the classroom means that the reader suspends critical faculties and assumes a subject position within the text (Stephens 1992,

68). The major problem with this approach is that although it appears that readers are in control of the text in fact they are going to be particularly vulnerable to any

"unarticulated or implicit ideologies". The subject position of a reader (to text) is directly related to the level of critical reading that will take place, and the possible effect of the ideological content of a particular novel.

In the past young adult novels were frequently written in the first person, narrated by a teenager, an attempt to provide the reader with a sympathetic focalizer. As mentioned above there has been a considerable change in narrative technique and therefore in subject positions open to the reader of young adult literature. The way in which a particular text constructs the subject position of the reader, will be an important aspect of this analysis. Stephens identifies a number of strategies which can be present in narration which provide the reader with a choice of subject positions. These include 76

Shifts in focalizer Focalizers who are not "nice people" Multi stranded narration (conflicting forms of significance) Intertextual allusiveness (more than one interpretative frame) Metafictional playfulness (wh en the text draws attention to it own status as fiction) Overtly inscribed indeterminacies (this requires the reader to identify his own version of reality but then denies that reality any validity) (Stephens 1992, 70).

The last two strategies of narration are not common in young adult literature.

\ Closure

Closure refers to the final resolution of a narrative and has always been regarded as particularly important in literature for children and young people. The ending of a story was supposed to reaffirm important societal values. Good wins, evilloses and heroes and heroines get their just rewards. The "right" order of the world is preserved and will continue. Realistic young adult literature has been seen as controversial because unlike most of children's literature, authors often leave the narrative open ended, or ev en finish on a pessimistic note. Su ch lack of suitable closure was seen as an abdication of responsibility on the part of the author. Writing about Robert Cormier, Anne Scott

McLeod commented that his novels violated "the unwritten rule that fiction for the young, however sternly realistic the narrative material, must offer sorne portion of hope, must end at least with sorne affirmative message" (McLeod 1994,189).

First published in 1974, Robert Cormier' s The Chocolate War remains one of the most controversial books written for young adults. (H is number four on the ALA list of the most challenged books of 1990-99.) Although there is a certain amount ofviolcncc in the narrative, it is the clearly stated ideological message in the final scene, a reaffirmation of a point of view present throughout the narrative, that troubles many adults (who see 77 themselves as gatekeepers protecting innocence). At the end of the story, Jerry who has angered the Vigils, a gang ofboys who effectively mn his school with the tacit support of the acting headmaster, Brother Leon, becomes involved in an unofficial boxing match and is almost beaten to death.

Jerry felt broken ... pain had become the nature of his existence but this other thing weighed on him, a terrible burden ... the knowledge ... what he had discovered ... "It'll be ail right Jerry." No it won't. He recognized Goober's voice and it was important to share the discovery ... he had to tell Goober to play bail, to play football, to mn, to make the team, to sell the chocolates, to sell whatever they wanted you to seH, to do whatever they wanted you to do ... They tell you to do your thing but they don't mean it. They don't want you to do your thing, not unless it happens to be their thing too. It's a laugh, Goober. It's a fake. Don't disturb the universe, Goober, no matter what the posters say ... Just remember what 1 told you. It's important, otherwise they murder you (Cormier 1974, 187).

This novel has been constantly criticized because of the darkness of its ending, the lack of hope, but the real problem is that Jerry loses and in doing so negates part of the

American Dream.

The lone dissent has not only failed, it is repudiated. The American Adam is brought low; Huck Finn tums Jim over to the slave-catchers, Gary Cooper lies in his own blood in the street at high noon ... Cormier has abandoned an enduring American myth (MacLeod 1994, 192).

The examination of closure, is of key importance when looking at ideology in narratives because "aesthetic completeness and the sense of appropriate story ending spill over into affirmations of the discourse's thematic conclusions" (Stephens 1992, 44), and the ideological concems of the author are often at their most exposed. 78

Specifie procedures: data collection and treatment

Tbe metbod used to organize tbe data collected from reading tbe texts is one often used by antbropologists and sociologists and is similar to tbe metbod used by Cbristian-

Smitb (1990) and Bereska (1999). Tbis is a system of coding, used witb notes often referred to as analytic memos (Neumann 1997, 421-427); (Miles and Huberman 1994,

55-75).

Qualitative researchers use concept formation as "an integral part of data analysis".

A qualitative researcher analyzes data by organizing it into categories on the basis of themes, concepts, or similar features ... sbe develops new concepts, formulates conceptual definitions, and examines tbe relationship among concepts. Eventually ... sbe links concepts to eacb otber in terms of a sequence ... or as sets of similar categories tbat ... she interweaves into theoretical statements (Neuman 1997, 421).

Coding is a method of organizing data. A variety of researcbers bave described its use (Strauss 1987, Miles and Huberman 1994, Bogdan and Biklen 1992). 1 bave avoided using any one particular tbeory but have used general comments on forms of organization to devise my own procedure. 1 bave used three levels of coding. First, each book is read and analyzed under tbe following beadings (derived from Stepbens 1992) witbin a framework of possible issues reflecting images of masculinity. (See tbe list outlined ab ove under "Tbeoretical factors".)

Story Signifie an ce Narrative point ofview Closure Stretch es of language Statements of ideology

The following pages sbow an example of bow this works witb a specifie text. First Level of Coding - an example 79

Author Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds

Title The Year of the Gopher

Imprint New York: Dell, 1987.

Country of origin United States

Story It is George Richards' senior year at high school. His parents have high expectations ofhim going to the "right" college. Both his father and grandfather graduated from Harvard. But George has other ideas, and takes a series if odd jobs as a "gopher" while trying to work out what he wants to do, as his father withdraws financial support because he is not going to college.

Significance The problems of adolescence compounded by parental expectations and lack of understanding. Leaming about self through friendships. Coming to terms with homosexuality offriend Dave's father, recognition ofrelationship with girlfriend as purely sexual leads to consideration of possibilities of "using people" and the moral implications of this. Recognition of the use of violence as a solution (episode offrightening sister's abusive ex boyfriend by George and friends pretending to be Hell's Angels) Near tragedy offriend's drowning after drinking party, dangers of alcohol and the reality of responsibility and guilt. Graduai recognition oflimitations ofparent's lives. Growth in understanding of the positions of others. Less self-centredness.

Narrative point ofview F irst person

Closure George makes a decision about what he wants to be, parents are acceptant if not enthusiastic. George wins.

Stretches of language/text Beneath aIl that free choice 1 was supposed to have was the old railroad. The engine was fired up and the seat was reserved but it didn't matter where 1 wanted to get offbecause the train wasn't stopping till the end of the line, and it was Dad who bought my ticket". (13)

You don 't care about me, you only care about my education, you only care how it makes you look. (73)

Dad's comment - The wondering about what the next disappointment would be. It was his own disappointment he was talking about, not mine or Ollie's, as though what we were feeling 80

didn't matter. They wanted us to be something we weren't, something that wou Id make them really proud ofus. Success by their own definition. (48)

"She's asking for it you know," Dave Hahn told me at lunch. "Sorne girls get like that. They need it so bad they practica11y beg." "She's just kidding," 1 said. "You don't get there somebody else will." (66)

Except it wasn't Maureen 1 was thinking about; it was sex. (96) And because that was really about a11 1 was interested in with Maureen, 1 knew l' d have to break it off. (99)

Crack. Crunch. 1 had lined up my parent's values - the wise and the foolish, the good and the ridiculous - and was stomping on them one by one. The more important a rule was to them, the less important it became to me. 1 didn't enjoy hurting them, it wasn't that, but 1 had a statement to make. And 1 didn't know how else to do it... (88)

Then 1 realized that Mr Hatin was a professional photographer. He was a man with a job, a firm, a house, a son ... He wasn 't just a homosexual. Funny about labels. (83)

Statements of ideology 1 thought about Dave that week - thought about a11 the girls he'd made it with, probably to show he wasn't gay. Then 1 got to thinking about his father wanting people to accept him like he was, about Ollie wanting to be a forest ranger ... about me not wanting to go to Harvard, about mom wishing she could get promoted and still stay in the classroom - a teacher. Seemed like all oflife's problems boiled down to people just wanting to be - to be what was best for them. And 1 wondered why it was so difficult, anyway. (107)

Life's too short to spend it doing something 1 don't like. (147)

Each text is read and notes are made under the headings used above. The second level ofcoding takes place as 1 search across texts for similar themes or concepts. In front of me 1 keep a li st of the areas in which issues of masculinity might be expected to surface, and as 1 come across them 1 make a note under the specifie heading detailing the image represented, and noting the text. 1 also make notes on emerging issues not covered in headings used to date, and any patterns which appear to be developing. This type of note-taking is referred to as "analytic memo writing".

"The analytic memo forges a link between the con crete data or raw evidence and more abstract, theoretical thinking ... It con tains a 81

researcher's reflections and thinking about the data and the coding. The researcher adds to the memo and uses it as ... she passes through the data with each type of coding. The memos form the basis for analyzing data in the research report (Neuman 1997,425).

Below is an example of an analytic memo relating different texts under a specifie heading.

Second Level of Coding - an example

Experience of violence Used as a joke in The Year of the Gopher. As an answer to violence that had taken place towards Jeri, Georges sister. Violence as a solution?

Violence as a reaction to rage and frustration. Stan in Men ofStone. Consequences. Political violence (Russia) Violence from a bully to be answered by violence. Ben in Men ofStone. Note issue of homophobia (bully)

Violence as accepted behaviour in Sport spills over in to personallife, violent reaction to finding out best friend is gay, as sault on girl friend in Bad Boy. Homophobia again.

Group violence, bullying as a test ofbravery in Josh.

Violence as a form of cultural pride in Shadow like a Leopard, (machismo), eut the other before he cuts you.

Violence in sport and as a test of individuality in The Chocolate War

Violence within the family, as an explanation of social alienation in Kit 's Wilderness

Violence, bullying, terrorist activity. Recognition that violence/super hero stuff is not an answer to aggression in The Proving Ground

Verbal cruelty (does this count as a form of violence?), certainly results in violent behaviour (rage and frustration) in Dodger

Violence in the family (see Kit's Wilderness as weIl, above) Attitude of other boys to Billy being beaten by his father. Billy's attitude. In Bull catcher.

Violence and bullying as a reaction to perceived lack ofbravery (Border's father was a draft dodger) in Home Town

Violence as a personal code (toughness, stand by your friends) guns, consequences, contrasted with personal bravery rather than heroics and bluster in Shark Bait 82

The third level of co ding takes place wh en analytic memos are examined for concepts and themes that relate to the issues of masculinity discussed above, particularly conflict between an accepted social image and personal inclination or practice (being good at sport, winning, justifies any form of antisocial behaviour as in Tangerine and Bad

Boy for example). The information from these levels of analysis, will then be examined to de termine whether the issues described in the selected novels do in fact show characters dealing with the same variety of choices, and dealing with a day to day conflict between the hegemonic view and their own personal constructions ofmasculinity.

Books included in the thesis

The books examined in this way are listed below, grouped by country, III chronological order. Full publication data is given in Appendix A.

Australia:

Thiele, Colin. (1969). Blue Fin. Couper, J.M. (1973). Lookingfor a Wave. Southhall, Ivan. (1971). Josh. Spence, Eleanor. (1977). A Candlefor St Antony. French, Simon. (1981). Cannily, cannily. Wilmott, Frank. (1983). Breaking Up. Aldridge, James. (1987). The True Story ofSpi! McPhee. Wheatley, Nadia. (1987). The Blooding. Clarke, Judith. (1988). The Heroic life ofAl Capsella. Gleeson, Libby. (1990). Dodger. Harlen, Jonathan. (1992). The Lion and the Lamb. Crew, Garry. (1993). Angel's Gate. Pausacker, Jenny. (1994). Mr Enigmatic. Nilsson, Eleanor. (1995). Graffiti Dog. 83

Herrick, Steven. (1996). Love, Ghosts and Nose Hair. Moloney, James. (1996). A Bridge to Wiseman 's Cove. Monk,Scott. (1996). Raw. Zurbo, Matt. (1997). Idiot Pride. Gwynne, Phillip. (1998). Deadly Unna. Masson, Sophie. (1998). The Tiger. Parry, Glyn. (1998). Sadboys. Earls, Nick. (1999). 48 Shades ofBrown. Hartnett, Sonya. (1999). Stripes ofthe Sidestep Wolf. Zusak, Marko. (2000). Fighting Reuben Wolf.

Canada

MacKenzie, Jean. (1971). River ofStars. Major, Kevin. (1978). Hold Fast. Cameron, Sil ver Donald. (1982). The Bai/chopper. Hughes, Monica. (1982). Hunter in the Dark. Collura, Mary-Ellen Lang. (1984). Winners. Halvorson, Marilyn. (1984). Nobody said if would be easy. Doyle, Brian. (1988). Easy Avenue. Bradford, Karleen. (1989). Windward Island. Kropp, Paul. (1989). The Rock. Meredith, Don. (1989). Dog Runner. Weiler, Diana. (1989). Bad Boy. Freedman, Jim. (1991). One Hand Clapping. MacIntyre, R.P. (1991). Yuletide Blues. Fairbridge, Lynne. (1992). ln Such a Place. Morck, Irene. (1992). Between Brothers. Wilson, Budge. (1992). Oliver's Wars. Bly, David. (1993). The McJntyre Liar. Boyd, David. (1993). Lookingfor a Hero. Choyee, Leslie. (1993). Good Idea Gone Bad. Stinson, Kathy. (1993). Fishhouse Secrets. Wynn Jones, Tim. (1995). The Maestro. Katz, Welwyn Winton. (1996). Out ofthe Dark. Trembath, Don. (1996). The Tuesday Café. Bell, William. (1997). Crabbe. Woodbury, Mary. (1998). Brad's Universe. Book, Rick. (1999). Necking with Louise. Friesen, Gayle. (2000). Men ofStone. 84

New Zealand

Mahy, Margaret. (1992). Underrunners.

South Africa

Gordon, Sheila. (1987). Waitingfor the Rain. Geraghty, Paul. (1988). Pig.

Uganda

Nagenda, Musa. (1971). Dogs ofFear.

United Kingdom

Sherry, Sylvia. (1969). A Pair ofJesus Boots. Peyton, K.M. (1970). Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer. Mark, Jan. (1976). Thunder and Lightnings. Westall, Robert. (1977). The Machine Gunners. Need1e, Jan. (1978). My Mate Shofiq. Chambers, Aidan. (1982). Dance on My Grave. Ure, Jean. (1985). What ifthey saw me now? (Originally published 1982 as A Proper Little Nooryeff) Townsend, John Rowe. (1987). Downstream. Doherty, Berlie. (1991). Dear Nobody. Fine, Anne. (1992). Flour Babies. Swindells, Robert. (1993). Stone Cold. Leeson,Robert. (1996). Red, White and Blue. A1mond, David. (1999). Kit's Wilderness. Jarman, Julie. (1999). Hangman. Ashley, Bernard. (2001). Little Soldier. Clarke, Julia. (2001). Summertime Blues. Singer,Nicky. (2002). Feather Boy. Burgess, Melvin. (2003). Doing it.

United States

Wojciechowska, Maia. (1964). Shadow ofa Bull. Hinton, S.E. (1967). The Outsiders. Lipsyte, Robert. (1967). The Contender. Terris, Susan. (1972). The Drowning Boy. Childress, Alice. (1973). A Hero ain 't nothin' but a sandwich. Cormier, Robert. (1974). The Chocolate War. 85

Fritzhand, James. (1975) Life is a Lonely Place. LeGuin, Ursula K. (1976). Very Far Away from Anywhere Else. Kerr, M.E. (1977). 1 'Il love you when you 're more like me. Peck, Richard. (1978). Father Figure. Levoy, Myron. (1981). A Shadow like a Leopard. Brooks, Bruce. (1984). The Moves Make the Man. Voigt, Cynthia. (1985). The Runner. Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. (1987). The Year ofthe Gopher. Paulsen, Garry. (1987). Hatchet. Covington, Dennis. (1991). Lizard. Alphin, Elaine Marie. (1992). The Proving Ground. Marino, Jan. (1992). Like Some Kind ofHero. Deuker, Carl. (1993). Heart ofa Champion. Crutcher, Chris. (1993). Staying Fatfor Sarah Byrnes. Murrow, Liza Ketchum. (1993). Twelve Days in August. Mazer, Norma Fox. (1994). Out ofControl. Quadley, Marsha. (1995). Hometown. Thomas, Rob. (1996). Rats Saw God. Bloor, Edward (1997). Tangerine. Carter, Alden. (1997). Bull Catcher. Rottman, S.L. (1997). Hero. Salisbury, Graham. (1997). Sharkbait. Griffin, Adele. (2001). Dive. Philbrick, Rodman. (2001). Freak the Mighty. 86

Chapter 4 Images of Masculinity - Fiction and Reality - Description and Discussion

This chapter examines and discusses the images of masculinity isolated in the selected texts. The following "concrete situations" (adapted from Frank 1990, x) will be used to isolate images:

A. Body image B. Sport C. Other recreational "proving grounds" D. Relationships with men E. Relationships with women F. School G. Work

An adaptation of themes developed by Frank (1990, 79), will be used to cross-reference

and inform the images of masculinity isolated in the above situations. These themes are:

1. Being Male - The problems, concems and privileges of being biologically male. 2. Competition - Authority, domination, competition: the constant struggle for power. 3. Violence 4. Sexuality

The categories proposed above are not necessarily discrete, they overlap and

intersect. For example, body image is of key importance in how a boy sees and defines

his own masculinity or lack of it. But this is not just a simple matter of appearance

(height, muscular strength, etc.); it permeates every aspect of his life. N onetheless, this

gives the following structure for the examination of images of masculinity in this chapter. 87

A Body Image 88 A 1. Body Image: Being Male 89 A2. Body Image: Competition 92 A3. Body Image: Violence 94 A4. Body Image: Sexuality 95 B Sport 100 BI. Sport: Being Male 100 B2. Sport: Competition 104 B3. Sport: Violence 104 B4. Sport: Sexuality 107 C Other Recreational Proving Grounds 109 Cl. Other Recreational Proving Grounds: Being Male 113 C2. Other Recreational Proving Grounds: Competition 114 C3. Other Recreational Proving Grounds: Violence 117 C4. Other Recreational Proving Grounds: Sexuality 120 D Relationships - Men 122 Dl. Relationships - Men: Being Male 122 D2. Relationships - Men: Competition 132 D3. Relationships - Men: Violence 135 D4. Relationships - Men: Sexuality 139 E Relationships - Women 140 El. Relationships - Women: Being Male 140 E2. Relationships - Women: Competition 143 E3. Relationships - Women: Violence 145 E4. Relationships - Women: Sexuality 146 F School 149 FI. School: Being Male 150 F2. School: Competition 153 F3. School: Violence 157 F4. School: Sexuality 162 G Work 166 G 1. Work: Being Male 166 G2. Work: Competition 171 G3. Work: Violence 172 G4. Work: Sexuality 173 Images of masculinity - Analysis and emerging issues 173 Class and culture 176 Cultural communities 177 88

A. Body Image

Writing in Gender and Power (1987) Robert ConneIl, largely responsible for the development of the theory ofhegemonic masculinity, writes

The physical sense of maleness is not a simple thing. It involves size and shape, habits of posture and movement, particular physical skills and the lack ofthese, the image of one's body, the way it is presented to other people and the way they respond to it, the way it operates at work and in sexual relations ... The physical sense of maleness grows through a personal history of social practice, a life-history-in-society (Connell 1987, 84; my emphasis).

In fact, body image is of central importance in an adolescent boy's life. His idea of his own physical appearance and how it compares with his notion of the physical ideal, and the expectations of others, colours every area of his life including relationships with other boys, success with girls and success at school, particularly in the field of sports.

Until recently, girls were seen to be more at risk for serious neuroses tied to their physical appearance, but recent media articles and publications have begun drawing attention to the fact that boys too are at risk.

Unrealistic overlymuscular male body ideals put boys at risk for negative body images, unhealthy eating and exercise habits, and low self-esteem (Schab 2004, 1).

A recent publication, The Adonis Complex (Pope et al. 2000), discusses how obsession with body image has led sorne boys into dangerous dieting and exercise practices, plus steroid and dietary supplement abuse. Pope has identified a syndrome called "Body Dysmorphic Disorder, an obsession with min or body flaws that can resuIt in poor esteem and depression" (Schab 2004, 1).

ln the books selected for this study, concem over body image ranges from general comments by teenage narra tors about unprepossessing body image (compared with a taIl, 89 muscular, ideal image), to those books where extremes of appearance are central to the plot, and to characters who have serious obsessions about their bodies, and act accordingly.

Al. Body Image: Being Male

Being biologically male carnes with it a variety of expectations, ideals and responsibilities for adolescent boys. One of the common literary conventions of novels written for adolescents is to have a teenage voice as the narrator. Frequently these narrators start off by describing themselves, usually critically, and often in comparison with an image that they feel they don't measure up to (frequently exemplified by another character in the novel). Nicky Singer provides a classic example in Feather Boy:

Norbert is the class squit. He's thin and gangly, his arms and legs like white string loosely knotted at the elbows and knees. His head is too big for his body and, where other people have hair, he has this yellow, fluffy duck's down. His eyes are blue, though it's difficult to see that through the thick glass of his spectacles ... His real name isn't Norbert, it's Robert Nobel ... But, since Niker arrived in school, it's been Norbert. Norbert No-Bel. Norbert No-Bells-At-All. Norbert No-Brain. Norbert No-Bottle. 1 don't suppose Johnny Niker, who has curly dark hair, green eyes and a fluid, athletic body, has ever imagined what it would be like to look out at the world through Norbert No-BottIe's spectacles. But 1 have. Because 1 am Norbert No-Bottle (Singer 2002, l3-14).

Initially, at least, Robert accepts Johnny's image of him as a no-hoper, "the class squit" because of his own unprepossessing physical appearance. He gives into the notion that

Johnny looks like the masculine ideal and he, Robert, doesn't. Poor eyesight (wearing glasses) is an unacceptable form of physical weakness usually equated with being weak, weedy and cowardly, hence the cruel nickname Norbert No-Bottle ("Bottle" being colloquial slang for courage; Robert is also seen as being a coward). 90

ln Margaret Mahy's Underrunners (1992) the central character, Tristan, is also small and wears glass es, and he remarks

Of course, people expected boys who were small and thin to be slightly cowardly, but being small really meant that you had to try harder (Mahy 1992, 6).

For the boys in the novels, as far as the boys in Blye Frank's study, being biologically male, being successfully biologically male, implies being tall (but not too taIl!) having the right kind ofhair and skin and a well-coordinated muscular body. Ifyou have these qualities, so the belief goes, then you have everything. Mike, one of the high school boys in Blye Frank's study (Frank 1990), says

The ultimate for a man is to be big, big. Big men are it. The big body builder body is the pinnacle, it's the gladiator, it's the warrior (Frank 1990, 144).

This is the image to be aimed for, but the teenage narrators of the novel often see it as out ofreach.

1 told you ours was a big family. WeIl l'm not. l'm vertically challenged, horizontally challenged, diagonally challenged, you name it. 1 have this weight problem, 1 don't weigh enough (Leeson 1996, 10).

This is Gawain speaking, the central character in Red, White, and Blue (Leeson 1996).

Everyone el se in his family is taIl, including his mother and brother. His is a military family, aIl the men traditionally go into the army and he is very conscious of his lack of slze.

In Rats Saw God (Thomas 1996) Steve voices the concern of many teenagc boys

l've hardly "filled out", as adults say of ... boys whose arms, legs, and torso gain definition and sprout hair. Au contraire ... sleek, lean, rangy aIl describe this physique, that is if you're kind. Skinny, bony, scrawny, gawky will work ifyou're not (Thomas 1996,8). 91

Well meaning parents may make comments on slimness, leanness and use other similes, but the boys know it for what it is, outright skinniness and a depressing lack of muscle.

ln 48 Shades ofBrown (Earls 1999) the narrator says

When l'm in the real world, the trait my mother caUs slimness is called skinny, weedy, whatever ... So 1 have the weed-form body and 1 combine it with nondescript brown hair that always waves where 1 don't want it to ... (Earls 1999,50).

But merely being tall isn't the answer: one must be the right height, for height and size can become problems, rather than advantages, if they are outside the norm. In Judith

Clarke's The Heroic Life of Al Capsella (1990), Al muses on the problem of one of his close friends

James has a gloomy face ... He's grown five inches in the last two months, and he' s only fourteen. He' s just over five eleven, and though all ofus want to be taU we don't really want to be taU so soon. There are years more for James to grow; if he keeps on going at the same rate, he could be eight feet high ... (Clarke 1990, 38).

For Carl in A Bridge to Wiseman 's Cove (Moloney, 1996), his ungainly shape is just one more reason for his mother's rejection and his own feelings of inadequacy.

Carl has grown to be a great lump of a kid nearly six feet taU on his fourteenth birthday and square, like a box on stumpy legs ... From the shoulders down, the sides of his torso fell straight, so there was no separate chest or stomach, no waist or buttocks, just flesh. It was difficult to find school shirts to fit him and salesmen in the menswear would stand ... before hi m, despairing. He became so used to the image in the mirror, of a stomach bulging through the line of buttons, that he habitually held his hands over his middle as camouflage (Moloney 1996, 5).

Carl feels he is ugly and therefore unloveable. For the central characters in the novels, as for the boys in Frank's study, enjoyment of the social privilege of being male is directly 92 tied into physical appearance. In fiction as in reality, having the right appearance at the right time is vital.

A2. Body Image: Competition

Body image is not just about how you look but also about how you compare to others, specifically fathers, brothers, teammates and friends. Being male is about competing physically whether it be the kind of scuffling, elbowing and jockeying for position that goes on in the school corridor, or the more organized competitiveness of

sport (which will be discussed in the next section). Competition running at this level is often about competing against yourself, pushing yourself physically, developing stamina, lifting weights, working out. The boys in Blye Frank's study (1990) talk about

competing with each other and against themselves. Like the fictional boys in the books

described below, they go to endless trouble to improve their physical appearance. Jim

says:

1 spend about two and a half hours a day lifting weights to make myself look better, improve my body and my self-image ... 1 feel better wh en l'm tuned up ... Body image and the way you look is very important ... (Frank 1990, 145)

Brig, in Out of Control (Mazer 1993) is determined to the point of obsession to

change his appearance.

Brig hangs from the doorframe: he's trying to lengthen himself, stretch himself taller. An on-going project (Mazer 1993, 45). He flings himself on the floor and begins doing pushups. " ... five ... six ... seven." Up and down he goes like a machine ... Brig gets to 130 and falls flat. Then he jumps up and stands in front of Rollo. "What do you think? ... 1'11 tell you something, Rollo, l'm not going through life this size. This is not acceptable. Shorter than Candy, shorter than you, shorter than my father, shorter th an my goddamn 93

brother. 1 might as weIl go into a circus and be a freak." (Mazer 1993, 49)

In Bad Boy (Wieler 1992), AJ. Brandiosa is determined to make it onto the hockey team; feeling he lacks stamina, he starts using weights.

When you liked your body, AJ. thought, you weren't really aware of it. When you didn't like it, you couldn't think of anything else. Every bulge was like a balloon. You spent your waking life trying to hide it ... (Wieler 1992, 40).

Proud ofhis new physique, AJ. finds pleasure in observing himself in the mirror.

He didn't kid himself into thinking he wanted to be a body builder ... His new strength and stamina had accompli shed what he wanted. He was on the Cyclones, marginal or not. That was aIl the body he needed (Wieler 1992, 40).

In The Runner (Voigt 1994) Bullet Tilleman pushes his body to extremes as he

runs.

He ran because it was what he did, what he was. He didn't run to win races, or to beat anybody. He ran because his body was built for it. He ran for himself. Simple as that. (Voigt 1994, 124)

Bullet is not so much interested in beating others as he is in beating himself. He pushes

himself to extremes of physical effort because this is one area of his life he feels he can

control. His father is bitter and controlling, and his sister and brother have long ago left

home. The only outlet he has for his anger and frustration is the control he has over his

own body.

For sorne characters, bodily strength and body image bec orne an arena for forcing

trials of strength or confrontation. In Looking for a Hero (Boyd 1993) Christian, not

content to push himself, also forces his younger brother to work out with his weights, and 94 almost gets him badly hurt. For Christian, bodily strength is a crucial indicator of masculinity and he is even willing to risk his younger brother's life to test his own

strength, as when he hangs Nicholas suspended from a bridge, relying solely on the

strength ofhis arms to prevent him from falling to his death (Boyd 1993, 15).

As mentioned above, the themes used to inform the images are not separate or c1ear

cut. Being male is about competition and competition often brings with it violence.

A3. Body Image: Violence

Violence can have a direct relationship to body image. Small, weedy types get

pushed around and bullied, large beefy types get challenged because of their size. The

boys in Blye Frank's study (1990) discussed the problems of size and its relationship to

bullying and violence. Derrick says:

l've been called "squirt" for years because of how short 1 am. The basketball te am alwaY8 used to pick me up and t088 me around (Frank 1990, 134).

ln Out of Control (Mazer 1993) Rollo describes himself

l'm a big guy ... Bigger than everyone from kindergarten on. l'm buiIt wide, broad in the beam. l've got big arms, big legs, big bones, big hands, big feet. Everything's big except my mouth. l've got a little mouth, like a girl's. 1 don't like that (Mazer 1993,4).

Large size brings specific expectations and Rollo finds these difficult to live with.

He talks about the fact that because he was so big, everyone wanted him on their team,

and the boys on the team that didn't get him would run into him on purpose and hit him

as hard as they could. 95

Every guy wanted to be the one to knock me over. They' d say "You love it, don't you Rollo?" And l'd say "Yeah!" But it scared me. It scared me when guys screamed and got this look on their face, excited, sort of like dogs ... (Mazer 1993,4)

The reality of Rollo's experience is described by one of the informants in Blye

Frank's study (1990). Danny says:

WeIl, ifthey know you're big, they want to prove that they can best a big person, like in sports you find that people are stronger, more physical, bigger, so they think, "1 can beat you, that means that l'm just as good as you" (Frank 1990, 143).

Although he is regarded as one of the stars of the football team by the boys, Rollo doesn't enjoy this status. His coach complains that he has no team spirit and Rollo himself doesn't really enjoy playing football. He plays because he is expected to because of his physical size. Rollo is essentially a follower, he knows that he feels uncomfortable about the sometimes violent way people react to his size, but it is not until his reluctance to think for himself gets him involved in violence towards a girl, that he begins to confront both the problems and the responsibility of his sex and size.

A4. Body Image: Sexuality

Body image is also seen as a key indicator of sexual attractiveness. The real boys in Blye Frank's study (1990), like the fictional boys described below, are convinced that

"women like the masculine type", that is, the well-built body (Frank 1990, 141). For example, A.l. Brandiosa (Bad Boy, Wieler 1992) doesn't just take up weight lifting to get into the hockey team. Like many teenage boys, AJ. subscribes to the notion that men 96 should be strong, weIl muscled and good at sport, and - it foIlows, then they will be attractive to women (as weIl as envied by less fortunate men). A.J. just wanted to develop enough muscle so that he could feel proud of himself, and attractive to girls. AIl the body he needed was

One 1 can put a T-shirt on, ... One 1 can stand to see wh en l'm coming out of the shower. Just one that somebody could put their arms around and touch, and not laugh (Wieler 1992, 40)

For Ted, in Like Sorne Kind ofHero (Marino 1992) becoming a life guard is what is going to simultaneously change his physique, and impress the boys and attract the girls.

1 was going to do this myself. 1 was going to become the best swimmer in Bayview. Then l'd pass the Red Cross course and become the best lifeguard ever. The girls would fall at my feet and Denson would tum green with envy ... And me. 1 could just see me strutting across the beach, making my way through the crowd, wearing my official red shorts with the crest that tells it aIl: OFFICIAL LIFEGUARD. My chest oiled to show off the muscles ... 1 climb up to my official tower .. , a million girls flutter below me. Giggling. Waving ... (Marino 1992,27)

This is the fantasy: if 1 look better physically, taller, stronger, 1 will be more attractive to women, 1 will be envied by other men, 1 won't be bullied, my life will be better. Most of the boys in the Frank study (1990) subscribe to this simplistic ideal:

the boys who see themselves as large, well-muscled and strong, are as convinced of their superior attractiveness as those boys who envy them (Frank 1990,147).

The majority of the characters mentioned above begin their stories describing how their body image is adversely affecting their lives. Part of the growth process that takes place in most of the novels is the recognition that other aspects of life just may have more importance th an a concem with body image. Image remains important, but other 97 considerations, fri,endship, love, death, add other dimensions to the life of the protagonists.

Although a convention of the teenage novel with a male central character is to describe first his physical failings and then get on with the narrative, there are sorne that use this convention differently. Sorne characters have come to terrns with their appearance and seem to be able to move past this preoccupation. Owen in Ursula

LeGuin's Very Far Away from Anywhere Else (1976) says

1 am still fairly short for my age - 5'1". 1 guess 1 will be short for my age wh en l'm forty-five, so what's the difference? It bothered me a lot when 1 was twelve or thirteen, but 1 was much shorter then compared to other kids, a genuine shrimp. At fifteen 1 grew six inch es in eight months and felt really awful while 1 was doing it ... but when it was over 1 was such a giant compared to what 1 had been that 1 never could really regret not going on any higher (LeGuin 1972,4).

For some characters, their body image, although a negative one, has become a central feature of their life. This is the case in Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (Crutcher

1993). Eric is huge, in fact his nickname is Moby, particularly apt because he is also a sWlmmer. Although he is sensitive about his size, in an interesting plot twist, he deterrnines to stay as fat as possible as a gesture of support and friendship for his friend

Sarah Bymes, who has a terribly disfigured face as a result of being badly bumt as a small chi Id. Eric admires Sarah's apparent strength.

1 spent years being embarassed because 1 was fat and clumsy and afraid. 1 wanted to be tough like Sarah Bymes, to stand straight and tall, oblivious to my gut eclipsing my belt buckle and say "Up Yours!" (Crutcher 1993, 50)

As a result of his swimming ability, Eric begins to develop a more acceptable physique, and a social life, and both he and Sarah have to find a way of adapting to the 98 loss of their "outcast status" which had become a comfortable excuse for not facing up to other issues in their lives.

In Freak the Mighty (Philbrick 2001) physical appearance clearly defines both the main characters. Max is large, slow and clumsy, Kevin suffers from a congenital condition where his internaI organs, particularly his heart, keep developing, but his physical body remains weak and small. Max knows that people think his slowness is actually retardation, he often refers to himself as not having a brain. Kevin knows he is on borrowed time, together however, they become Freak the Mighty, a single persona, and develop a friendship that enriches their lives.

ln Lizard (Covington 1991) Lucius Sims is perhaps the most unusual character of all the boys featured in the selected novels. ln his case body image affects the judgement of the people who see him to the extent that he has actually been put in a special school for retarded boys.

My name is Lucius Sims ... l'm smarter than 1 look. Nobody ever proved that 1 was retarded ... but if you was to see me, l'm afraid you wouldn 't like me much ... my eyes are more on the sides of my head than most people's ... People just think 1 can's see good because my eyes look in different directions. They also think because my nose lays down on one si de that 1 can 't breath right (Covington 1991, 2-3).

Lucius however has a unique take on his world.

1 mean, 1 know 1 am different. And it worries me sorne ... 1 also know that the way 1 look is not the reason 1 am different. It is only the outward sign. ln perhaps the most picaresque novel in the selection, Lucius discovers that outward appearance is only the beginning ofwhat de fines people's individuality. 99

Body image is central to the ways in which the characters in the chosen texts define themselves. They are aIl aware of the images their society favours, the hegemonic ideal,

and they aIl have their own dreams and anxieties. In The Heroic Life of Al Capsella

(Clarke 1990) Al voices the fears and anxieties suffered by aIl teenage boys.

Being fourteen is scary. It's like being in a fairytale; you never know what you'Il find in the mirror when you wake up in the moming; not just pimples or a hole in your front teeth, but something different and strange, like your no se growing big or your eyes getting small, things that can't change back again, so you know you're going to look like that for the rest of your life (Clarke 1990, 34).

And in Necking with Louise (Book 1999) Eric speaks for all teenage boys who long

to be special, different, a hero.

1 was just a big farm boy, nothing special to look at. 1 wanted to be more like James Dean, or Elvis Presley - or a Beatle even. Someone who could reaIly make the moms and dads worry. 1 guess when 1 stop and think about it, what 1 really wanted to be was dangerous (Book 1999, 14).

Body image is not just about what you look like, but also about who you think you

are, as the characters discussed above demonstrate. Perhaps one of the most interesting

characteristics of the majority of books included in this study is that while the central

character usuaIly considers himself sadly lacking wh en compared with the hegemonic

ideal discussed above, many of the novels do include a secondary character who does

initiaIly appear to resemble this ideal. However in an interesting twist, these characters

are often shown to be deeply flawed. For example, Christian in Looking for a Hero

(Boyd 1993) turns out ta be a drug addict, the idolised jack brother in Life is a Lonely

Place (Fritzhand 1975) tums out to be an irresponsible failure, and Tulsa in Bad Boy

(Wieler 1992), the star of the hockey team, incredibly good looking and popular, tums 100 out to be the antithesis of the heterosexual ideal: gay. Other characters have emotional weaknesses or moments of sensitivity that contradict the single dimension of the hegemonic image. The ideological position of the authors, represented by these characters, will be discussed in Chapter 5.

B. Sport

Luke: You're nothing ifyou don't play sports (Frank 1990, 166) .

. .. aIl boys are, to a greater or lesser extent, judged according to their ability, or lack of ability, in competitive sports (Messner 1994, 103).

BI. Sport: Being male

Involvement in sport, knowledge, participation, and ev en spectating has long been a key indicator of successful masculinity. The boys interviewed by Frank (1990) demonstrated this awareness as did the boys in two other studies (Laberge and Albert

1999, Phoenix and Frosh 2001). Being involved in sport is part of the responsibility of being male. It is in fact very much of what could be called the romantic notion of being male, the exclusive masculine companionship of sport, the physical highs and the enjoyment of "legitimate" emotion.

Jeff and 1 grew up playing ball ... no matter what happened elsewhere in our lives, we always had baseball ... Other kids changed sports with the seasons, but Jeff and 1 were baseball players year-round. We practiced and played for the joy of it, but also for that summer day when we' d stand on the top of the dugout steps, waiting for our names to be called in a lineup filled with players whose cards we'd once collected. And we'd be like them at last, jogging smooth and easy to our positions while the crowd cheered and the sun washed across an aftemoon as golden as heaven itself (Bull Catcher, Carter 1997, 3). 101

Bull, like a number of the main characters in the selected novels, has a dream of playing professional sport. This dream colours his whole life, and that of his best friend

Jeff. The name of the sport may change, but its central importance in the life of specific characters does not. In Yuletide Blues (McIntyre 1991) and Bad Boy (Wieler 1989) the sport is ice hockey, in Deadly Unna (Gwynne 1998) Australian rules football, in The

Moves Make the Man (Brooks 1984) basketball, in Tangerine (Bloor 1997) football and soccer, in Pig (Geraghty 1998) and Twelve Days in August (Murrow 1993) soccer, and in

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (Crutcher 1995) and Like Sorne Kind of Hero (Marino

1992) the sport is swimming.

Being involved in sport adds to the situational tension in the lives of the characters.

He had only two fears: That he wouldn't get on the ice, and that he would, and screw up (Wieler 1989,47).

Not even a great feat of bravery will cancel out a mistake in football (Gwynn 1998,9).

As it is for the boys in Frank's study, making the team and then keeping your place on the team becomes close to an obsession for these characters, and sometimes for their fathers. In Life is a Lonely Place (Fritzhand 1975) Tink's father continually compares him to his oIder brother (who Tink calls Lowell the Jock). A college athlete himself,

Tink's father finds it difficult to cope with a son who has no interest in competitive sports. In Tangerine (Bloor 1998) Paul's father is obsessed with Paul's older brother and his ability to play football, what Paul refers to as the "Eric Fisher Football Dream". The fact that his younger son has become an extremely good soccer player has completely escaped his notice. 102

Sometimes the father's criticism has to do with choosing the "right" sport. In The

Moves Make the Man (Brooks 1984) Bix is a baseball natura1, but he has given up the game. Wh en he is asked why, he says

Because he wanted me to be a man and baseball was not a man's sport, oh no sir, baseball is for sissies and if 1 cou1d not be a football p1ayer, at 1east 1 could do basketball. Such a big hero game, he p1ayed it wh en he was a kid and he was a star, whoopee, with this very ball in his high school state championship so he hoped using it would rub off on me and 1 could be a big strong hero too ... (Brooks 1984, 158).

Playing the "right" sport is an important part of creating the right image. A

Montreal study (Laberge and Albert 1999) looked at adolescent boys' assessment of the types of sports men could be involved in, and the relationship of sporting image with hegemonic masculinity.

A guy who plays a woman's sport is not a "real" guy. Women's sports are finesse sports mostly based on movement. Men's sports are mostly rough, with physical contact and stragegy. A guy who plays a woman's sport is therefore weak, a weakling who does not want to hurt himself. He is less virile than others ... less intelligent (Laberge and Albert 1999,259).

While boys will acknowledge that activities like figure skating and dancing require strength, muscles and flexibility, "real" men would not be involved in them. Ballet is an issue in two of the books in the selection, Men of Stone (Friesen 2000) and What if They

Saw Me Now? (Ure 1982).

The central issue of Men of Stone (Friesen 2000) is homophobic bullying (an issue that will be discussed in more depth under the concrete situation "School"). Fifteen year old Ben lives in a houseful of women. He tries and fails to be a jock, he can't even make 103 the co-ed volleyball team. He has given up the one physical activity he was good at - dancing, because ofbeing teased.

1 was the one with the talent ... 1 actually enjoyed it. When 1 went to my first class it felt right, familiar. Like the inside of me could finally stretch all the way out ... But when 1 started high school, someone caught wind of my dirty secret, and suddenly 1 was Ballerina Boy ... so 1 quit (Friesen 2000).

In What if They Saw Me Now (Ure 1982) sixteen year old Jamie dreams of being a baseball star. He gets talked into being a replacement for an injured student for a ballet recital at his sister's dancing school. Although he has "natural rhythm" and is a big success, he is fully aware of what will happen when his school mates find out what he is doing. Coming from a working class background and ready to use his fists, he is not particularly worried for his physical safety, but he has become increasingly confused about his dancing ability, and what to do about it, because he shares the same opinion as his friends (and enemies) about acceptable masculine images.

Sport can provide both a way in (to an exclusive masculine club), and a way out (of a problem environment), instant masculine credibility - ifyou are successful. In Fighting

Ruben Wolfe (Zusak 2002) and The Contender (Lipsyte 1967) it is boxing that seems to provide a route out of difficult personal situations. In The Runner (Voigt 1994) it is his singleminded dedication to developing physical stamina and endurance that seems to provide a space for Bullet to survive his dislike of school and his hatred of his father.

The personal cost in these three novels is high, boxing is a brutally physical sport and long distance running a lonely one.

In Pig (Geraghty 1992), Cannily, cannily (Frend 1981), and Twelve Days in August

(Murrow 1993), it is skill on the soccer field that should allow "the new boy" in each 104 novel to be accepted into the group, but competition is also a major issue in sport, and

often has more to do with individual image than te am spirit.

B2. Sport: Competition

Some boys developed cut-throat notions of competition and a view of their public image of success as far more important and fundamental than any of their interpersonal relationships. Winning became the most important aspect of playing. Friendship often became more a pact of non-aggression, a brief respite from the fight, than a genuine pleasure in being together. With some of the boys their friendships often appeared as no more than a delicate balance between competition and being on the watch. The slightest incident was enough to tip the scales (Frank 1990, 188).

Such a situation is described in Twe/ve Days in August (Murrow 1993). Randy

Tovitch has been used to being the star of the soccer team. Wh en the arrivaI of Alex

threatens this position, he resorts to homophobic bullying, and he and his close friends

decide that getting rid of the new star player is more important than his possible

contribution to the team. In Tangerine (Bloor 1997) the situation is even more extreme.

Erik Fisher's father has put all his own ambition into his son's football career and ignored

Erik' s anti-social behaviour. Erik has become so convinced of his own star status that he

no longer relates either to his teammates or to other people around him, unless they get in

his way, when they get hurt. Competition is about winning, and winning is often about

violence.

B3. Sport: Violence

Violence and sport go together, particularly in team sports. "Basketball, football

and hockey, perhaps more than any other sports, are examples of violence and 105 commercialism" (Frank 1990, 186). Track and field, athletics, swimming, and baseball have little or no violence attached to them, but they are also considered low status sports to be involved in. Violence and injury were an expected part of playing sports like football or hockey (Frank 1990, 177-182).

l "played" through grade school, co-captained my highschool team, and went on to ... NCAA Division 1 level. 1 leamed to be an animal. Coaches took notice of animaIs. AnimaIs made first team. Being an animal meant being fanatically aggressive and ruthlessly competitive. If 1 saw an arm in front of me 1 trampled it. Whenever blood was spilled 1 nodded approval. Broken bones ... were secretly seen as little victories within the bigger struggle. The coaches taught me to "punish" the other man ... (Sabo 1995, 100).

These words were written by Don Sabo, a sociologist describing his own experience as an athlete. Sabo is one of a number of researchers looking at the relationships between ideals of hegemonic masculinity, sport, violence, and injury (Sabo

1990, McKay, Messner and Sabo 2000, Messner 1990, 1992, Messner and Sabo 1994).

The boys in Blye Frank' s study (1990) were quite open about the extent of the violence involved wh en they played sport. Derrick says:

What you have to do is leam not to care about anyone wh en you 're out there in the game. Sometimes l'm told to injure another guy on purpose, so you can't think about who he is or even that he's another human being. You just go for him (Frank 1990, 177).

Although a number of books in the sample have sport as a central issue (see above) and sorne of them deal with sport related injuries and violence, Diana Wieler's Bad Boy

(1992) provides the clearest picture of the type of situation many boys find themselves in.

A.l. Brandiosa trained singlemindedly, running windsprints, lifting weights, in an attempt to make the Cyclones, a Triple A Hockey team. He gets selected, but the coach regards 106 him as a marginal player and he knows he has to play weIl or be replaced (Wieler 1992,

15). During one game the coach suggests that he "go on a date" with Fleury, a member of the other side who has "a poor left knee". In other words, AJ. is being asked to take out a player. AJ. dives at Fleury during the game, targetting his injured left leg, the player is sent off the ice injured, and AJ. has a new name: "Bad Boy". Having just discovered that Tully, his best friend and fellow hockey player is gay, AJ. has reacted viscerally and his anger has made it easy to escalate his agression with playing hockey.

At first he is taken aback by his new nickname, but he finds his new notoriety cum popularity seductive.

"See you 'round," he said, tuming abruptly so that it would look like it didn't matter. Then, on cue, the whole table sang out, "See you, Bad Boy!" He walked out of the cafeteria a lot taller than he had walked in. At least he wasn't total human wreckage. Maybe slamming Fleury wasn't right, but nobody seemed to think it was wrong (Wieler 1992, 102).

AJ.'s anger at Tully and his own unverbalized fear of being regarded as gay, just because his best friend is, makes him increasingly violent during the hockey games. And although he gets penalties for his behaviour there is enough validation from the coach and sorne ofthe crowd to stop any self-criticism he might feel.

AJ. isn't just frightened of being thought gay by association, but he gradually becomes ev en more frightened by his feelings toward Tully. He begins to fear that he may actually be gay too.

As mentioned above, masculinity is defined in opposition to feminity. Real men are strong, tough, unemotional. The worst insult any boy can throw at another implies that he is more like a girl, a sissie, than a real boy. Words like fairy, fag, faggot are 107 usually the first line of insults, and the boys in Frank's study (1990) are extremely vocal on how important appearance (dress, the way you carry your body) and behaviour

(having a girl friend, joining the crowd in homophobic joking behaviour) are in convincing other men ofyour heterosexuality.

In Twelve Days in August (Murrow 1993) Randy Tovitch's reaction to the new boy on the team, a possible threat to his own position, is to immediately cast doubts on Alex's heterosexuality and to suggest that anyone who supports him must also be "that way inclined". Unlike Wieler (Bad Boy 1992), Murrow rnakes no clear staternent about

Alex's sexuality. What is clear frorn the story is that he shares a close relationship with his twin sister and had a close friendship with a boy at his last school, which led to them both being victimised by homophobic bullying.

B4. Sport: Sexuality

Hornophobic insults are cornrnon In the sports world. Boys are told to "stop playing like girls", or yelled at for "being a bunch of fairies". Pronger (2000) argues that

Men's sport is particularly homophobic because of the omnipresence of implicit homoeroticism in a cultural practice that is supposed to build heterosexuality - homophobia helps to prevent what is implicit from becoming explicit.

In Bad Boy (Wieler 1992) and Twelve Days in August (Murrow 1993) friendly gestures of congratulation and affection suddenly become gestures to be avoided in case the homophobic bullies target you as being gay.

AJ.'s reaction to Tully's homosexuality 1S sirnilar to the reaction of rnany adolescent boys. It is Tully who has the better perspective.

"You're sick," AJ. said 108

Tully ignited. "What the hell century do you live in? We're talking about a lifestyle, not a disease." "You're nuts," A.J. said. "You're out ofyour freaking head." "Y ou wanna talk about crazy? Going psycho on the ice, beating the crap out of sorne guy because it makes you feellike a big shot - that's crazy." (Wieler 1992, 123)

Tully is right, violence, senous lllJury, extreme pain are aIl seen as "normal" masculine experience in sport. Many boys look on sport not just as a way of joining the club, but also as a way of impressing girls. (See, for example, Ted's fantasy in Like

Sorne Kind of Hero (Marino 1992), about how becoming a great swimmer and a life guard will guarantee him hords of admiring girls.) Girls are supposed to admire the physique and the star status of the school sports star. Much of the literature on sport and violence (cf. McKay, Messner and Sabo) suggests that the accepted level of violence in sport doesn't just lead to violence towards other men, but women as weIl. In Bad Boy

(Wieler 1992) A.l' s fear that he is gay, and his anger at Tully, result in him forcing himself on Tully's sister.

Although the books that feature sport as a central issue often contain almost stereotypical images ofmasculinity, the obsessed father, the bullying coach, the mindless jock, the female groupie, these characters tend to be part of the supporting cast, not the main character. A.l. (Bad Boy, Wieler 1992) is the only main character who seems to accept unthinkingly his role as "goon" or enforcer for his hockey team. It is only right at the end of the book that he begins to recognise the violence in his character, but there is little critical context in the story for either the reader or the main character to go any further with this realization. 109

The majority of the characters involved in sports in the novels are on their way to one day summing up their experiences as does Michael Messner (Messner and Sabo

1990).

For Mike, there has always been a certain existential high in putting a basketball through a hoop, a feeling of transcendence unmatched in other aspects of life. And from an early age, he found that sports participation was the key to his relationship with his father and eventually with same-aged male peers. But as he passed through adolescence and into adulthood, he became increasingly aware of how the athletic role, because of its narrow definitions of success and failure, limited the foundations upon which his self-image was constructed. And though sports formed the basis for relationships with other males, he became aware of how the competition, homophobia, and mysogyny in the sports world limited his ability to develop truly intimate relationships with women and with other men (Messner and Sabo, 1990, 14).

c. Other Recreational Proving Grounds

This section inc1udes specifie situations used as literary plot devices to show a central character proving himself and becoming a man. Ali these situations resonate with a particular vision of masculinity; the ability to demonstrate courage, strength, specialized knowledge, to deal with pain, death, betrayal, and a variety of other emotional crises. The following list gives examples of the variety of sites inc1uded in the selected novels.

Man against nature and the wildemess Hatchet (Paulsen 1996) Hunter in the Dark (Hughes 1982) Crabbe (Bell 1997) The Maestro (Wynn-Jones 1995) Necking with Louise (Book 1999) Nobody said it would be Easy (Hal vorsen 1997) 110

Specifie Skills Sailing/Fishing Holdfast (Major 1978) Windward Island (Bradford 1989) The Baitchopper (Cameron 1982) River ofStars (MacKenzie 1971) Blue Fin (Thiele 1969) Deadly Un na (Gwynne 1998)

Dog Sledding Dog Runner (Meredith 1989)

Horse Riding Winners (Collura 1994) Between Brothers (Morck 1992)

Bull Fighting Shadow ofa bull (Wojciechowska 1987)

Hobbies AnimaIs/Pets Graffiti Dog (Nilsson 1995) The Proving Ground (Alphin 1992) Ho/d Fast (Major 1978) The Drowning Boy (Terris 1972) Stripes ofthe Sidestep Wolf (Hartnett 1999)

Model Making Out of the Dark (Katz 1996)

Plane Spotting Thunder and Lightening (Mark 1976)

Science Brad's Universe (Woodbury 1998) Flour Babies (Fine 1992)

IIIness/Handicaps Tangerine (B1oor 1997) Nobody said if would be easy (Halvorsen 1993) Hunter in the Dark (Hughes 1982) Freak the Mighty (Philbrick 2001) III

Drugs and Alcohol A Hero Ain 't Nothing But a Sandwich (Childress 1973) Lookingfor a Hero (Boyd 1993) The Year ofthe Gopher (Naylor 1987) Heart ofa Champion (Deuker 1993)

Crime, Gangs, the Streets Sharkbait (Salisbury 1997) GrajJiti Dog (Nilsson 1995) A Pair ofJesus Boots (Sherry 1975) My Mate ShojJig (Needle 2002) A Shadow Like a Leopard (Levoy 1994) The Contender (Lipsyte 1996) The Outsiders (Hinton 1969) Hero (Rottman 2000) Stone Cold (Swindells 1995)

Reform School Raw (Monk 1996) Hero (Rottman 2000) The McIntyre Liar (Bly 1993)

War Little Soldier (Ashley 2001) The Machine Gunner (Westall 1977) Waiting for the Rain (Gordon 1987) In Such a Place (Fairbridge 1992)

Travel/On the road Sad Boys (Parry 2002) A Candie for St Antony (Spence 1977) Tiger (Masson 1998) Lookingfor a Wave (Couper 1973) Ho/d Fast (Major 1978) Summertime Blues (Clarke 2001)

The situations listed above could all be considered to relate to tradition al masculine activities. A number of the books describe situations that often require more justification as legitimate masculine pursuits from the characters involved. 112

Zen One Hand Clapping (Freedman 1991)

Birdwatching/Cookery 48 Shades ofBrown (Earls 1999)

Art Featherboy (Singer 2002) Fishhouse Secrets (Stinson 1993)

Dance (Ballet) Men ofStone (Friesen 2000) What if They Saw Me Now (Ure 1985)

Drama/story telling Lizard (Covington 1991) Kit 's Wilderness (A1mond 1999) Dodger (Gleeson 1990)

Music (C1assica1)1 Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer (Pey ton 1985) Some Kind ofHero (Marino 1992)

Writing Rats saw God (Thomas 1996) The Tuesday Café (Trembath 1990) Shadow Like a Leopard (Levoy 1994) The McIntyre Liar (Ely 1993) Red, White, and Blue (Leeson 1996)

1 Rock Music - a central theme of Good Idea Gone Bad (Choice 1993) - is regarded as being inherently masculine. 113

Cl. Other Recreational Proving Grounds: Being Male

... what growing up male is aIl about ... is developing physical mastery, tirst of yourself and your own body, and second, of the worId around you through your body (Aron son 2003, 100).

Successful masculinity is about being in control, having the knowledge, skill and experience to "master" a situation. This is the image that the characters in the books listed above are trying to achieve. Man against the wildemess provides an ideal theatre for this scenerio. In Hatchet (Paulsen 1996) thirteen-year-old Brian tinds himself alone in the Canadian wildemess after the single engine plane he is on crashes, killing the pilot.

AIl Brian has are his clothing and a hatchet his mother gave him as a present. Gradually he leams how to deal with his environment, build a shelter, and get food.

By the end ofthat day, wh en it became dark and he lay next to the tire with his stomach full of tish and grease from the meat smeared around his mouth, he could feel new hope building in him. Not hope that he would be rescued - that was gone. But hope in his knowledge. Hope in the fact that he could leam and survive and take care of himself. Tough hope, he thought that night. 1 am full of tough hope. (Paulsen 1996, 127)

ln The Maestro (Wynn-Jones 1995) Burl, like Brian, goes from being virtually powerIess to recognizing that he has skills which can help him survive and provide sorne form of control over his environment. Running away from a violent father, BurI takes shelter with an eccentric musician who is living in a cabin in the woods. When a bear tries to get into the cabin, it is BurI's knowledge ofwhat to do that saves them both.

In Crabbe (Bell 1997) eighteen-year-old Franklin decides ta mn away from home.

He feels trapped by his parents' expectations and what he sees as the hypocrisy of their life. In an interesting twist on the wildemess story, his lack ofknowledge and experience 114 almost gets him killed, but he is rescued by a woman who teaches him survival skills.

Masculinity triumphs, however, wh en he has to rescue her from being raped by some drunken hunters.

In Hunter in the Dark (Hughes 1982) Mike has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. When his disease goes into temporary remission, he goes off by himself on a hunting trip. This was something he had been looking forward to for more than a year, but when he became ill his parents refused to let him go. In this version of man against the wildemess, it is not just the dangers of his immediate bush environment that Mike must come to terms with, but his own mortality.

C2. Other Recreational Proving Grounds: Competition

The theme of "man against the wildemess" is about competition. Competition against the environment and its dangers and competition with your own strengths and weaknesses. Both Burl (Wynn-Jones 1995) and Crabbe (Bell 1997) have encounters with bears, and Brian (Paulsen 1996) is hurt by a moose. AlI the boys have problems with water and weather and their own physicallimitations.

In the books in the selection that focus on sailing and fishing, the boys are also competing with the environment, particularly stormy weather, but for sorne of them the competition is also with their fathers or other fishermen. In River of Stars (MacKenzie

1971) Andy actually has "to do a man' s job". When his father is hurt, Andy has to find a way of completing the fishing season. He needs to find a crew, get a licence, and survive as a member of the fishing fleet. Sorne of the fishermen resent his presence and he has to find a way of dealing with the bullying of one of them. 115

In Deadly Unna (Gwynne 1998) and in Blue Fin (Thiele 1969) the competition is directly between father and son (a subject that will be dealt with in greater detail in the section on family relationships). Gary (Gwynne 1998) doesn't like his father's irresponsible macho attitude to handling his boat wh en he's out fishing and a storm cornes up. The two have a shouting match and Gary never goes out on the boat again. In

Blue Fin (Thiele 1969) the situation is different; unlike Gary who doesn't want to be a fisherman and takes pride in confronting his father, Snook desperately wants his father's approval, but his lack of coordination and strength compared with the other fishermen on his father's boatjust eams him contempt.

Snook's father never forgot the incident ... He blamed Snook for everything. Snook, he reasoned, always did stupid and incompetent things, and falling overboard during a race at full speed was the most stupid thing of aIl. "Of course the boy mucked up," he said peremptorily to his wife next moming. "Who else could be such an idiot." And no matter how much Snook apologised, his father refused to listen to him (Thiele 1969,28).

In Windward Island (Bradford 1989) Loren and Caleb are best friends, used to competing with each other in a light hearted way.

As the boys worked, they kept glancing over at each other. Caleb was two fish ahead. Loren found his hands working faster in order to catch up ... Both boys were tearing into the fish as fast as their fingers could fly, and their old, friendly rivalry had taken over (Bradford 1989,69).

But with the arrivaI of a girl on the island the boys' competition tums senous and threatens to destroy their friendship.

In The Baitchopper (Cameron 1982) the competition has a political dimension when the fishermen go on strike and the boys find themselves on different sides. Once 116 again what had been friendly rivalry turns nasty when two of the fishermen end up in jail, an agitator cuts one of the fishing boats loose, and Andrew and his cousin almost die trying to save the boat, the family livelyhood.

In Dog Runner (Meredith 1989) Jim Redcrow becomes involved in an actual competition, a dog race, to try and win the money to keep his dog team together. Dog team racing is a dangerous and rough sport, and Jim begins to realize that far from winning, just managing to stay in the race may be aIl he can manage.

Patrick Pennington (Pey ton 1985) is one of the most complex characters in the selected novels. Seventeen years old, from a working c1ass background, but with an incredible ability as a pianist, he is in competition with every aspect of his life.

Consistently in trouble at school, on probation because of shoplifting, about to be charged with joyriding and possibly sent to prison, he cannot resist confrontation. Winning a piano competition almost in spite of himself, he then gets expelled from school. Offered the chance of studying music with a well-known teacher, he recognizes that for the first time he may have met someone whose will is stronger than his own.

For the characters involved with gangs, competition is a way of life. Clothing, physical attitude, language, are all designed to bring confrontation.

Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped­ up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while ... we wear our hair long and dress in blue jeans and T-shirts, or leave our shirttails out and wear leather jackets and tennis shoes or boots (Hinton 1967, 6).

For characters like Rocky (Sherry 1969) and Bernard (Needle 2002), evading the police, planning break-ins, challenging other gangs, bring sorne excitement into their lives, but inevitably also brings violence. 117

C3. Other Recreational Proving Grounds: Violence

Many of the situations described in the books listed above inc1ude scenes of violence. Violent fathers and school bullies are common characters who will be described in detail in later sections. The violence described is generally men against men; violence against women occurs in only a few of the books, although it is the central theme of Out of Control (Mazer 1994). In Shadow Like a Leopard (Levoy 1994) Ramon helps to rob an old woman at knife point. In Out of the Dark (Katz 1995) Ben is present when his mother is robbed and then shot de ad by a gang. In Crabbe (Bell 1997) Crabbe manages to save a woman who is being assaulted by a group of drunken hunters. In My

Mate Shofiq (Need1e 2002), a little girl loses an eye as a result of a gang fight, and in

Little Soldier (Ashley 2003) Kaninda's mother and little sister are shot to death during the civil war in his home country in Africa.

Violence is sometimes justified as a traditional masculine reaction, a result of the

"surplus agressiveness" (Kaufman 1979b, 2) which exists in the social construction of masculinity. Fighting is seen as a legitimate way of solving problems, and sometimes even as a necessary rite of passage.

ln River ofStars (MacKenzie 1971) Andy's father has been injail for fighting. His fellow fishermen acknowledge the attraction of fighting. "It's a long time since 1 have been in a good fight." (MacKenzie 1971,22) Andy however, does not share this point of view and although he do es get involved in a fight later in the book, he does so to defend an old man who is being bullied.

Kaninda, single-mindedly bent on revenge for the deaths of his family, is sent to

England as a refugee. He is determined to retum to Africa to fight, but when he becomes 118 involved in the gang scene in London, and a girl friend is badly hurt as a result of sorne senseless violence, his attitude begins to change.

There were braveries other than fighting, and Kaninda knew that ... Was that why he hadn't killed N'gensi - his brave show - or was there sorne other reason to add? A reason such as Laura ... because now she was a victirn of the stupid war between people here who did not need to war, who fought for the thriIls, who didn't know the huge atrocity of real war (Ashley 2003, 225).

Most of the central characters in the books listed above decide that violence doesn 't provide a solution to their difficulties. Sorne have rornanticised notions of being a hero

(Katz 1995, Mahy 1992, Alphin 1993, Leeson 2000) which are changed by their contact with real violence.

He thought bitterly about his old drearns of being a hero ... That's aIl they were - drearns. It was weIl and good for Orion to draw his sword and ignore the odds, but this was a tirne for Kevin Spencer to rernernber his father's waming instead of his heroisrn ... In the real world Kevin wasn't an Army officer of a Dungeons & Dragons ranger. He was just an ordinary kid facing a bully who hated everything about hirn, and he was pretty sure the odds were in the buIly's favour (Alphin 1992, 56).

Sorne characters are aware of the expectations engendered by certain types of behaviour and appearances, and are willing to use the threat of violence for their own ends. In The Year of the Gopher (Naylor 1987) George decides to intirnidate his sister's ex-boyfriend when he hits her. He tells his friends to tum up at his house wearing the

"Hell's Angels look".

Discount arrived in his Dad's leather hunting jacket; Dove was wearing a rnotorcycIe helrnet and a bike chain wrapped around his knuckles; and Psycho, aIl 185 pounds of hirn, sirnply wore his football jersey with a T-shirt over it saying "Search and Destroy" (Naylor 1987,194). 119

While the boys had no intention of actually resorting to violence, and the scene where they visit the ex-boyfriend's house is very funny (except for the boyfriend, who is terrified), the truth behind the image is that boys expect violence, even the suggestion of violence, to solve problems.

A few of the main characters in the novels seem actually attracted to violence.

They would share the opinion of one of Blye Frank' s informants:

Trent: 1 feel sorry for the people who aren't smart enough to choose to resort to violence. 1 feel sorry for them because that's one of the only ways you can get through it aIl (Frank 1990, 167).

For Rocky (Sherry 1969) the gang, his gang, is the most important thing in his life.

On the way, Rocky thought with satisfaction of the battle planned for that night. At least he would be showing somebody something. This time the Cats would win ... Rocky lived mainly in a dream world, where school and home didn't have any existence for him. In his dreamworld he was a successful criminal leader or a famous footballer - it aIl depended on where his interests lay at that moment (Sherry 1969,59).

For Bernard in My Mate Shojiq, ev en the fact that someone on his own si de gets badly hurt during a gang fight doesn't dampen his enthusiasm.

"We were organised," said Bernard, half proudly. "We battered the Whitehead gang to little pieces." (Needle 1981)

For Bullet Tillerman in The Runner (Voigt 1994), violence is a way of ensuring he is left alone. Every year someone at his school challenges him, and "every year he'd have to show whoever that he wasn't to be messed around with, then they'd allleave him alone." (Voigt 1994, 38) Bullet doesn 't enjoy violence but he uses it to get what he 120 wants. Bullet's (fictional) feelings are echoed by one of Blye Frank's informants. Trent says

The way 1 can get away with not being involved ... is through violence. That's how 1 had to do it. That's how 1 can survive in this school with my hair cut like this, because a lot of people ... are scared of me (Frank 1990, 167).

C4. Other Recreational Proving Grounds: Sexuality

When sexual concems are added to the plots of sorne of the books listed above, these concems are usually very traditional in nature. Mike Rankin, diagnosed with leukemia, feels time running out for him.

"Shit, l'm sixteen and right on, you know, the edge of it aIl. What have 1 done so far? l've never owned a car. l've never brought home a trophy head ... 1 want to know what it's like to ... sleep with a girl. When 1 get really down, 1 think about my epitaph. Michael Rankin, aged sixteen. He never got to vote or drive a car and he died a virgin." (Hughes 1982,96)

ln Windward Island (Bradford 1989), Between Brothers (Morck 1992), and

Nobody said il would be easy (Halvorsen 1997) the presence of a girl disrupts masculine friendship and introduces serious competition between friends, and in one case, brothers.

Sometimes you can't have everything 1 told myself. But my che st had never ached thinking about any other girl before. What had she done to me? 1 closed my eyes trying to shut out the pain. Holly didn't want me. If! chased her, she'd soon dread the sight ofme. Trying to come hetween Michael and Holly would make my brother hate me, too. 1 had to give up wanting her or lose both of them (Morck 1992, 194). 121

In Summertime Blues (Clarke 2001) Alex learns the difference between friendship and sexual attraction, and in Raw (Monk 1996) and Rats Saw Gad (Thomas 1996) the main characters learn how it feels to get dumped, when their girl friends leave them.

In The Year of the Gopher (Naylor 1987) George decides to break up with his girl friend when he realises that it isn't so much her he is thinking of, but the sex he has with her. This makes him an unusually thoughtful character wh en compared with the boys in

Sad Boys (Parry 2002) whose main aim seems to be sun, surf, and sex, and as little introspective thinking as possible. George (Naylor 1987) also has to deal with the unwelcome attentions of an "older woman" and the pangs ofunrequited love.

48 Shades of Brown (Earls 1999) is probably one of the most unusual books in the selection for two reasons: its humour and its focus on "the sensitive male". Dan's parents have gone to Geneva for a year and he is finishing his final year of high school and living with his 22-year-old bass-playing aunt, Jacq, and her friend Naomi. Dan gets a crush on

Naomi and decides that the only way to attract her is to represent himself as a sensitive man. This translates into acquiring sorne kind of specialized knowledge (birds, their latin names, and how many kinds ofbrown the y are), and cooking, specifically pesto.

It's the men with the pesto recipes who linger long after they leave, or perhaps the men who name trees. Who can do the genus and species thing in conversation, smoothly, slipping it in without even meaning to inpress. l'm working this out (Earls 1999, 127).

Contrasting with his aim to be a more thoughtful, sensitive type of male, is Dan's friend Chris Burns, perenially fmstrated, always on the lookout for "a likely babe", and a constant surfer on the internet for bigger and better pictures of supermodels. Dan (48

Shades of Brown, Earls 1999) and George (The Year of the Gopher, Naylor 1987) are 122 given to more introspection than most of the central characters in the novels listed above.

Like sorne of the boys in Blye Frank's study (1990), many of the boys are still more concerned with "scoring it", rather than thinking about the feelings of the girls they are with. But sorne of Blye Frank' s informants are just as confused as Dan. Derrick says:

1 don't know. Sorne days 1 think 1 can never get it right. They say girls like sensitive guys, but 1 guess not too sensitive. 1 cried at the movie "The Colour Purple", and not just the guys said that 1 was a wimp, but so did a lot of the girls (Frank 1990, 220).

The next section deals with relationships and will be divided into two parts, men and women.

D. Relationships - Men

Dl. Relationships - Men: Being male

Men's relationships with other men, particularly in the western, Anglo-American tradition, are often problematic. In a study of men's relationships Gregory Lehne main tains that

The open expression of emotion and affection by men is limited by homophobia. Only athletes and women are allowed to touch and hug each other in our culture; athletes are allowed this only because presumably their masculinity is beyond doubt. But in growing up to become men in our culture, we learn that such contact with men was no longer permissible, that only homosexuals enjoy touching other men, or that touching is only a prelude to sex. In a similar way men learn to curb many of their emotions. They learn not to react emotionally to situations in which, although they may feel the emotion, it would be unmasculine to express it ... Men are openly allowed to express anger and hostility, but not sensitivity and sympathy. (Lehne 1995, 336) 123

The relationships discussed in this section will include relationships between relatives, particularly fathers and sons, with brothers, and other family members, friends, and other males of importance in a boy's life, people like teachers, coaches, and other mentoring figures. As might be expected, as in real life fathers play a major role in a number of books, and provide a mixture of images.

ln the masculine world, the father-son relationship often provides a boy with his first image of masculinity. As he grows older he may decide to accept this image as one to work towards, or he may reject it and develop his own image in opposition to it.

Adolescent boys can be harsh critics and in a number of books (Crabbe, Bell 1997, 48

Shades of Brown, Earls 1999, The Year of the Gopher, Naylor 1987, J'Il/ove yOU when yOU 're more like me, Kerr 1989) the boys are heavily cri tic al of their fathers' lives and interests.

My Father [the wealthy corporate lawyer] was Dressed for Dinner as usual. He was very exact in his opinions about manners and appearances ... [he lectured] me in what he thought was a reasonable voice about how 1 should use my God Given Talents to make something of myself - which meant getting money in large quantities - and stay away from left wingers, eggheads, and so on and on and on. l, as usual, attacked their entire way of life, their snobbery and materialism, saying 1 couldn't be grateful for a way of life 1 found meaningless and contemptible ... (Bell 1997, 28)

ln The Year of the Gopher George's father is determined that his son go to college, and preferably become a lawyer, like his father and grandfather. George has other ideas.

He wants to make up his own mind.

Crack. Crunch. 1 had lined up my parents' values - the wise and the foolish, the good and the ridiculous - and was stomping on them one by one. The more important a mIe was to them, the less important it became to me. 1 didn't enjoy hurting them, it wasn't that, but 1 had a statement to make, and 1 didn't know how el se to do it. (Naylor 1987, 88) 124

A cornrnon problern for rnany boys, real life and fictional, is their father's expectations they are reacting to. For the fathers, position in life, status, what you do

(that is, your work) is a key indicator ofwho you are (an issue which will be described in more detail in the section below on work), and they want their sons to do as they have

done, as a validation of their own choice.

Sorne of the fathers have their own expectations about key syrnbols of rnasculinity.

In Very Far Away from Anywhere Else (LeGuin 1976) this syrnbol is a car. Owen is more interested in his school work than sports, or owning a car. He wants to go away to

college, an airn that neither of his parents is willing to consider. He has his sights set on

MIT or CalTech; his parents think the local university (to which they both went) should be his choice. When his father gives hirn the car, aIl he can think about is how much it

cost him and how that money could have been put towards his tuition at MIT.

ln giving me that car my father was saying, "This is what 1 want you to be. A normal car-Ioving American teen-ager." And by giving it to me he had made it impossible for me to say what 1 wanted to say, which was that 1 had finally realized that that's what 1 wasn't, and was never going to be, and 1 needed help finding out what 1 was instead. (LeGuin 1976,21)

At first Owen refuses to drive the car at aIl, then he uses it from time to time. After

a row with his girlfriend, he has a car accident, and totals the car. His mother is relieved that he is not badly hurt, his father is upset about the car, but finally rationalizes the

incident.

Maybe Owen wasn't a total loss. After aIl, a lot of teen age boys wreck cars. It's almost a virile kind of thing to have done. (LeGuin 1976,66) 125

Cars (and speed) are a common image of masculinity (cf Rebel without a cause) and feature in a number of the books. In The Rock (Kropp 1989) and Heart of a

Champion (Deuker 1993) main characters are kilIed in car accidents and in Twelve Days in August (Murrow) the main character narrowly avoids killing himself and his girl friend.

For some fathers it is the presence (or absence) of a girl friend that is a key indicator oftheir son's masculinity. In Summertime Blues (Clarke 2001) Alexander finds his father living in total squalor after his new wife goes into hospital to have a baby.

Concerned about her coming home to su ch a mess, Alexander starts tidying up.

''l'm going to go right through this flat and clean it up," 1 say in a determined voice. "Can't have Mandy coming home to a tip. 1'11 hoover and get sorne flowers and things and make it realIy ni ce for her." (Clarke 2001, 134)

His father's reaction to his housekeeping ski Ils (which he obviously sees as an unmasculine activity) is to ask ifhis son is gay.

"Alex? 1 mean, that's very good ofyou, but ... 1 know you and Danny have always been close but ... 1 mean 1 have wondered. What with you not having a girl friend or anything." (Clarke 2001, 134)

Alexander's reaction to this is disbelief and then anger.

"No wonder Mum divorced you," 1 say slowly in a pained voice. "Y ou make assumptions about my sexuality just because 1 can clean up a load of filthy mess and do a bit of homework? For crying out loud 1 should think gorillas and chimps keep themselves cleaner than you do. What planet are you from?" (Clarke 200 1, 135)

One of Blye Franks informants gets much the same reaction from his father because he helps his mother cIean the house and do the grocery shopping. 126

1 think my father thinks l'm a fag ... [he says] why don't you go help your mother, and he makes a limp wrist ... (Frank 1990, 118)

ln Life is a Lonely Place (Fritzhand 1975) the father finds his son's friendship with a local writer, about ten years older, an "unnatural relationship".

"That fellow," 1 said, "was my friend" ... He was snorting, not believing a word 1 said ... "A friend is someone you can pal around with, someone your own age, someone who goes out with girls, who you can double date with." ... "Listen, it's an unnatural thing for a young man and an older man to be so close with each other. Things ... could develop, even if neither party wants it that way to begin with." (Fritzhand 1975, 191)

This kind of homophobic fear about male friendships is common, as in the quote that begins this section. The father in this story is only comfortable with friendship that takes place in a specifically masculine setting (usually sport of sorne kind). It is not just fathers in the novels who have trouble with their sons' having close friendships with other boys or men (unless they are involved in sorne kind of sporting situation). In A

Candie for St Antony (Spence 1977) Justin initially bullies Rudi, a newcomer from

Europe to his Sydney school. Justin's parents have demanded that he start taking his school work more seriously and refuse to let him go on the school trip to Austria unless he gets over 70% in aIl his exams. Rudi offers to tutor him and they become cautious friends. Justin sees nothing wrong with this friendship until one of his other friends refers to him "going around with someone".

[Greg] neither liked nor disliked Rudi. He respected his formidable intellect and his maturity, without understanding either. He was perplexed by Justin's devotion to his friend; while like any Sydney youth he was ready enough to bandy about such terms as "fairy" and "queer" and other less acceptable epithets, he had never seriously believed that what Rudi and Justin felt for each other was anything more than an intense natural friendship - the sharing of interests and thoughts and experiences. He had not known such a friendship, however ... (Spence 1977, 121) 127

In this novel the limited Australian image of masculinity is contrasted with a more sophisticated European one. Justin enjoys his friendship with Rudi, but after Rudi says that he loves him and is overheard and then challenged by sorne of the other boys, Justin rejects the friendship out of homophobic fear. Rudi says to him sadly, as they say goodbye, "It was never the way you thought. It never would be" (Spence 1977, 126). On his way back to Australia, leaving Rudi behind, Justin is upset, lonely and confused.

You could say you loved your parents, and your sister, and perhaps even your little brother. You could say you loved your new jeans and your breakfast cereal and the surf wh en the wind was blowing from the right quarter. But there should be another word to describe the feeling you had for a friend whose like you might never encounter again in a lifetime (Spence 1977, 128).

In Bad Boy (Wieler 1992) AJ. acts with disgust and fear wh en he discovers that his best friend is gay, and in Twelve Days in August (Murrow 1993) Tod is reluctant to take a stand against the homophobic bullying of a newcomer to his soccer team. Wh en his favorite uncle, whom he has always seen as a masculine icon (drives a fast car, drinks beer, is taU and goodlooking) tells him that he is gay, he is angry and confused. Dealing with the knowledge that someone in your own family, someone that you love, is gay is a very different proposition from having doubts about someone you don 't ev en know very weIl.

Sorne main characters are concemed that their fathers don't project enough of a masculine image. In Underrunners (Mahy 1992) Tristram (Tris) lives alone with his father Randall. He is fond of Randall, but he has an imaginary heroic figure he talks to 128 called Selsey Firebone. Selsey Firebone is a brave, commando type figure, and Tris contrasts him unfavourably with his father.

Randall ... was a short, thin man, ... he had mild blue eyes with long dark lashes ... and was the opposite of Selsey Firebone in nearly every way. Selsey was always ready for anything; Randall never was. Selsey synchronized his watch with Greenwich Mean Time; Randall forgot to wind his watch and often thought it was yesterday. Selsey was tall and silent and strong, moving like a shadow, ready to take on the [enemy] at a moment's notice. Randall wore old tennis shoes, and if invaders came, he was quite likely to invite them in and try to counsel them (Mahy 1992, 18).

By the end of this novel however, having had a real life frightening adventure featuring a goodlooking man, with a gun and a fast car, Tris is quite willing to accept that there are different types of bravery, and unarmed counselling of a dangerous man has its place.

In The Drowning Boy (Terris 1972) Jason finds it impossible to live up to his father's version of masculinity. He is a constant disappointment to his father, who favours a traditional masculine image: the strong, outdoors type. A number of Blye

Frank's informants talk about their father's expectations along these lines. Hunting, fishing, canoeing are aIl activities men are supposed to enjoy doing together.

We always go salmon fishing. No, Dad always goes salmon fishing! In the last five or six years that I did it, I did it to please him ... so he'd have a son to go fishing with (Frank 1990, 115).

Jason finds himself forced into carpentering activities with a next door neighbour.

(His father sees the power saw as manly.) Angry and disappointed, Jason shouts

"1 hate aIl this big man crap - shooting, swimming, barbells, hammering. And you're just like he is. I don't go for that stuff." His voice was getting louder as he lost control of himself. "l'Il do what you want ... But don't expect me to like it - or to do it weIl. I never do anything right. Ask my father." (Terris 1972,46). 129

The issue of competition, real or imagined, hetween father and son will he discussed in more depth below.

Many of the fathers described in the novels share the characteristics described in the quote at the heginning of this section, particularly as far as expressing emotion is concemed, but others are able to build sorne form of communication with their sons.

My dad heard me crying one night. He didn't give me the old clichés about plenty more fish in the sea, or l' d get over it, and 1 was better off without her, or even big boys don't cry. Nothing like that. He came in and sat on the chair by my bed and touched my shoulder, just to let me know he was there (Doherty 1997, 134).

One of the boys in Blye Frank's study talks about having a similar relationship with his father.

My relationship with my father is great. 1 hold no secrets from him. l'm not worried about telling him anything (Frank 1990, 127).

Other images of fathers include the sports obsessed father (Heart of a Champion, Deuker

1993, Tangerine, Bloor 1997), the verbally abusive father (The Runner, Voigt 1994)

(violent fathers will be dealt with in a later section), the unreliable father

"He's a liar and a cheat," Will said. "He lies to everybody. He doesn't know what it means to be honest with anyone ... He feeds off people ... There's nothing inside him ... It's like he's a body, just a body ... 1 swear to you, he's got no feelings ... He didn't want me." (Marino 1992, 198). and the absent father. Three books in particular deal with the responsibilities of fatherhood and why fathers leave: Father Figure (Peck 1978), Flour Babies (Fine 1992), and Dear Nobody (Doherty 1991).

Other masculine relationships described in the novels inc1ude those between brothers. Sorne competitive relationships (Tangerine, Bloor 1997, Between Brothers,

Morck 1992) will be discussed in the next section; others are surprisingly nurturing. A l30

Bridge to Wiseman 's Cove (Moloney 1996) and Father Figure (Peck 1978) both feature older brothers who feel responsible for their younger brothers, and the books de scribe in detail the emotional attachments which exist. The novels also provide a number of different images of friendship (apart from the homo phobie fears of physical and emotional closeness described above). Sorne describe the traditional "group of mates" situation (The Year ofthe Gopher, Naylor 1987, The Blooding, Wheatley 1989, The Rock,

Kropp 1989, Sad Boys, Parry 2002, Mr. Enigmatic, Pausacker 1994, Idiot Pride, Zurbo

1997, Sharkbait, Salisbury 1999, Doing il, Burgess 2003). In others, the group is actually a gang (The Outsiders, Hinton 1967, Good Idea Gone Bad, Choice 1993, Graffiti Dog,

Nilssom 1995, A Pair ofJesus Boots, Sherry 1969). Sorne of the books describe a "best friend" relationship, although the boys involved would hesitate to describe it using this term. Depending on the age of the characters and the activities they are involved in, these friendships range from sharing a hobby together (Thunder and Lightening, Mark 1976), being casually friendly in a school or sport situation (Men ofStone, Friesen 2000, J'Il/ove you when you 're more like me, Kerr 1989) to actually providing emotional support. In

Like Some Kind of Hero (Marino 1992) Ted gives up his chance to be a lifeguard, something he has spent his whole summer working towards, to go and get his friend Will, who has been dumped by his father. When Will phones he is actually crying over the phone, and when Ted finally gets to the train station and finds him, he seems to be in sorne kind of shock.

"It's okay, Will. We're buddies." Then he reached out. 1 took his hand. Will and 1 never do stuff like that. But 1 held on. His hand was cold in mine and his shoulders shook ... And th en he really broke down. 1 kept my arm around him. We sat there for a long time and when Will finally got ho Id of himself, 1 asked him if he was ready to go home (Marino 1992, 198-199). BI

In The Contender (Lipsyte 1967) Alfred and his childhood friend James are following different paths. James has developed a drug habit and is involved in petty crime, while Alfred has decided that boxing is going to be his ticket out of Harlem.

Wh en James is on the fUll from the police and badly hurt, Alfred goes to find him.

"Y ou can beat the junk, man, l'm gonna help you beat it," said Alfred. "I1's no use" ... "Remember how we used to hide here? Remember the night my momma died and you stayed with me, told me you were gonna stick with me? Sure needed you that night." ... "Y ou and me, James. Gonna stick with you. 1 got friends, ... help get you in shape after you beat the junk." (Lipsyte 1967, 165).

ln Hunter in the Dark (Hughes 1982) Doug provides sorne much needed emotional support for his friend Mike, in hospital diagnosed with leukemia.

Doug cleared his throat. "You sound pretty down. Do they ... say you're going to die". "No. But isn't going that good." Doug tumed red and kicked the bed leg. "You know, for what i1's worth, you're the ... best friend l've ever had ... " (Hughes 1982,95- 96).

This may be a little inarticulate perhaps, but genuine efforts are being made to get emotionally close, to break out of the traditional "strong, silent" stereotype. Sorne of the boys in Blye Frank's study (1990) describe similar relationships.

1 stay up 'til three in the moming talking to Andrew about everything. Just about living here. About problems 1 have. He's like my psychiatrist ... 1 go through a lot of depression, and 1 tell him about it. We talk about lifestyles ... (Frank 1990,103).

Considering the stereotypical notion that "real boys don't cry", it is interesting to note that in The Outsiders (Hinton 1967), the author has no such reservations. This 132 novel, one of the earliest written for a specifically "young adult" audience, and supposedly at the time (the late sixties) giving an honest account of boys and gangs, has as its main characters a trio of brothers living on their own and trying to make it after their parents' death. Involved in the local gang culture, they manage to steer clear of the worst violence. After two friends die, the middle brother, usually the least articulate, pleads with the other two .

... Tears welled up in his eyes. "We're aIl we've got left. We ought to be able to stick together against everything. If we don't have each other, we don't have anything. Ifyou don't have anything, you end up like Dallas ... and 1 don't me an de ad either. 1 me an like he was before. And that's worse than dead. Please" - he wiped his eyes on his arm - "don 't fight anymore." (Hinton 1967, 152).

Hinton allows the characters their emotions but also lets them stay within their own definition of "toughness". As a general mIe it is the central character or characters that step outside a traditional hegemonic image. The reasons for this will be discussed at the end of this section.

D2. Relationships - Men: Competition

Masculine relationships are often handicapped because of their competitive quality. Love and close friendship are difficult to main tain in a competitive environment because to expose your weaknesses and admit your problems is to be less than a man, and gives your competitor an advantage (Lehne 1995,333).

Competition, seen as a struggle for power and domination, can be a particular problem between fathers and sons. Many of the fathers in the selected books have opinions about how their sons should lead their lives; sorne are more controlling and 133 invasive than others. In The Year of the Gopher (Naylor 1987), wh en George decides he doesn't want to go to college and become a lawyer like his grandfather and father, his father is furiously angry.

Dad slowly got to his feet, as though he didn't quite trust himself not to rush me. "Okay, you've said it," he said, and his words seemed like chunks of concrete clunking to the floor. "You're my son, and l'm responsible for your food, shelter, and medical care, but beyond that, you're on your own. You want to live your life without any help from me, you 've got it. Anything you want beyond the mere necessities, you buy yourself. Is that understood?" (Naylor 1987, 74).

Sorne fathers seem to feel a constant need to cut their sons down to size. In

Downstream (Townsend 1989) Alan's father needles him constantly, about having to wear glasses, about his ability to row - "Y ou 're just lickling the river. Why don't you show it who's boss?" - and when he gives Alan his first driving lesson, "because in his eyes any right-minded young man should be eager to drive at the earliest opportunity", the lesson is a disaster. After a near accident with a truck, and problems doing a hand break start on a hill, Alan's father yells "Bloody hell! ... l've fathered an imbecile!"

(Townsend 1989,47-48).

In The Runner (Voigt 1994), the father's baiting of his son seems almost pathological.

"Get your hair cut. You look effeminate," his father had said ... Bullet had just looked at him, but the old guy never looked at you, never looked you in the eye ... " "Effeminate means girlish," the sarcastic voice had said ... The cold eyes had gone down to the other end of the table, where Bullet's mother sat. She didn't say anything, she never would anymore. The old man wanted to run things, and he wanted you to say something so he could knock you down with his answer and box you in tighter. If she said something, it wasn't her he'd try to knock down, it was Bullet, just the way he had with Johnny first, then with Liza. Driving them away, to drive them away (Voigt 1994,5). 134

Trent, one of Blye Frank's inforrnants has a similar relationship with his father.

1 never get along with my father. We rarely ev en talk. The only time he ever talks to me is to reprimand me ... Once 1 stopped sports, whatever there was between us was gone. He's got a really bad temper, and his ideas about things are pretty backward (Frank 1990, 125).

Like Bullet in the novel The Runner (Voigt 1994) Trent cannot understand why his mother stays.

Sorne fathers make the competition physical, a trial of strength. Gary's father is a fisherrnan, with a very macho style, a big man, he is disappointed that Gary doesn't resemble him, and doesn't want to be a fisherrnan. After Gary wins a football award, his father says

"Let me shake your hand, son" ... He took my hand. 1 could feel the rough calluses on his palm. Then he squeezed. My old man believed in a firm handshake. According to him, if a handshake wasn't firm then you were probably dealing with a bludger, or a no-hoper, or maybe even a poofter. "It was a gutsy effort," he said, looking at me in the eye, squeezing hard. "Thanks," 1 said. Little bones in my hand were crunching. "We'll get you out fishing, son," he said. "Great" 1 said. He squeezed ev en harder. Christ! Little tears were forming in the corner of my eyes. Finally he let me go (Deadly Unna, Gwynne 1998, 131).

ln Rats Saw Gad (Thomas 1996) Steve refers to his father as "the astronaut".

Steve's dad is a decorated Vietnam pilot and then an astronaut, a man who seems to have boundless confidence; Steve feels he is an impossible act to follow. As with a number of other novels in the selection, Steve goes through a series of experiences which give him 135 insight into both his own character and that of his father, and he develops a broader image of masculinity as a result.

A number of books feature competition between brothers (Fritzhand 1975, Bloor

1997, Morck 1992) and sorne deal with competition between friends. Competition as a feature of schoollife will be discussed in a later section. Often competition, the desire to dominate, tums into violence.

D3. Relationships - Men: Violence

As quoted earlier (p. 22) most men feel the presence of violence in their lives. For many men this violence cornes in the form of bullying, which will be discussed in the section on school, or as part of organized sport, as discussed earlier. The books in the selection have portraits of physically violent fathers. Cal Crow (The Maestro Wynn­

Jones 1995) is a bully and a drunkard, given to lashing out at anyone near him, particularly his son Burl. In Bullcatcher (Carter 1997) Billy's father beats him regularly.

When his two friends try and persuade him to either tell the authorities or leave home, he refuses, convinced that by staying at home he is at least protecting his younger brothers and sisters. In Freak the Mighty (Philbrick 2001) Max's father is a convicted murderer, and in Kit 's Wilderness (Almond 1999) once again there is a father who is a bully and a drunkard. Violent fathers are a recurrent part of the reallife experience of Blye Frank's informants (Frank 1990, 108).

There is one isolated incidence of a son turning on his father in Stripes of the

Sidestep Wolf (Hartnett 1999). Satchel 's father has developed sorne form of religious mania and convinced "that the Lord will provide", he has stopped working, refuses to let 136 his wife take money, and generally makes life difficult and frustrating for his whole family. Satchel, overflowing with years of accumulated rage and frustration, hits his father and then leaves home. In The Lion and the Lamb (Harlen 1992) Juan Castillo keeps an unloaded shotgun in the hallway broom cupboard. Hector doesn't like the gun and questions his father about why he has it.

"1 carry a gun," Juan said, "so that wh en 1 talk people will listen. So that when 1 want something done, people will do it. Never again will 1 be treated like dirt, like sucios. If 1 get shot, so be it. 1 will die with my dignity (Harlen 1992,2).

Like the other violent fathers in the novels, Juan is working class, feels powerless and is using violence as a way of asserting his personality.

Two books describe violence between brothers, but the incidents arise from very

different causes. In Tangerine (Bloor 1997) Eric has succeeded in almost blinding his

smaller brother by spraying paint in his eyes because he thought (mistakenly) that he had

informed on him. In Fighting Rueben Wolfe (Zusak 2002) Cameron and his brother

Rueben bec orne involved in an illegal boxing scam in an effort to rai se money to help

their family survive. The two boys end up having to fight each other. Very different

from their play boxing rounds in the backyard, this fight becomes a metaphor for their

relationship and their pride in their working class background. The writing is a classic

example of how difficult men find it to express emotion. Although they are expected to

carry the fight until one is knocked out, they fight on their own terms.

Rube is wearing one boxing glove, on his left hand, just like aIl thosc times in the backyard. He's standing there, before me, and something very slight glimmered across his face. He's a Wolfe and l'm a Wolfe and 1 will never ever tell my brother that 1 love him. And he will never tell it to me. No. 137

AlI we have is this .. , This is the only way. This is us. This is us saying it, in the only way we can possibly do it (Zusak 2002, 201).

Other violent incidents include a boy being beaten up by his mother's boyfriend

(Summertime Blues, Clarke 2001), gang fight deaths (The Outsiders, Hinton 1967), and murder. In Looking for a Hero (Boyel 1993) Nicholas kills Robert Player, a rock star, whom he blames for his idolised older brother Christian's death from drugs-related

AIDS. In Stone Cold (Swindells 1995) one of the most extreme images of masculinity is presented. One of the main characters is a seriaI kiIIer. lnvalided out of the army and bitter, he decides to go on his own crusade against "long haired layabouts", in particular the homeless youths he sees in the streets of London. An extreme version of "a year or two in the army would do you the world of good my lad", he has gone right over the edge. He entices young homeless men into his house, poisons them, cuts their hair, dresses them in army clothes and buries them in his basement! A murder also occurs in

Tangerine (Bloor 1997), The Tiger (Masson 1998), and Out ofthe Dark (Katz 1996).

Fathers in the military occur in a number of books: Red White and Blue (Leeson

2000), The Proving Ground (Alphin 1992), Rats Saw God (Thomas 1996), Hometown

(Quadley 1995), and Oliver's War (Wilson 1992) (the last two provide interesting oppositional images because both fathers are army nurses). Images of violence connected with war or terrorism however are only presented in four books in the selection. One book tS set in warttme Brltatn (The Machine Gunners, Westall 1977), one in an imaginary African country in the midst of civil war (Little Soldier, Ashley 2001), and two books are set in South Africa (ln Such a Place, Fairbridge 1992, Waiting for the 138

Rain, Gordon 1987). Waiting for the Rain follows two characters, Frikkie (a Boer) and

Daniel Tengo (a black), who grew up on the same farm together. Frikkie just wants to be a farmer, but he has to join the armY and ends up trying to keep order in the black communities surrounded by hatred, and firing his gun at children. Fed on tales of Boer bravery conquering the land and the people, Frikkie is frightened by the type of fighting he is involved in.

It was soft, and frightening - women and girls in their dresses, school children, old people. It wasn't ... firm - war with armed uniformed soldiers fighting each other wasfirm. (Gordon 1987, 192)

For Tengo, the choice is also difficult. Desperate for education he finds that he is expected to fight, like many of his fellow African students. The ANC however gives him a choice, they want fighters, but they also see a future wh en they will need educated leaders. Tengo is encouraged to cross the border, join the ANC, and go away to university (Gordon 1987).

One of the least attractive characters is that of Mick in A Good ldea Gone Bad

(Choyee 1993). Mick and his buddies spend their time picking fights and beating up anyone they don't like. The image presented here is of an opinionated thug (hates gays, hates feminists) who enjoys violence. Luke, one of the boys in Blye Frank's study

(1990) demonstrates the same homophobic tendencies described in Leslie Choyee' s novel

(1993) wh en he says

Somebody's name will come up, and someone will say, "What a wimp. 1 can't handle that fag. If 1 see him tonight, 1'11 beat his head in." So, you go and you look for him ... (Frank 1990,210) 139

D4. Relationships - Men: Sexuality

Issues of sexuality in masculine relationships tend to be of two major kinds: either competition between men for women or sexual re1ationships between men. For adolescent boys this usually means competition with their fathers (occasionally other adult men) and other boys. John Marsden, writing in his book Secret Men 's Business:

New Millenium Advice for Australian boys, wams his readers that their fathers may see them as "competition". In Downstream (1989) John Rowe Townsend describes such father-son competition. Alan is seventeen, between schools and between friends. He develops a crush on his German tutor, Vivien, who, ten years older, rejects his advances gently. She tells him that anyway she prefers "oider men". Alan is horrified to discover that the older man in question is his father.

1 hated my father. 1 hated him out ofprimaljealousy. 1 hated him also out of an irrational but profound sense of indecency. A son, 1 felt, should not be so confronted with the sexuality of his father ... Above aIl, 1 hated him out of deep, bitter humiliation. He had shown me in the clearest way that he was a man; grown and virile, while 1 was a poor immature creature, a mere boy. (Townsend 1989,93)

This is the most extreme reaction of any of the characters in the books, although

AJ. in Bad Boy (Wieler 1989) is also disgusted by the notion of his father having a sex life. Other boys (Father Figure, Peck 1978, Rats Saw God, Thomas 1996) have a more philosophical attitude. A few books (mentioned above in the section on competition) feature characters who are close friends until the arrivaI of a girl in whom they both become interested alters their friendship.

There are not many gay characters in the selected novels, and only two books feature gay major characters, Bad Boys (Wieler 1992) where the main character's best 140 friend Tully tums out to be gay (see discussion above), and Dance on my grave

(Chambers 1995). Neither book is sexually graphie; both are more concemed with the difficulties their characters are having maintaining relationships. There are minor gay characters in Twe/ve Days in August (Murrow 1993), J'Il/ove you when you 're more like me (Kerr 1989), The Year of the Gopher (Naylor 1987), and Mr. Enigmatic (Pausacker

1994).

E. Relationships - W omen

More th an any other issue, relationships between men and women are about power.

This power is exerted both physically and institutionally through the family and the workplace. The images of masculinity in the selected books reflect this, particularly in the relationships between many of the parents, but they also reflect the possibility of a newer reality: a recognition of new possibilities in relationships between men and women.

El. Relationships - Women: Being male

The images of masculinity dealing with relationships with women in the novels can often be divided along generational lines. Parents and oIder relatives present a more traditional image of the man supposedly being in charge, his physical strength and ability providing care for "his" women. His ability to eam money to support the family is often a key part of this scenerio. Among the younger generational characters there is more recognition and description of varieties of relationships, although as might be expected with adolescent boys, there is an overriding concem about acquiring a girl friend and 141 having sex, more obsessive in sorne books than others (Sad Boys, Parry 1998, Doing il,

Burgess 2003, Downstream, Townsend 1989, The Year of the Gopher, Naylor 1987).

There are also a number of characters who have girls as supportive friends (Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Crutcher 1995, Kit's Wilderness, Almond 1999, Red White and Blue,

Leeson 1996). The relationships between brothers and sisters vary from dislike and competition (The Drowning Boy, Terris 1972) to support and friendship, although sometimes this level of relationship is only reached at the end of the novel (Men ofStone,

Friesen 2000, The Year of the Gopher, Naylor 1987, Out of Control, Mazer 1994, Bad

Boy, Wie1er 1992).

Sorne of the boys are described as having supportive and friendly relationships with older women, sometimes family members (Men of Stone, Friesen 2000, Yuletide Blues,

MacIntyre 1991) and sometimes teachers (The Maestro, Wynn-Jones 1998, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Crutcher 1995). Sorne friendships are more unusual, for example,

Robert becomes friendly with a dying woman in Feather Boy (Singer 2002), and sorne provide the character \Vith a new viewpoint on being male (Father Figure, Peck 1978).

Of course, friendly relationships with women mirror such relationships in the real world, as exemplified by the boys studied by Blye Frank, many of whom talk about having special friendships with girls and oIder women, who act as confidants, advisors and supporters (Frank 1990, 219).

A variety of relationships with mothers are also described: supportive (The Maves make the Man, Brooks 1984, Graffiti Dog, Nilsson 1995, Angel's Gate, Crew 1995), indifferent (The Maestro, Wynn-Jones 1998), ill (Father Figure, Peck 1978, The Maves make the Man, Brooks 1984), suffocating (Dance on my Grave, Chambers 1982), 142 irresponsible (A Bridge ta Wiseman 's Cave, Moloney 1996), and violent (Hero, Rottman

2000). Sorne relationships are destructive and damaging (A Bridge to Wiseman 's Cove,

Moloney 1996, Josh, Southall 1974). In Josh (Southall 1974), Josh cornes up against his

Aunt's expectations ofhow the Plowman men are supposed to behave.

"Why are you walking like that? Are you lame? ... "It's the bag! It's heavy." "Shouldn't be. Not for a boy ofyour size. The Plowmans are perfect physical specimens, every one of them. Have you outgrown your strength? ... 1 should have known when they told me you wrote poetry. Unnatural activity for a boy. Do you play sport?" (Southall 1974, 16).

Later she criticises his father

"An undemourished Plowman. Goodness me. What's wrong with your father? Can't he eam the money to feed you? Does he spend it on motor-cars? Everything in the house on time-payment ... (Southall 1974, 17).

For sorne of the boys living up to female expectations and still dealing with the traditional masculine expectations is very difficult. In Men of Stone (Friesen 2000) Ben lives in a house full of women. In high school he is being seriously bullied because at one time he leamt ballet with his sisters. After being beaten up, he decides revenge is the way to go: he is going to use violence to fight violence. His sisters and his mother have other ideas.

"You're not going to do something stupid, are you?" "Who, me? sensible, sensitive me?" "Benj ... Ben. Don't sink to their level. It's not safe." "What do you want me to do, Beth? Just lie down and takc it?" "There are other ways ... look at Jesus ... look at Gandhi! Violence is for barbarians." "Gandhi and Jesus? So, what, my options are assassination or crucifixion?" ... What did she want from me? What did any of them want from me? Ali my life they'd told me about the man 1 should 143

never become: the know it aIl, the brute, the insensitive goof, the guy who never listens. What about the man 1 should become? They'd never said anything about that. (Friesen 2000,152-153).

E2. Relationships - Women: Competition

Competition, domination, struggle for power, are aIl aspects of sorne of the marri ages described in the selected novels. In Runner (Voigt 1994) Bullet' s father wants to control every aspect of his family's lives. Bullet's brother and sister have already left home and never speak to their parents. Bullet is aware that sorne kink of stubbom loyalty keeps his mother with his father.

Whatever the old man did, there was something about her, something proud and bold and brave and strong - the old man couldn't break her, couldn't drive her off (Voigt 1994, 14).

In Good idea gone bad (Choyee 1993) Mick's father gives him advice on how to get on with his mother.

"If you don't want to do what yOuf mother tells you," my old man confided, "don't say you won't do it. Just say you're busy and you'll get around to it later. Maybe she'll forget she asked you and everybody will be happy. 1 know 1 shouldn't tell you this, but it's how yOuf mother and 1 get along. You've got to leam how to handle women, son." (Choyee 1993,91).

Both Mick and his father share a gentle comtempt for the women in their lives.

In Oliver's Wars (Wilson 1992) Oliver and his mother and brother have had to go and stay with his grandparents while his father is away in the army. His mother and grandfather fight ail of the time, and his grandmother bears the brunt of a1l the bad feeling. She finally talks to Oliver about his grandfather and explains why she never stood up to him and how frightened she has been of his anger. 144

1 was afraid that if 1 fought back, he'd get even madder, and then take it out on the children. Or if 1 let them fight back, then he stop liking them ... (Wilson 1992, 54).

Blye Frank's informants describe their parents' marnages and show varymg understanding of the inequalities which exist in the relationships (Frank 1990, 91-128).

A number of books have men voicing their reasons for leaving their marriages (Father

Figure, Peck 1978, Breaking up, Wilmott 1983) when they describe their fear of responsibility, and that they will be unable to live up to the expectations of their wives and society.

Two books, Good Idea Gone Bad (Choyce 1993) and Out of Control (Mazer 1994), de al with boys' anger at girls and what they see as "women refusing to stay in their place". In Good idea gone bad Mick says "we didn't approve of feminists because they were always trying to change things. Vou know, mess things up for men" (Choyce 1993,

2). In Out of Control (Mazer 1994) it is one girl' s refusaI to be intimidated by harassing behaviour that leads to a major assault. The three boys in the novel enjoy making girls feel uncomfortable by staring at them. Usually the girl goes red, tums away or leaves, but Valerie Michon just stares right back, so the boys step up their behaviour.

As mentioned earlier (p. 86 above) not aIl the categories used in this analysis are necessarily discrete, but exist for the purpose of the structure of the analysis. In the case of the distinction between the two categories below, Relationships - Women: Violence and Sexuality, the issues are sometimes difficult to separate. 145

E3. Relationships - Women: Violence

Images of violence against women include disfiguring a girl's face (Staying Fatfor

Sarah Bymes, Crutcher 1995), spi king a girl's drink and then assaulting her (Summertime

Blues, Clarke 2001), sexual harassment and assault (Out of Control, Mazer 1994), rape

(Looking for a wave, Couper 1973), attempted rape (Crabbe, Bell 1997), and murder

(Out ofthe dark, Katz 1996).

ln Staying Fat for Sarah Bymes (Crutcher 1995) Sarah's father burns her face on purpose, wh en she tries to stop him from hitting her mother. He then tells the hospital it was an accident and tells Sarah (who was 3Y2 years old at the time) if she ever tells anyone the truth, he will burn the rest of her. Included in this novel is a more subtle, but nevertheless devastating, form of violence. Mark Brittain cornes from a family of religious fundamentalists. In class at school he makes statements about people being responsible for their actions, specifically about fornication.

If you fornicate, you take the chance of pregnancy. If you get pregnant, you have the responsibility to have the baby. You have the obligation to have the baby (Crutcher 1995,94).

However, in reality he has forced his pregnant girlfriend to have an abortion, so that "his life won't be ruined". He has no problem with this double standard as he feels it was her fault anyway.

ln Out of Control (Mazer 1994) three boys move from what they see as legitimate teasing (more properly defined as sexual harassment) to assault. Two of the boys feel entirely justified in their behaviour.

That bitch Michon ... she had it coming to her. What did we do that was so terrible? We didn't rape her, we aren't a bunch of crazed axe murders. So we pushed her a litde, maybe grabbed sorne skin ... Girls 146

act like they're made of glass ... Girls take everything seriously (Mazer 1994, 110).

They rationalize it as just a bit of pushing and shoving, just 1ike boys in a lockerroom.

The third boy, Rollo, who until now has been content to follow along with his friends, gradually begins to rea1ize what this experience of violence has meant to the girl. He makes cautious contact with her and she asks him to try and understand how he would feel if he was helpless, unable to defend himself. Like many boys, Rollo finds this an impossible concept.

He doesn't want to think about being helpless, but she's forcing him to think about it. Forcing him to think how humiliated he'd be, how his cheeks would bum ... He doesn't want to talk about it. It puts a weak, watery feeling in his stomach (Mazer 1994, 179).

In an interesting reversaI, three incidents of violence are about women being responsible. ln Summertime Blues (Clarke 2001) Alexander gets mugged by two girls.

In The Proving Ground (A1phin 1992) Chris gets beaten up by a girl, and in Hero

(Rottman 2000) Sean has a violent mother, who has been beating him since he was small.

Now old enough, and big enough, to fight back, but reluctant to hit a woman, he takes his anger out by fighting with boys at school.

E4. Relationships - Women: Sexuality

Given that the books in this section feature adolescent boys as their main characters, it is not too surprising that sex, or at least thinking about sex, is a major preoccupation for many of the boys. The books provide a variety of images. ln The Year of the Gopher

(Naylor 1987) one of the boys jokes in true locker room manner: 147

"She's asking for it, you know," Dave Hahn told me at lunch. "Sorne girls get like that. They need it so bad they practically beg." (Naylor 1987,66).

This sentiment is also expressed in Out of Control (Mazer 1993). A number of Blye

Frank's informants express similar mysogynistic feelings.

Wayne: ... sometimes they just need to be put in their place ... Danny: ... you got to let them know who's boss in the relationship ... Luke: ... l'd say that girls in general ask for what they get ... (Frank 1990, 217).

Doing if (Burgess 2003) is, as the title suggests, focussed on three boys and their sex lives. Dino just wants to get laid, he has a particular girl chosen, but she's a means to an end rather than a real person in his view. One friend is friendly with a girl who likes him, but she is fat and he is put offbecause he thinks that she won't count as a real score.

He changes his mind after getting to know her better and finds that a cooperative friendship has actually tumed to love. Friendship tuming to love is a theme which occurs in a number of books (Summertime Blues, Clarke 2001; The Year of the Gopher, Naylor

1987; Bull Catcher, Carter 1997; Like Some Kind of Hero, Marino 1992; Between

Brothers, Morck 1992; The Blooding, Wheatley 1989; Mr Enigmatic, Pausacker 1994).

The general notion in these books is that the boy has been blinded by his des ire for the unattainable (cheerleader, most popular girl, most beautiful girl, etc.) and sorne kind of incident (co-operative school work, sympathy) opens his eyes to the worth of a girl who has been, until that moment, "just a friend".

A number of boys are successful and sleep with a girl (Rats Saw God, Thomas

1996; Doing if, Burgess 2003; The Year of the Gopher, Naylor 1987). In The Year of the 148

Gopher (Naylor 1987) George cornes to the decision that his relationship with his girlfriend Maureen is only about sex.

It's reaIly over between us, that's aIl." Don't make me say anything else, 1 thought. Don't make me spell it out. How does a guy ever say 1 don't care for you as much as 1 should? (Naylor 1987, 119).

And in Yuletide Blues (McIntyre 1991) Larry discovers an important truth about his relationship with Shawna.

'Then why did you call me a slut?" ... "1 don't know, because 1 really like you. And if 1 really like you, Shawna, the person, then how can 1 hurt you? So 1 called you a slut, and you're not Shawna anymore, just a thing, then 1 can hurt you. If you want to hurt someone, you turn them into a thing first (McIntyre 1991,218).

Dear Nobody (Doherty 1997) is the only book in the selection to de al with teenage pregnancy, although abortion as an issue is discussed in Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

(Crutcher 1995). Dear Nobody is written with two voices, Chris and Helen, who have derailed their future plans because Helen has bec orne pregnant. A number of other books touch on the problems sorne men have accepting responsibility, particularly for a family

(Breaking Up, Wilmott 198;, Father Figure, Peck 1978; Flour Babies, Fine 1994), but

Dear Nobody is the only novel to examine the adolescent boy's point of view, his love for his girlfriend but also his total self-centeredness and lack of maturity.

When 1 saw you that day at the hospital 1 realized that during aIl those months of separation from Helen 1 hadn 't thought once about you. You were nobody. It was Helen 1 was thinking about ... 1 wanted to be with her ... 1 wanted everything to be the same again. But wh en 1 saw her at last, you were there .... The thought of holding you or even touching you scared me, tiny creature that you were. 1 tried to look at you and say, she is ours ... 1 couldn't. 1 felt weak. 1 wanted to hide from you. Helen is right. l'm not ready for you, or for her. l'm not yet ready for myself (Doherty 1997, 199). 149

The boys in Blye Frank's study who know they have been responsible for getting a girl pregnant show even less maturity than Chris in the book described above (Frank 1990,

116).

ln two of the books (Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, LeGuin 1976,

Downstream, Townsend 1989) boys are angry and frustrated because their girlfriends refuse a physical relationship. Although they react with anger they nevertheless respect the girl's right to this decision. In Bad Boy (Wieler 1989) AJ. lets his anger with other areas of his life overflow into his relationshop with Summer, and she has to fight him to get him to let her go. In an interesting reversaI of this incident and the one described above in Out of Control (Mazer 1994), in Summertime Blues (Clarke 2001) Alexander has a brief moment of understanding when a girl he doesn't ev en know makes a direct

(and aggressive) play for him at a party.

Now 1 have nothing against women's liberation and aIl that stuff. It's fine by me if women want to be airline pilots '" they can box or go down coal mines for aIl 1 care. But l've always thought that when 1 got around to a bit of passion, 1 would be the one calling the shots. 1 feel an absolute fool standing in the crowd of people with this little red-haired dwarfy thing trying to put her tongue in my mouth. 1 mean, now 1 know how girls must feel when they get groped by blokes they don 't like (Clarke 200 l, 79).

F. School

School is a major theatre of masculinity for adolescent boys and a highly structurcd social environment. 150

Ft. School: Being male

As mentioned above, hegemonic masculinity does not main tain that only one fonn of masculinity is available to boys, just that there is a more heavily weighted approved image. Within the school environment this image tends to be that of the jock, the successful, physically able, sportsman. Much of the bullying which goes on in the school environment is directed towards those boys that fail to live up to this physical ideal.

(This situation will be discussed further in this section under the topic of violence.) In the section on sport, the importance of "making the team" or getting chosen for specific sporting activities was discussed and a number of books have this as a central theme

(Heart of a Champion, Deuker 1993, The Maves Make the Man, Brooks 1984, Like Sorne

Kind of Hero, Marino 1992, Bad Boy, Wieler 1992, Tangerine, Bloor 1997). It isn 't just a matter of being good enough to make the team that counts, every boy is expected to have sorne type of natural sporting ability. Sorne of the more unattractive images of masculinity described in the selected novels come from the descriptions of school coaches, physical education teachers, and other individuals involved in "teaching" sports.

Sorne of the boys in Blye Frank's study (1990) discuss the ways in which coaches and

Phys. ed. teachers humiliated them, condoned and in fact ev en encouraged violence

(Frank 1990, 179-181). So it is no surprise to see this reflected in many of the novels.

In Oliver 's Wars (Wilson 1992) this is vividly described. Oliver has arrived at a new school and is finding it difficult. He is a good swimmer, but has difficulty with other sports. He lacks natural coordination.

Phys. ed. Classes were a nightmare for him. He' d always had difficulty with games that involved objects - pucks, balls, sticks, bats. He couldn't seem to get it aIl together. Where others hit and caught, Oliver missed and fumbled ... he'd tried and tried to improve those 151

ski Ils, but no kind of practice or training seemed to work ... this broke at least one corner ofhis heart ... (Wilson 1992,30).

In Saskatchewan, where Oliver had been at school previously, his teacher had seemed to understand his problem and had been tolerant; no one had made fun of him. But in his new school in Halifax, everything is different. Mr Hennigar is the hockey coach and the

Phys. ed. teacher. He was "sturdy and muscular, with powerful arms, and army-Iength haircut and piercing eyes" (Wilson 1992, 30). Oliver has a twin brother who is good at sport. Mr Hennigar is convinced that Oliver is just lazy and heckles him continuously in front of the entire c1ass. When a teacher behaves like this, and shows his contempt for a particular person, th en the c1ass as a whole tends to follow his example, and boys in

Oliver's situation are castigated as "wimps" and "useless", and ostracized.

Sport is one way into instant acceptance at school but ev en being good at is doesn't always help "the new boy" become accepted. In Pig (Geraghty 1992) Mike has had to move from a farming community in Natal to Cape Town. A good soccer player, he is looking forward to playing on the school team and in practices during the school day. It is always difficult for a new boy to gain acceptance into the group and for Mike it proves to be virtually impossible. School boys in groups can be very cruel: Mike's name is against him for a start (Goodenough), and the fact that he is forced to stand up and tell the c1ass where he cornes from provides the other boys with ev en more ammunition. He tells the c1ass that he lived on a large pig farm and that his best friend was a Zulu boy called

Phoco. The group of boys in his c1ass, led by Trevor, christen him Pig and calI him a

"Kaffir lover". The sarcastic attitude of sorne of his teachers just adds to his problems.

The only boy in his c1ass he can talk to is Peter Green, the c1ass nerd who is also ostracized by the "sporty, physical" group. Mike himself regards Peter with less that 152 enthusiasm, and when he finds out he plays the piano, he is horrified. (Not a masculine activity at alI!)

For the boys who don't fit the sportY profile, there are other routes to try, sorne more successful than others, depending on the type of social environment.

While the physical dominance of the macho boys may place them in a powerful position in the peer culture, all the groups present themselves as powerful and superior in terms of sorne criterion, be it intellectual hardness, coolness and style, or pragmatic careerism. AlI these qualities can be a source of strength and toughness (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 142).

Successful images of masculinity, maintained within the school environment, are often related to class. Working class masculine school culture leans towards a macho, aggressive anti-schoolwork stance. "The authority structure of the school becomes the antagonist against which one's masculinity is cut" (Connell 1098, 294). Patrick

Pennington (Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer, Pey ton 1985) is exactly in this position.

Forced to stay at school because of his working class mother's hopes for his future, he is taking out his frustration by being as uncooperative as possible, and actively causing trouble. He is unusual in that he is also a piani st, but his reaction to this ability is just as antagonistic as his reaction to school work. Pennington is not the only character having trouble at school. In Dodger (Gleeson 1996) Mick has problems at home and is being harassed by the Phys. ed. teacher. A new teacher unmoved by his reputation as a difficuIt student gets him involved in the school musical and helps him change his school image.

Teachers arc often the catalyst for a charactcr's bad bchaviour. Thcir unrcalistic expectations, their sarcastic manner, their habit of humiliating individuals in front of the group, and their frequently draconian methods of keeping control in the c1assroom result 153 in continuaI confrontations with their students. As mentioned above, this kind of reation is often connected to class; in a working class environment being difficult (Ha bad boy") at school can give a boy instant status with his peers. Even in middle or upper class schools where more importance is attached to educational achievement, it is still very

Huncool" to be seen to be working too hard. Achievement is supposed to be effortless.

One of the images in the novels is of the disaffected but intelligent student. Initially

interested in learning, he has been turned off by school.

1 started to check out all my teachers and 1 realized they all wanted the class to go along with their plan for the lesson ... they all asked a lot of questions but ... none of them was really interested in what you said. And the last thing they wanted was for you to think (Bell 1997,32).

Images of "difficult boys" are also featured in The True Story of Spi! McPhee

(Aldridge 1987), The McIntyre Liar (Bly 1993), The Chocolate War (Cormier 1974),

Men of Stone (Friesen 2000), Flour Babies (Fine 1992), Dodger (Gleeson 1990), Dive

(Gwffin 2001), Hangman (Jarman 1999), Holdfast (Mayer 1978), Raw (Monk 1996), and

The Tuesday Café (Trembath 1996).

F2. School: Competition

Gilbert and Gilbert comment that in the school situation a struggle to achieve a

satisfactory form of masculinity involves competing with and putting down alternatives

(Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 142). Frequently this competition is divided along c1ass lincs.

As already mentioned, working class boys favour a macho tough image, and contrast this

image against the "softer" image of achieving success in class, academically. In a study 154 of boys' school cultures (Mac an Ghaill 1994), a number of different groups were identified: "The Macho Lads", "The Academic Achievers", "The New Enterprisers", and a group who saw themselves as cultural arbiters of taste and style. Class was usually tied in with the chosen images. The Macho Lads were typical of the working class boys who saw school as a hostile place, and the teachers as the enemy, boys like Patrick Pennington in Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer (Pey ton 1985). Macho Lad behaviour is a version of the aggressive form of masculinity commonly described in both ethnographies and novels dealing with schoollife.

Its [macho lad behaviour's] dominance in the p1ayground and often in sport, and the physica1 intimidation it can present to other students, mean that it is a powerfu1 icon with or against which other students must position themse1ves. It encapsu1ates many of the problems of hegemonic masculinity and schooling (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 126).

The competitiveness of the different images of mascu1inity avai1able to boys in the school situation is encouraged by schooling "where individualism and competitive definitions of success are rife" (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 142). Boys at school are involved in competition at a number of levels. They must compete with the other boys physically.

When the First Form joins and aIl cornes together from aIl different [primary] schools, there's this thing like sorting out who was the best fighter, who is the most toughest and aggressive boy in the form, and aIl the 1ittle mobs and cliques deve10p (ConneIl 1989,294).

And they must make a successfu1 space for themselves somewhere in the school hierarchy, in the classroom and on the playground. School can be an exhausting place for boys because they must constantly be on the watch that they are projecting the "right" image, to both students and teachers. 155

The comment made by the informant mentioned above in Connell (1982, 294) is mirrored by my own observations in an all-boys school. In the tirst days of a new year at school aIl the boys compete for positions in the class hierarchy. Every year at the beginning of first term, the Grade 7s at a Montreal private school go away to camp for three days, as a "bonding exercise". One of the teachers in charge remarked that every year the same exercise goes on as the boys group around those with physical size and strength and sporting ability, reject the nerds and "teacher's pets", and develop a variety of groups and cliques. Within the class at a later date, sorne boys will successfully acquire a respectable image as far as achievement in school work is concemed, although it will help if they can remain "cool" (that is achieve success without apparent effort), as this will add value to their image.

This is in fact the crucial difference between Mac an Ghaill's (1994) Academic

Achievers and the fourth group mentioned above, the cultural arbiters of taste and style.

This last group attached great importance to achieving academic success without appearing to ever do any work and in spite of their general antagonistic behaviour towards both other staff and students. The Academic Achievers on the other hand, although they found comfort in numbers and being approved of by teachers, were often looked down on by the other groups, as being "soft" or "nerdy". The New Enterprisers focussed on vocational education and had worked out a relationship to school that rested on "an instrumental approach to knowledge and concem for future careers" (Gilbert and

Gilbert] 998, 128). Each of these groups regarded its own image of masculinity as the

"coolest" in relation to the others, and aIl were in competition with each other. 156

The majority of books in the sample with a school background look at competition on the sports field or the playground rather than in the classroom (see the discussion on sport above). Success in the classroom is seen more as a way of gaining approval and recognition from a teacher rather th an from the peer group (Oliver's War, Wilson 1993,

The Proving Ground, Alphin 1992).

When Oliver (Wilson 1992) fails miserably to live up to his teacher's expectations in phys. ed. he feels he has been given another chance when he has to do a written project. He knows he can do this well and he hopes that his skill in this area will balance out his failure in sport.

ln The Proving Ground (Alphin 1992) Kevin is an army chi Id and used to changing schools. He uses his ability to do his school work to establish himself in a new school.

Classes weren 't too bad. Even sitting in the back corner in every room Kevin had already scored a 9.4 on a history pop quiz and gotten a B+ on an English theme. The best moment had been acing a geometry quiz and having the teacher look at him instead of through him ... the quiz was a bright reminder that he was still the same guy. Only the kids around him were different (Alphin 1992, 17).

Having an acknowledged group of friends is also a way of making a space for yourself. Writing a school essay on Bullying in Red, White and Blue (Leeson 2000),

Gawain makes the comment that to avoid being bullied you should "either keep a low profile, like be invisible, or you get your own gang, or you become a champion sprinter and hurdler" (Leeson 2000, 61). He goes on to say that so far he had avoided being bullied because "in the early days 1 kept a low profile ... And then within weeks of starting school 1 assembled this brilliant outfit around me, the Misfits. Together we are quite - impressive" (Leeson 2000, 67). Reflecting a similar attitude to their fictional 157 counterparts above, the boys in Blye Frank's study (1990) also talk about different strategies for survival at school, including attaching yourself to the right group.

F3. School: Violence

Incidents of violence are not uncommon in today's school environment. None of the selected books de al with large scale incidents such as the killings at Columbine. The gang fights in The Outsiders (Hinton 1967) take place outside of school time, as does the gaybashing in Cood Idea Cone Bad (Choice 1993). In Lookingfor a Hero (Boyd 1993) a murder takes place in the school gym, but its causes lie outside the school environment and the victim is a visitor to the school. The incidents of violence described in the books tend to be from the three main areas, sport, fighting (as a proof of superiority) and bullying. The violence that exists within school sport and the complicity of coaches and teachers, who often behave in a bullying way, has been discussed above. Fighting, as a form of masculine rite of passage, has also been mentioned above. Both Bullet Tillerman

(The Runner, Voigt 1994) and Sean (Hero, Rottman 2000) use their physical strength to underline their wish to be left alone and to de mon strate their "toughness" to the school population. In The Chocolate War (Cormier 1974) the final violent scene is a carefully orchestrated boxing match, arranged by Archie (whose role as the quintessential bully will be discussed below). Both boys involved in the fight are hoping to prove something to their fellow students.

Jerry had actually believed it was possible, possible to best Janza and the school and even Archie. He had thought of his father and the terrible look of defeat ... giving up. l'm not giving up, Jerry had pledged, listening to Archie's goading voice. He also ached for a 158

chance to confront Janza. Janza who had called him a fairy (Cormier 1974, 171).

Emile looked across the stage at Renault. He longed for combat. To prove himself in front of the whole school. To hell with that psychology crap Archie had made him use - telling Renault he was a fairy. He should have used his tists, not his mouth (Cormier 1974, 173).

The ensuing boxing match, held in the school stadium, in front of aIl the students but organized without teachers' knowledge (although the acting Headmaster, Brother

Leon, is a pleased spectator, and does nothing to stop the tight even when it becomes obvious that Jerry Renault may be beaten to death) is a chilling example of the way in which masculine ideals of courage, confrontation, and physical toughness can result in escalating violence.

Stop it, stop it. But nobody heard. His voice was lost in the thunder of screaming voie es, voices calling for the kill ... Kill him, kill him. (Cormier 1974, 184).

Bullying is a common occurrence at school and a central issue in a number of the books. The image of the school bully has been a recurring one since Flashman tirst appeared in Tom Brown 's Schoo/ Days (Hughes, 1987, tirst published 1857).

Verbal sex-based harassment in which a student's sex is the ground for insults is the most common form of harassment, reported by more th an 90% of students surveyed (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 186).

This type of harassment has already been mentioned above wh en discussing the problem of homophobia. One of the ongoing problems with masculinity is its tendency to detine itself in opposition to any characteristics regarded as feminine, so it is not surprising that the tirst line of insults among school boys (and sometimes their teachers) is gender related. In Cannily, cannily (French 1981), Trevor is the new boy at school, his 159 hair is a litde long, he wears different clothes, he's small for his age, and his parents are regarded by the town as hippies. His school mates refer to him as "pansy", "fairy",

"Mum's boy", and "sis sie". The coach of the school's football also does this.

l'm training sportsmen here, not pansies ... y ou 're like a bunch of girls out on that field today ... (French 1981, 140).

In Twelve Days in August (Murrow 1993), Randy Tovitch worried about losing his place on the school teams to a new boy, automatically begins making homophobic remarks to his te am mates.

''l'm not giving my spot to a guy who's not even a guy - if you know what l mean. Look at him run - see? Like a girl ... (Murrow 1993, 34).

Randy continues with comments aimed at tuming the rest of the te am against Alex.

Anyone being friendly towards him is immediately accused of being a faggot or a fag lover. Guilt by association is a common way of becoming the target for a bully. In Life

is a Lonely Place (Fritzhand 1975) Tink becomes a target, primarily because the school bull y is angry about Tink's older brother taking his girl friend. His way ofbullying Tink, however, is to make homophobic comments about his friendship with a local writer.

"Y ou know what else, Tinker Bell?" ... "You're pitiful, that's what. You're a real pitiful little fruit, that's what you are. A real fag-and-a-half." (Fritzhand 1975, 56).

In Red, White and Blue (Leeson 2000) it is Wain's friendship with an older boy Keith

Clarridge that leads to trouble; Wain doesn't know that Clarridge is gay, but the older boys do, and one of the school bullies "Oldfield, star rugby forward, built likc a brick wall and awesomely evil" (Leeson 2000,69) targets Wain as "a little poof' and threatens to beat him up. 160

Verbal harassment can easily tum into physical violence. The pushing and shoving which often accompanies this type of harassment can tum into outright fighting. (Men of

Stone, Friesen 2000, Twelve Days in August, Murrow 1993, The Proving Ground, Alphin

1992, Josh, Southall 1974) In Red, White and Blue (Leeson 2000) the bullying almost results in the death of Wain and Keith, and in a number of books, characters end up in hospital.

Bullying is a common problem in schools and a difficult one to resolve.

In those old school stories, the hero fights the bully behind the school gym and always wins. Why? Because the bul1y always fights fair, and he's a coward which helps. But what would happen if three of them got you behind the bike sheds or waited for you after school? ... Those schools, and there are a lot of them, who say "Oh, we don't have bullying, just the general rough and tumble, the kids sorting it out between them, a bit like an assault course in the Army" are so wrong. Of course the school doesn 't find out because the victim does the honourable thing and never grasses (Leeson 2000, 61).

Although this is Wain speaking in Red, White and Blue (Leeson 2000) he is putting sorne of the major issues very clearly. Authorities are ambivalent about bul1ying. While preaching that violence isn't the answer, at the same time they are often also maintaining that boys must leam to deal with bullying students by themselves, it is "part of life". The masculine code of "taking it like a man" and not "grassing" only feeds into the whole situation and makes it possible for bullying to continue. It is a sad irony that "findings support the view that the construction of masculinity is a powerful component of harassment and bullying in schools" (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 187). "Key dominant messages traditionally given to boys about masculinity" help reinforce violence used as a way of getting power.

In Hangman (Jarman 1999) Danny's appearance is against him.

------161

Nerd. Turd. Wally. Dickhead. AlI rolled into one. The sooner they dumped him the better. It would not do to be seen walking into the playground with him (Jarman 1999, 12).

Danny himself doesn't understand why he is so disliked. He finds his parent's advice typically confusing. His dad's advice was "Give as good as you get son. If they punch you, punch them back." But his mum said "Ifyou're not a puncher Danny, don't punch."

(Jarman 1999, 27) The cruelty of Danny's school mates drives him to attempted suicide.

Mark, one of Blye Frank's informants, talks about having the same type of experience at school.

1 wanted to kill myself a couple of times ... 1 couldn 't cope with what was happening to me ... 1 had things stolen from me, have had names yelled at me ... 1 was somebody who they found who they could take their frustrations and anger out on (Frank 1990, 112).

It is not only the victims who are confused about what action to take. Both Todd in

Twelve Days in August (Murrow 1993) and Toby in Hangman (Jarman 1999) stand by while someone they know well is being bullied.

For about a second he considered being a hero saying "Danny's different, that's all, leave him alone." Then he had a flashback of Danny in the junior playground pretending to be a butterfly (Jarman 1999,20).

As mentioned earlier, solidarity in the school situation is a changeable thing. It is very difficult to go against the group and usually requires the kind of political ability that few adolescents possess. One of the few bullies in young adult literature who does possess this ability is Archie in The Chocolate War (Cormier 1974). He prides himself on getting others to do his dirty work. In alliance with one of the teachers, the acting headmaster, he virtually controls the whole school. 162

surveying his handiwork, the crowded bleachers, the frantic comings and goings as the raffle tickets were bought and sold and the directions scrawled on the tickets. Archie exulted quietly. He had successfully conned Renault and Leon and the Vigils and the whole damn school. 1 can con anybody. 1 am Archie (Cormier 1974, 170).

Like Nick in Hangman (Jarman 1999), Archie seems devoid of moral sense, power is his key aim and he justifies his behaviour as a simple case of strength versus weakness, might is right.

F4. School: Sexuality

"Schools are intensely sexual places where boys learn a great de al about what it means to be a sexual 'male' pers on" (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 106).

Sex talk, sexual behaviour, sexual relationships, sexual divisions and sexual politics are threaded throughout ... the interactions between students, staff, and students and staff (Kelly 1992, 27).

The books in the selection provide a variety of images which fit into the topics described above. In the books with younger main characters, sex talk, jokes, the sharing of misinformation and sorne bewilderment at the general behaviour of girls are aIl described. The images described in books with oIder characters include fantasy, romantic longings, masturbation, harassment, homophobia and fears of actually being gay, first sex, betrayal, recognition of the difference between sex and love, and in sorne cases a growing recognition of the girl's point of view. (This last topic is unusual, given the almost total self-absorption of most adolescent boys.)

Many of the boys spend time dreaming about the unobtainable girl and fantasizing about ways of making themselves suddenly attractive to her. (The Year of the Gopher, 163

Naylor 1987, Summertime Blues, Clarke 2001, Men of Stone, Friesen 2000, A Bridge ta

Wiseman 's Cave, Maloney 1996). Others find that wh en the dream looks like becoming reality, life remains confusing and unsettled. Patrick Pennington (Pey ton 1985) stunned to find that the girl he has been regarding as unattainable actually wants to be friends with him, is taken aback when he realises that she has no idea of how she affects him.

She kept on walking and chatting away, as if she thought it made no difference to him at aIl ... It occurred to him then that she was, in fact unaware of the feelings she aroused ... He was wildly indignant ... thinking of aIl the things they said about girls at school, and how right they were, how unfair it aIl was. It was always the boys that got into trouble for taking advantage, but no one ever said how the girls led you on, with their eyes looking and their dresses showing everything . .. how was a boy supposed to know what on earth they wanted? (Pey ton 1985, 132).

For Jerry Renault, Playboy Magazine, fantasizing, and masturbation only leave him sad and frustrated.

A longing filled him. Would a girl ever love him? The one devastating sorrow he carried within him was the fear that he would die before holding a girl's breast in his hand (The Chocolate War, Cormier 1974, 18).

ln Hunter in the Dark (Hughes 1982) Mike shares the same kind of longing, but for him time may really be running out. Diagnosed with severe leukemia, he isn't sure how long he has to live. "1 want to know what it's like to ... to sleep with a girl" (Hughes

1982, 96). Images of crushing embarassment and difficulties in talking to girls are also described in a number of books. In Men of Stone (Friesen 2000) Ben describes a list of disasters as he tries to get to know various girls. Now in Grade 9, he is attracted to a girl called Kat. "rd only talked to her once. 1 lasted four seconds before elastic bands inside me were popping and fraying" (Friesen 2000, 23). Watching her, instead of 164 concentrating on the volley ball game, he gets hit by the ball and the coach yells at him for lack of concentration. The school bully suggests that "Maybe Conrad could try watching the baIl instead of Kat's T-shirt?" (Friesen 2000, 24) Kat's reaction is to hiss

"Guys are pigs" at Ben and walk out of the gym.

In Melvin Burgess's book Doing il (2003), as might be expected from the title, his three main teenage male characters, Ben, Dino, and Jonathon, have one thing on their mind. The opening chapters of the book deal with the boys' fantasizing about their female teachers. For Ben this dream becomes reality, and he leams at first hand how it feels to be involved in a dangerous manipulative relationship.

For Dino, the problem is how to get a particular girl into bed and he spends aIl his time and effort in this direction. For Jonathon, the problem is not so much to find a girl, because one has found him, but he feels that her appearance is against her, ev en though he enjoys talking to her. Jonathon's image is an interesting one. Unlike Dino, obsessed with appearance and conquest, he makes the discovery that looks are only part of a relationship, and a fairly superficial part at that. He also leams that friendship can be an important part of a relationship.

In Rats Saw God (Thomas 1996) first love and first sex are depicted, along with first betrayal, when Steve's girl friend leaves him for one of the teachers. In The Year of the Gopher (Naylor 1987) George recognises the difference between sex and love. He also leams to negotiate the perils of having an older woman after him.

In a number of the selected books, the main male character moves beyond self- absorption and seeing girls as sex objects. In Staying Fat for Sarah Burnes (Crutcher

1995) Eric's special friendship with Sarah is a complicated one, but it has to do with 165 loyalty and support, as discussed above. His growing attraction to another girl, Jody, who has been in an abusive relationship and had an abortion, gives him an even greater

appreciation of other points of view. In Life is a Lonely Place (Fritzhand 1975) Tink is

tutoring Margie. He thinks he may be onto a good thing because of her reputation at

school, but he discovers otherwise.

. .. 1 wanted to be like everyone el se 1 knew who had steady girl friends or went out on lots of dates. If they could do it - kiss and make out and stuff like that - so could 1 ... "Please don't" she said ... "1 thought you were different." she said. "1 thought you were a gentleman." "A gentleman can still want to kiss a girl, can 't he? Besides, you 've let aIl the other guys kiss you, so why not me?" (Fritzhand 1975, 94).

Tink leams to his cost that Margie is a person, not a thing, and when he finally

listens to her tell him about her past experiences (including an abortion), he, like Eric

above, leams to see a situation through someone else's eyes.

As mentioned above, homophobia and confusion about sexual identity are common

among teenage boys. One of the problems with the prevailing view of correct masculine

behaviour is that close friendships between boys are regarded with suspicion. Alex's

description of his close friendship with another boy at his previous school makes Todd

extremely hesitant to encourage his friendship. The same is true in A Candie for St

Antony (Spence 1977). In The Blooding (Wheatley 1989) and Bad Boy (Wieler 1992) the

two main characters doubt that they are heterosexual because of their friendships with

gay boys. In the straightjacketed world of main stream masculinity, any type of close

friendship between men is regarded as "unnatural". There are only two main characters

in the selected novels who are homosexual: Tully in Bad Boy (Wieler 1992) and Hal in

Dance on my Grave (Chambers 1082). While both appear happy with their sexual 166 orientation, like the gay boys in Blye Frank's study (Frank 1990) they camouflage their orientation at school.

A number of books show boys being in sensitive towards girls but only one, Out of

Control (Mazer 1994) deals with harassment and its aftermath. Of the three boys involved, only one develops any feeling of shame over the harassment of a girl in their class. The other two continue to justify their actions by saying "she was asking for it", but Rollo, whose father feels that he should bear sorne personal reaponsibility for the attack, is the only one of the three to make an attempt to understand his own actions and the feelings of the girl involved.

G. Work

G 1. Work: Being Male

Work is usually a key are a of importance in masculine performance. For sorne men, what you do is what you are. Work can bring you power, money and influence.

Lack of work, unemployment, can hit directly at a man' s sense of self worth. Attitudes can differ according to class.

For the midd1e class adolescent, with a future in a profession or a business, his own personal and social power will be expressed through a direct mastering of the world. Workaholism or at least a measuring of his value through status and the paycheck might weil be the outcome '" For a working class boy, the avenue of mastering the world of business, politics, the professions, and wealth is ail but denied. For him male power is often defined in the form of working class machismo ... manual labor bec ornes the embodiment of masculine power (Kaufman 1979b, 12-13). 167

For many of the boys in the selected novels it is their father that provides the key image of masculinity and work. Sorne of them are critical of what they see as work for purely monetary gain.

My dad isn't particularly keen on thinking. He pre fers making piles of money and working on his house, his garden, his swimming pool and the rest of his gadgets and status symbols (Mr Enigmatic, Pausacker 1995, 19).

The central characters in Crabbe (Bell 1997) and The Year of the Gopher (Naylor

1987) both have fathers who are lawyers, and both boys reject the work image projected by their fathers, but for different reasons. Crabbe (Bell 1997) feels that his father's attitude to both his work and his life is full of hypocrisy. George (Naylor 1987) has no problem with the way his father does his job, he just doesn't want to be boxed into the family expectations that he should go to Harvard (like his grandfather and father) and become a lawyer. The Year of the Gopher (Naylor 1987) is interesting because it deals at sorne length with parental expectations and future employment. George's brother Ollie takes courage from George's stand (he decides to become a school counsellor) and announces that far from going on to university (as his parents want), he wants to train as a forest technician. One of the major discussion points in this book is that whatever you do, you should at least be interested in doing it. Status is not necessarily the only concem. A more basic issue in the book is that the ability to find a job and stick with it brings its own reward. George has tumed his back on the Ivy League hopes of his father, who then announces that he will continue to give him basic supplies, a roof, a bed, food, but nothing more. Wh en George goes out and gets a job, and continues to work at it, and begins to contribute to the household, he eams his father's grudging respect. 168

ln J'Il love you when you 're more like me (Kerr 1989) Wally is expected to join the family business and to go BEAMS (Broadhurst Embalming and Mortician School).

Wally prefers the image of his father's older brother (known as The Flop of the Two

Families).

Everyone in my father's family for generations has gone to BEAMS. BEAMS is the reaSOn my Uncle Albert ran off to join the Navy, age seventeen ... He went from the Navy to working as an apprentice printer, to teaching dancing at Arthur Murray, to managing a McDonald's, to teaching canoe at a boy's camp ... to extenninating rats in Chicago, to playing at a roadhouse and living in a trailer camp ... Uncle Albert signs aIl his postcards and letters "No regrets, Albert" (Kerr 1989, 82-83).

When Wally argues that this sounds like a more interesting life th an his father's, his father lectures him about security. "A man without a profession is a man without more than about two hundred dollars in savings his whole life .... Albert ran out on his old age when he ran away ... He spit in the face ofFate." (Kerr 1989, 84)

Sometimes the image presented seems to conflict with traditional ideas of masculinity. Although Lanny gets on weIl with his parents, he finds it difficult to explain to other boys what his father does.

"He's a poet." "A what!?" "A poet. He writes poems." "Holy shit. Did you guys hear that?" And it goes downhiII from there. 1 don't dare mention that he cooks too. 1 don't mean like barbeque steaks, l'm talking garbanzo bean chili. And lentils (Yuletide Blues, Mclntyre 1998,20).

Luckily for Lanny, he is popular at school, tall and large and a good hockey player.

His friends feel sorry for him, rather than critical of his father's job. In Oliver's Wars

(Wilson 1992), Oliver's father is a soldier in the Canadian Anny, taking part in the Gulf 169

War, but he is also a nurse and Oliver becomes a target for one of the other boys, whose father is also in the army, but fighting, "not just being a sissy nurse".

For Manolo in Shadows of a Bull (Wojciechowska 1987) the problem is once again one of expectations, his own and others. His father had been a famous bullfighter and

Manolo is expected to follow in his footsteps, to want to follow in his footsteps. While

Manol0 admires bullfighters and recognises the beauty in the movements of the fighters, he does not want to become one himself. He wants to bec orne a doctor. After watching the town doctor de al with a badly gored bullfighter

Manolo decided that if only he did not have to be a bullfighter, he would be a doctor. He wanted to leam how to stop the pain and how to stop the fear ofit. ... he would study hard. It would not be easy, but he would be leaming to do something worthwhile (Wojciechowska 1987,97-98).

Sorne images, the soldier, the policeman, bring with them a macho aura, that adolescent boys romanticise. In Sharkbait (Salisbury 1997) Moke's father is a policeman.

1 slid behind the wheel of his car. Red Firebird with a bubble-light stuck on top. 1 too, everytime 1 got in there, 1 could feel the power. Like 1 was Daddy, driving around with that shotgun, police radio, handcuffs, searchlight, gun on my hip, flashing badge, fast car. Like having muscles. POW! Don't mess with me (Salisbury 1997,3).

Moke's father is aware that Moke's and his friends are fascinated by the gangs, and the fights which happen down on the harbour, and after they are involved in one which ends in an oIder boy being shot, he tries to correct the image they have about violence being exciting.

"Y ou guys think guns and fighting and acting tough gives you respect, don 't you. You think pushing people around gives you sorne kind of 170

power. ... Those things only make people afraid of you, and fear is not respect. What people respect you for is not this," he said, making a fist. Then he tapped his heart and said, "I1's this." (Salisbury 1997, 150).

For Kevin, in The Proving Ground (Alphin 1992), being a soldier is about being brave and he dreams ofbeing a hero like his father. Watching his father he discovers that there are different forms of courage.

As mentioned in the quote above, middle class work images tend to measure success by status and paycheck. Working class images often focus on the actual labour. ln Kit 's Wilderness (Almond 1999), Ki1's grandfather tries to explain what it was like to go down into the pit.

As a lad l'd wake up trembling, knowing that as a Watson born in Stoneygate l'd soon be following my ancestors into the pit ... But there was more than just the fear Kit. We were also driven to it. We understood our fate. There was the strangest joy in dropping down together into the darkness that we feared (Almond 1999, 19).

He is proud of his days as a miner and he wants his grandson to share that pride.

Pleasure and pride in the ability to work weIl at something occurs in a number of books. ln Dear Nobody (Doherty 1997) Chris's father enjoys his skill with the pottery he designs and makes, and in The Runner (Voigt 1994) Bullet contrasts his father's sullen anger over the hardwork of farming with Patrice's quiet pleasure in fishing, and salvaging and rebuilding wooden boats. Connell (1989) comments that there is a distinction in the labour market between "a set of credentialled labour markets for specific trades, semi- professions and professions" and "a broad market for more or less unskilled general labour - whether manual or clerical" (Connell 1989, 296). Whereas middle class boys can think in terms of a "long term career", for many working class boys the only choice is 171 to "take whatever jobs come up". For the working class boys in sorne of the novels this is exactly the choice they are faced with. When Jamie is asked what he hopes to do wh en he 1eaves school he thinks sarcastically

There were a million things he could do. He could join the army and leam how to kill people - he could join the police and harass aIl the black kids - he could run a liquor store and hump beer crates - (Ure 1985, 122).

Patrick Pennington (Pey ton 1985) has no thoughts of going on and doing any further training, even though he is an exceptional pianist. There is no money in his family for further study and he assumes he'll end up "driving a truck or something". For

Col in The Blooding (Wheatley 1989) there is only one employer in his small country town, and although he loves the forest, he will probably become a logger. Wh en the greenies arrive however he is suddenly given conflicting images of possibilities and his choices are no longer clear.

Having a job, being employed, is tied in very strongly with self-respect. In Fighting

Ruben Wolfe, Marcus Zusak (2002) draws a clear portrait of the effect ofunemployment on a working class family. Ruben's father was injured on the job and now he's out of work.

He's half a man, because it seems that wh en a man can't work and when his wife and kids eam aIl the money, a man becomes half a man (Zusak 2002, 29).

G2. Work: Competition

Work is about competition, power and control. The images in the books include lawyers, doctors, bankers, policemen, engineers, soldiers, architects, writers, artists, 172 musicians, farmers and fishermen. Power and control are represented in different ways.

Professional people such as doc tors or lawyers appear to command respect through knowledge and ability (Angel 's Gate, Crew 1995, The Year of the Gopher, Naylor 1987).

Sorne work, like being a fisherman, is also about risk (The Baitchopper, Cameron 1982,

River ofStars, MacKenzie 1971, Blue Fin, Thiele 1969, Deadly Unna, Gwynne 1998).

For sorne of the characters in the novels the competition is with themselves. They have something to prove. In The Year of the Gopher (Naylor 1987) George needs to prove to both himself and his father that he can get, and keep, a job. In A Bridge ta

Wisman 's Cave (Maloney 1996) Carl needs to find an acceptable way to use his strength, to help a family wronged by his grandfather. He is competing with both the town's view of his family and his own view of himself. In Fighting Ruben Wolfe (Zusak 2002) the

Wolfe brothers get involved in an illegal boxing scam. They are competing not just against each other, but against the system that has put their father out of work. They are competing for their own, and their family's, self-respect.

G3. Work: Violence

Violent images concemed with work occur in only three of the books in the selection. Two of the books deal with communities of fishermen. In Baitchopper

(Cameron 1982) a small fishing community is divided over a strike by fishermen who want a union. One of the dissenting fishermen purposely cuts the mooring lines of one of the boats and almost causes the death of two young boys. In River of Stars (MacKenzie

1971) competition among the fishermen results in violence. Sorne of the drunken fishermen ridicule an old man and almost succeed in drowning him. Later, out on the 173 water, in the race to find the fish, one fisherman tries dangerous tactics and almost rams

Andy' s boat. In The Blooding (Wheatley 1989) there is a violent confrontation between the loggers and the greenies (the environmentalists), and seventeen-year-old Col gets caught in the middle. Hoping to me et up with a girl he fancies, he goes to the greenies' camp to look for her, finds her with someone else, and angry and depressed, he climbs up one of the trees and goes to sleep. The police and sorne of the men from the logging camp move in to break up the greenies' camp. The police use Col's dad to come in with his bulldozer to scatter the greenies, and the bulldozer hits the tree Col is in. He is knocked out of the tree, faIls and breaks both his legs.

G4. Work: Sexuality

Only one book in the selection touches on problems of sexuality and the work environ ment. In The Year of the Gopher (Naylor 1987) George has to change jobs to avoid the unwelcome attentions of an older woman. In Bull Catcher (Carter 1997) male and female camp counsellors work together in a crisis and the point is made that girls can ho Id their own in emergency situations.

Images of Masculinity - Analysis and emerging issues

One of the questions asked in the introductory section of this thesis was "do books written for young adults mirror the subtlety and complexity of boys' choices?". That is, do the situations described in the books resemble the choices that real boys describe as part of their experience in leaming to bec orne men? In the section above a variety of con crete situations were examined and cross-referenced with specifie themes as a way of 174 answering this question. The experiences of fictional boys were linked with the similar expenences of the teenage boys in Everyday Masculinities (Frank 1990) and the expenences of writers such as Michael Kaufman (1979a, 1979b), Michael Kimmel

(1995) and Michael Messner and Don Sabo (1992, 1994). The fictional boys shared similar concems and had to cope with the same necessary compromises and disappointments as did the real boys faced by the hegemonic ideal. The situational aspects of masculinity were described by both, as was the constant strain of projecting the correct masculine image in a variety of situations. Both fictional and real boys had to come to terms with their own particular body image and the extent to which it failed to

live up to the ideal masculine image. Obsessions with muscular development, height,

size, and body hair were common to the real life boys and their fictional counterparts

(Featherboy, Singer 2002; The Drowning Boy, Terris 1972; Bad Boy, Wieler 1992; Rats

Saw Gad, Thomas 1996). Sport was a central theme in a number of the books (Staying

Fat for Sarah Bymes, Crutcher 1995; The Maves Make the Man, Brooks 1984; Bad Boy,

Wieler 1992; The Con tender, Lipsyte 1967; The Runner, Voigt 1994; Bull Catcher,

Carter 1997; Tangerine, BIoor 1997; Heart of a Champion, Deuker 1993; Cannily, cannily, French 1981; Pig, Geraghty 1992; Twelve Days in August, Murrow 1993; Like

Some Kind of Hero, Marino 1992), and in one way or another it touched the lives of aIl the boys. If they were good at sport then they had to leam to de al with the violence and pain which was part of the experience. If they had problems with size, strength, or ability, then they had to learn how to deal with ridicule and often their own sense of shame and failure, frequently made worse by the expectations of teachers, coaches, and fathers. 175

In the section on "recreationa1 provmg grounds" (pp. 104ft), a variety of plot devices underlined the expectations of the hegemonic image, for example, bravery and resourcefullness in the face of possible death and danger represented by themes su ch as:

"man against the wildemess" (see p. 109) (Hatchet, Paulsen 1996; Crabbe, Bell 1997;

Necking with Louise, Bock 1999; Dog Runner, Meredith 1989; Hunter in the Dark,

Hughes 1982), and "boy doing a man's job" (Little Soldier, Ashley 2001; The

Baitchopper, Cameron 1982; River ofStars, McKenzie 1971).

Like the rea1 boys, almost aIl the boys in the novels had to deal with violence in one form or another. The majority of these experiences related to bullying, and the fictional boys were faced with the same problem as the real boys: how to deal with the contradictions of being told "violence is not the answer" but also "fight like a man" (Men ofStone, Friesen 2000; Hangman, Jarman 1999; Red, White and Blue, Leeson 2000).

The boys in Everyday Masculinities (Frank 1990) were deeply concemed about their sexuality as an indicator of masculinity, their ability to attract girls and the desirability of a heterosexual image. Even sorne of the gay boys talked about the necessity for camouflaging their homosexuality, by being a jock or having a girlfriend and thus avoiding homophobic taunts and possible violence. Although, as mentioned above, only two books had main characters who were gay (Dance on My Grave,

Chambers 1995 and Bad Boy, Wie1er 1992) a number of the books featured homophobic bullying. Personal appearance, associating with someone thought to be gay, not having a girl friend, being interested in non-masculine activities such as ballet, eooking, clcaning, art, music, were aIl likely to cast suspicion on the boy in question. The experiences described in Frank (1990) were mirrored in the incidents described in books such as Red, 176

White and Blue (Leeson 2000); Bad Boy (Wieler 1992); Twelve Days in August (Murrow

1993); Summertime Blues (Clarke 2001); and Men ofStone (Friesen 2000).

The difficulties boys face in developing their own versions of masculinity III relation to the expectations of their fathers were also documented in a number of the novels. Just like boys in real life, the fictional boys had to deal with a variety of expectations about their career choices. For sorne of them it was the assumption that they would follow in their father's, sometimes also their grandfather's, foots teps (The Year of the Gopher, Naylor 1987; l'Il love you when you 're more like me, Kerr 1989; Crabbe,

Bell 1997); for others it was specifie educational goals that caused friction (Crabbe, Bell

1997; Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer, Peyton 1985; The Lion and the Lamb, Harlen

1992; Very Far Away From Anywhere Else, LeGuin 1976).

The relational aspects of masculinity and its day to day construction described by the informants in Frank (1990) and the other writers mentioned above were reflected and indeed amplified through the experiences of the boys who were the central characters in the selected novels.

Class and Culture

Class and culture intersected with the concrete situations and themes discussed above. In the earlier part of this thesis (p. 10) a c1aim was made that "the hegemonic image of masculinity presented in the books will have an overall coherence, but that c1ass and cultural background will influence the image prcsented in specifie situations".

Michael Kaufman comments that "the masculine norm has its own particular nuances and 177 traits dependent on class, nation, race, religion, and ethnicity. And within each group it has its own persona1 expression" (Kaufman 1979b, 12).

The process of selecting the novels for this study was described above (p. 66-67).

The books were selected from reading lists compiled by schools, public libraries, magazines and websites interested in promoting books suitable for adolescent boy readers. The fact that the majority of the selected novels come from an Anglo-American tradition and have white middle-class adolescent boys as the central characters can perhaps be regarded as a sad commentary on the low profile of groups such as Black

Americans, Native Americans, Native Australians, immigrant communities, and a variety of other ethnie communities, in Young Adult Literature. Of the one hundred and three selected novels, twenty contain cultural considerations that are not main stream white and twenty-nine have a working class background.

Cultural Communities

Three of the selected novels are set in South Africa (Waiting for the Rain, Gordon

1987; In Such a Place, Fairbridge 1992; Pig, Geraghty 1992), one is set in Uganda (Dogs of Fear, Nagenda 1971), and one in an imaginary African state tom by civil war (Little

Soldier, Ashley 2001). Three books have Canadian First Nations characters central to their stories (River of Stars, MacKenzie 1971; Dog Runner, Meredith 1989; Winners,

Collura 1994). Three books feature characters with Latino backgrounds (Shadow Like a

Leopard, Lcvoy 1994; The Lion and the Lamb, Harlen 1992; Tangerine, Bloor 1997), one has Aborigina1 Australian characters (Deadly Unna, Gwynne 1998), and three are set in black communities in the United States (The Maves Make the Man, Brooks 1984; The 178

Con tender, Lipsyte 1967; A Hero Ain 't Noth in , But a Sandwich, Childress 1973). A number of other books feature Black American supporting characters (The Runner, Voigt

1994; Twelve Days in August, Murrow 1993) and one has an Asian American character

(Bull Catcher, Carter 1997). One book is set in a small Spanish village (Shadow of a

Bull, Wojciechowska 1987), one is set in Hawaii (Sharkbait, Salisbury 1998), and one features a British Pakistani family (My Mate Shofiq, Needle 1981).

Robert Bly (1994) and Steve Biddulph (1994), both proponents of what has been called the "mythopoetic" men's movement (Connell 1995) lament the absence (in modem western society) of the traditional rites of passage found in other societies. They see these rites as giving adolescent boys a secure framework to achieving masculinity

(Biddulph 1994, 12). Security in this sense only cornes from living up to yet another prescribed form of masculinity. Failure means at the very least being an outcast. The

Dogs of Fear (Nagenda 1971) is the only novel in the selection to de al with traditional rites of passage, and life for its central character Kabana is as confused and conflicted as it is for many of the characters in the other novels. Traditional society in his African village makes allowances for a variety of masculine images, but great importance is attached to the warrior image, and the rites of passage for boys in the village include spear throwing activities and various trials of physical bravery. Kabana's father has sent him to the European school many miles from his village and Kabana has become one of the top scholars, but his father fears that his western education is making Kabana

"womanly". One of the other men in the village who has taught Kabana the drums sinee he was seven years old, says to Mulangu, Kabana's father, "your son is a drummer, a 179 musician and a poet - not a warrior." But Mulangu refuses this image. "My son is what his father is, a warrior, a trader, and a credit to his village." (Nagenda 1971, 12).

Kabana's life is complicated, he is caught between two worlds and a number of images of masculinity. Only one narrow image, however, is favoured by his father, and in Kabana's society, his father's wishes are of paramount importance. Kabana's choices are made no easier by the traditional rites of passage, indeed these can be seen to constitute as much of a straightjacket as the expectations discussed above by the informants of Blye Frank's study.

Race is a crucial component in the cultural mix of many of the novels mentioned above. The three novels set in South Africa during the days of Apartheid (Waitingfor the

Rain, Gordon 1987; In Such a Place, Fairbridge 1992; Pig, Geraghty 1992) all draw clear pictures of South Africa' s divided society and the marginalisation of Black Africans. The images of hegemonic masculinity are multifaceted and have racial superiority as an important component. The use of the term "boy" to refer to an adult black South African is a clear denial of adult masculinity and part of the way in which the hegemonic image is maintained by marginalising less preferred images. Belonging to the more powerful race, however, does not necessarily simplify the issue of masculinity for the white characters in the novels.

Frikkie in Waiting for the Rain (Gordon 1987) has grown up hearing tales of Boer bravery in conquering the land. He wants to be a farmer, but instead finds he is expected to bccomc a soldier, an occupation he detests. For Tengo, who grew up on Frikkie's uncle' s farm within the rigid patemalistic relationship of the Boer farmer to his African workers, the new struggle in South Africa also brings conflict. Tengo has always longed 180 for education as a way out. Just when he has the chance, he is expected to bec orne a soldier.

ln In Such a Place (Fairbridge 1992) the images of masculinity are centered around family relationships and issues of social justice, as Mark has to build his own image of masculinity in opposition to a controling father and an uncle who seems content to be a complicit part of the social injustice of Apartheid.

First Nations people in Canada are also a marginalised group. Issues of masculinity remain a major problem, with the suicide rate of young adolescent men extremely high.

Alcoholism, other drugs, and violence are aIl problems within the community. Efforts to main tain a positive masculine image while having no economic or social power often feature a confusing picture of toughness allied with skill in areas seen as important parts of traditional culture. For the three central characters in River of Stars (MacKenzie

1971), Dog Runner (Meredith 1989), and Winners (Collura 1994), successful negotiation of masculinity includes coming to terms with their cultural heritage as weIl as making it in the world of men.

Andy (River of Stars, MacKenzie 1971) is caught between two worlds, the culture of the white man's residential school and his Indian home. His family's economic survival depends on fishing, and wh en his father has an accident Andy finds himself alone on the fishing boat, a boy trying to survive among the other fishermen. With the help of other fishermen he manages to cope with prejudice and through a relationship with an old Indian fishcrman he learns to have faitb in botb bis dcvc10ping skills as a fisherman and his cultural heritage.

He was no longer Andy Hall, lost and alone, tossed between a white world and the home village. He was T/o que mas! He had a past - a 181

history as ri ch in legend and courage as any history in his school textbooks (MacKenzie 1971, 153).

In River of Stars (MacKenzie 1971) Andy acquires a sense of community and a belief in his own ability to survive in a man's world. When disaster strikes and his boat sinks with its load of fish, the fishing community gets together to give him and his family sorne economic support. For the two main characters in the other books (Dog Runner,

Meredith 1989; Winners, Collura 1994), success also lies in accepting a cultural heritage:

Metis for Jim Redcrow in Dog Runner and Blackfoot for Jordy Threebears in Winners.

The masculine images available for these two boys inc1ude both the disenfranchised, disillusioned male members of their own communities, and the men in their own families, trying to build sorne kind of economic success and recover sorne cultural pride. The literary device used in both books is to have the boys involved in an endurance race: a three-day dogsled race for Jim Redcrow and a horse race for Jordy. Personal endurance in the face of disaster provides each boy with a way of coming to terms with his own situation.

One of the questions addressed earlier asked whether the books in the selection

"mirrored the subtlety and complexity of boy's choices". Dog Runner (Meredith 1989) and Winners (Collura 1984) mirror the complexities of First Nations life for adolescent boys, but few real native boys have the chance to reaffirm their cultural heritage and their developing masculinity in the kind of dramatic arena described.

Race is also an issue for Black Ameriean and Latino charactcrs in the selected novels. The marginalised masculinities represented in these two areas of society have 182 developed their own specifie masculine images: Cool Pose (Majors 1995) and Machismo

(Pena 1995).

Cool Pose is a term that represents a variety of attitudes and actions that serve the black man as mechanisms for survival, defense and social competence. These attitudes and actions are performed using characterizations and roles as facades and shields (Majors 1995, 82).

A variety of Cool Pose can be seen in Bruce Brooks' book The Moves Make the

Man (1984) wh en Jerome tries out for the basketball team at his new high school.

Jerome is the token black, chosen to integrate Chestnut Street Junior High, and basketball is his passion. Although he demonstrates his skill to the coach and in fact impresses the alI-white team, the coach obviously doesn't want a black boy on his team. Jerome keeps his cool during his "tryout", actuaIly a series of unfair calls by the coach to make him lose. Even though the coach's star player finally walks off the court in disgust at these tactics and the coach's racism, Jerome stays cool, finishes the last play, and snaps a bounce pass at the coach's feet as he leaves the gym (Brooks 1984, 68-76).

Demonstrated like this, "Cool Pose is the bitter-sweet symbol of a socially disesteemed group that shouts 'We are' in face of a hostile and indifferent world that everywhere screams 'You ain't' " (Majors 1995,84).

For Alfred Brooks in The Contender (Lipsyte 1996), leaming how to box and how to take the pain is going to be his version of Cool Pose. Being beaten badly in his first fight, he refuses to give in.

go ahcad, throw evcrything you got, you gonna have to, gonna stand here aIl day and aIl night and take what you got and give it right back, gonna hang in forever, gonna climb, man, gonna keep climbing, you can't knock me out, nobody ever gonna knock me out, you want to stop me you better kill me (Lipsyte 1996, 160). 183

ln A Hero Ain 't No th in ' But a Sandwich (Childress 1973) makes use of a multi- narrative technique to describe life in the ghetto; acting cool is a crucial way for the young black men in her story to try and main tain their own successful images of masculinity, even ifthey realise the truth behind the pose.

One time Benjie say to me, "Man, you got it made!" 1 rock back on my heels lookin wise, fakin like 1 know sorne secret thing he ain't in on, then 1 say, "Just hangin in there man, that's aIl". People like you to be actin cool and powerful, like you a real heavy person, in charge of your situation at aIl times. 1 ain't got it aIl together ... (Childress 1973, 84).

Cool Pose is a way for a marginalised cultural group to provide itself with images of masculinity that attempt to build the self respect they feel is denied by society as a who le. Like other images of masculinity, Cool Pose has its price: "when the art of being cool is used to put cool behaviours ahead of emotions or needs, the result of such repression of feelings can be frustration" (Majors 1995, 84).

Machismo, described in Puerto Rican, Mexican, and other Latin American societies, has been seen as a reaction to the cultural and economic superiority of others, such as the Spanish and the Americans (i.e. the colonial power). Machismo is about masculine power over other men and over women (Pena 1995). It is intrinsically more violent than Cool Pose. For fourteen-year-old Ramon Santiago in Shadow Like a

Leopard (Levoy 1994), machismo is about proving your masculinity.

To be macho was good. It was necessary. His father had said it again and again. Macho. Macho. Manliness. Courage. Pride. (Levoy 1994,2)

Ramon is al one, his mother is in hospital and his father is in prison for assaulting a policeman during a Puerto Rican rally. Ramon knows that he has to prove himself, but 184 the on1y version of macho availab1e to him is that of the local gangs, robberies and knife fighting. Through his friendship with a local painter, Ramon begins to develop other images of masculinity, but the macho notion of male strength and independence remains an essential ideal he tries to live up to.

Machismo is a central theme in The Lion and the Lamb (Harlen 1992). Juan

Castillo has ernrnigrated to Australia from Nicaragua, he keeps an unloaded shotgun in the hallway cupboard and uses it to threaten the neighbours and workmen in his appartment building. Juan's answer to his frustrations is to lose his temper and then get violent. His son Hector prefers to solve his problems differently, and his father criticises him constantly for both his size and his behaviour. Juan's acting out, his macho behaviour, fits in with Pena's theory (Pena 1995) that machismo is often a working c1ass phenomenon, a reaction to social and economic powerlessness, a way of forging sorne kind of masculine pride. Hector, however, has grown up in Australia and has his own ideas about masculine images. He takes his father's pride and mixes it with ability and skill, and finds his own way of defining himself.

The images of masculinity available to the working c1ass boys are different from those in the books with midd1e c1ass settings. Race remains an issue in many of these books (The Contender, Lipsyte 1996; A Hero Ain 't Nothin But a Sandwich, Childress

1973; Dog Runner, Meredith 1989; River ofStars, MacKenzie 1971) wh en it is combined with c1ass, in the ghetto or on the reservation.

The white working class boys in novcls sueh as What if They Saw Me Now? (Ure

1985); Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer (Pey ton 1985); Flour Babies (Fine 1994); A

Pair of Jesus Boots (Sherry 1975); Idiot Pride (Zusak 2003) and Fighting Ruben Wolfe 185

(Zurbo 1997), are frequently faced with a bleak set of choices and a limited range of masculine behaviour. As documented by writers such as R. and P. Gilbert (Masculinity

Goes to School, 1998) and M. Mac an Ghaill (The Making of Men: Masculinities,

Sexualities and Schooling, 1994) working class boys see little relevance in their school experience. For boys like Patrick Pennington (Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer, Pey ton

1985) and Jamie (What if They Saw Me Now?, Ure 1985), their best chance will be getting a job in the local mill or factory, or driving a truck, following in their fathers' footsteps, if they are lucky. ln Idiot Pride (Zurbo 1997) Matt explains:

[School's] just a place. A place you get locked in far too many hours each day, before finding your way out into the real world each night and weekend (Zurbo 1997, 123).

Patrick, Jamie and Matt spend their school days full of defiance, skipping classes, despising most of their teachers, and developing a swaggering, cool, masculine pose.

Fantasies usually involve instant fame of sorne kind, often sport.

"l'm going to be drafted by Collingwood in a few years", Carlo replies. We aIl want him to make it. He has the ambition aIl right. But we secretly don't want him to do too weIl. Odds are only one of us will live out his dreams ... One of us will make it, maybe. The rest will work in a fish and chips shop, or drop out and become a carpenter, a plumber ... (Zurbo 1997, 10)

Many of the boys spend a lot of time on the street and become involved in gangs,

(The Outsiders, Hinton 1969; My Mate Shojiq, Needle 1978; A Pair of Jesus Boots,

Sherry 1975; A Shadow Like a Leopard, Levoy 1994), or easual violence (Idiot Pride,

Zurbo 1997; Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer, Pey ton 1985; What If They Saw Me

Now?, Ure 1985). Physical "hardness" is a much prized indicator ofmasculinity, both by 186 the working class boys in the novels and the working class boys interviewed in such studies as that done by Phoenix and Frosh (2001).

Fierce personal pride, often coupled with a strong sense of community, is also a masculine marker among working class boys. In Fighting Ruben Wolfe, (Zusak 2002) the two brothers are proud of their working class background and very protective of their father when he loses his job. They recognise the extent to which his job was tied up with his own feeling of who he is. Remembering their childhood and their father building a fence, they recall

our father as he was, a vision of taIl, bent-over strength, with a tough hard smile and wire-curly hair ... eyes of height ... there was a contentment to him - an air of control, of all-rightness ... He was our father then ... (Zusak 2002, 33)

Now, after an accident, unable to find work, he sits in the kitchen day after day.

He's half a man, because it seems that wh en a man can't work and wh en his wife and kids eam aIl the money, a man becomes half a man. It's just the way it is (Zusak 2002, 29).

Wh en finally their father gives up in despair and decides to go down to the welfare office, the entire family unite to follow him and prevent him from undergoing this final disgrace.

AIl of us stand around him ... we aIl know we won't let him do it. Dad knows it too. He stands up and we resume the fight (Zusak 2002, 178).

Pride in "a job weIl done", pride in particular skills, working with your hands, building, modelling, rcpairing, making something from nothing, demonstrating this kind of ability, is also a marker for masculine pride (The Lion and the Lamb, Harlen 1992; 187

Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer, Pey ton 1985; Out of the Dark, Katz 1996; A Pair of

Jesus Boots, Sherry 1975).

As can be seen from the examples discussed above, race and class affect images of masculinity within specific groups. These groups may be economically poor and politically powerless; nevertheless in their everyday lives boys still subscribe to a form of hegemonic masculinity.

Hegemonic masculinity is not a monolithic structure. Hegemony in this sense refers to the power structure of society and the hegemonic images are those supported by the social structure. Hegemonic masculinity is about power and relationships; the ideology that supports and sustains it is pervasive and powerful, present in ail areas of everyday life. The presence of this ideology in the books boys read will be the main focus of the next section of this thesis. 188

Chapter 5 - Ideology

In Chapter 4 the images of masculinity contained in the selected texts were isolated and discussed. In this chapter the ideological assumptions underpinning these images will be examined through a form of narrative discourse analysis. As mentioned above three other writers have also used varieties of narrative discourse analysis to examine young adult novels. Crew (1996) examined mother-daughter relationships, Trites (2000) looked at power and repression, and McCaIlum (1999) looked at the development of personal identity. Each writer developed her own specifie metholological approach.

Crew informed her argument with Freudian Theory, Trites used a variety of post- structural theories to explicate issues of power, and McCaIlum used a Baktinian approach to subjectivity, language, and narrative. AIl three were examining texts and the ideological positions and assumptions represented in those texts.

A major aspect of intellectuai thought during the last three or four decades has been the recognition of the importance of the critical study of language for any understanding of social life. This awareness applies generally to attempts to understand the ideological practices and assumptions which de termine a society's sense of meaning and value, and it applies particularly to how individual selfhood is constructed, and to what mechanisms govem interpersonal relationships and social hierarchies .. . language as a system of signification - what is commonly referred to as discourse - is endemically and pervasively imbued with ideology (Stephens 1992).

F or the purpose of this study we will use Stephens' notion that narrative fiction for young adults can be regarded as a discourse - a system of signification. Stephens suggests that the discourse of the texts can be cxamincd in two ways: linguistic and narratological. For the purpose of my own analysis, 1 am going to interpret these forms of examination in the following way. 189

Linguistic: that is, exammmg specifie stretches of language within the texts that demonstrate through conversational encounters ideological assumptions or statements.

Narratological: the literary structure of the novel, the way in which story and significance are communicated, which inc1udes the narrator' s relationship to both the story and its audience, the point of view of the discourse, and c1osure, as a way of mediating ideological viewpoints.

When considering the existence of ideology within a specifie text, Stephens builds on the Hollindale' s notion (discussed above). Hollindale considered that texts could inc1ude both explicit and implicit ideology (Hollindale 1988). Explicitly ideology is c1early stated within the text, possibly through the author appropriating the narrator's voice or that of a main character (this will be discussed in more depth below). Implicit ideology frequently exists within the text as unexamined assumptions which are accepted as part of the social belief system of a particular culture. Views of masculinity lend themselves to both forms of ideology as they are at the heart of the key issue of the young adult novel, that is personal identity: who am I? As McCallum says:

The concept of ideology is crucial for a discussion of adolescent fiction insofar as childhood and adolescence are as much ideological constructions as biological stages of growth. Such fictions are premised on ideological assumptions about what it means to be a chi Id, adolescent and adult, what it means to grow up, and hence what it means to be; in other words, such fictions are premised on culturally specifie ideologies of identity (McCallum 1999,263).

That is, in this case, what it means to become a man.

The images of masculinity discussed in Chapter 4 are concrete representations of ideological notions of masculinity. They can be regarded as markers of more general ideas, the ideas represented by hegemonic masculinity. The actual structure of the novels 190

amplifies this ideology by consolidating its representation III specifie ways. As mentioned above the way in which ideology is mediated by the structure of the novels will be examined under two main headings: linguistic and narratological. Linguistic analysis will examine stretches of dialogue and narratological analysis will examine two specifie areas of structure: the narrative pattern of the novel, and closure.

Linguistic structure

As might be expected, given that the major thrust of these novels is formation of personal identity, a masculine identity, stretches of dialogue will obviously reflect this.

Stephens mentions that one of the key ways in which dialogue can reflect ideology is in reflecting power relationships, particularly between parents and children (Stephens 1992,

259). Given the widely accepted theory of adolescence as a time of conflict and competition between teenagers and their parents - in the case of teenage boys, between fathers and sons - it is not surprising that a number of books contain stretches of dialogue which demonstrate this aspect ofhegemonic masculinity, masculine competition between the generations as a rite of passage. These power relationships can reflect aIl four themes discussed in Chapter 4: being biologically male, competition, violence, and sexuality.

The first three themes are in fact often very difficult to disentangle and are frequently woven very tightly into encounters. Bodily strength for example, can be used as a form of intimidation in a conversational encounter.

In Bad Boy (Wiclcr 1992) A.J., attcnding a family wcdding, is angcrcd by his drunken Uncle Mike and an insulting comment made about his mother. Reacting physicaIly without thinking, he pushes the old man violently and storms off. His father 191 finds out about this and confronts hirn sorne days later as AJ. is shooting baskets in the driveway.

Decco Brandiosa lifted his hands expectantly, and AJ. bounced the baIl to him. They passed it back and forth while AJ. tried to read his father's face, and the eyes that wouldn't rneet his. He could sense something, as taut and invisible as a trip wire. He was farniliar with this silence. He knew its cold edge. Decco Brandiosa could keep you waiting until you froze. He ran the last few days over in his head. What had he done, or forgotten to do, that had eamed him this? ... "WeIl, muscles," Decco said finally. The word curled and twisted out of his mouth. "Is that what you do it for?" "Do what?" The baIl passed between them once, twice, infuratingly slow. "Y ou know," his father said, looking up and pinning him with his eyes. "Whatever it is you do in his basernent. The weights." AJ.'s scalp crawled. He could feel the accusation but he couldn't see it. "It makes you feellike a big shot? Hey, muscles." Decco was firing the baIl with force now, stinging the boy's bare hands. "It makes you feellike a tough guy?" "Dad -" "Shut up." Decco snapped up the baIl and held it. "If you had any guts you would have told me first. But, no, 1 have to hear it on the telephone at work with everybody standing around." His voice was deadly even. "Y our own uncle, and you, acting like sorne kind of street punk. Mike is an old man, AJ. with a heart condi - You look at me!" AJ.'s headjerked up. "He's an old man, but l'm not," Decco warned. "Y ou keep throwing your weight around and 1'11 show you tough, tough guy. Jesus, this makes me sick." He threw the baIl hard, so that it flew pa st AJ. and onto the lawn. Then he tumed and stalked into the house. The boy stared after hirn, the saliva rising like a bitter flood in his mouth. (Wieler 1992, 42)

The power relationship in this exchange is clear and the author underlines it by twice referring to AJ. as "the boy" and also emphasising his father's physical strength as he snaps the baIl with force into A.J.'s hands. This is one of a nurnber of threatening 192 conversational exchanges which take place in Bad Boy between AJ. and his father, the coach of his hockey team, members of other hockey teams, and his ex-best friend, whom he discovers is gay. AIl the main male characters in Bad Boy combine anger and threats of physical force in conversational encounters. The author, whether she is aware of it or not, is reinforcing an ideological notion that successful masculinity is about physical strength and power, and she carries this position right through into AJ.'s relationships with women. After virtually assaulting his girl friend and then having a fight with her brother (also his best friend), ev en though A.l. feels guilt, his final conversational exchange with Summer, who appears to have forgiven his assault, still con tains overtones of power. Having not spoken to her since the night she had to fight him off, he walks up to her table at a wedding reception.

"You didn't!" Summer screeched when she saw him. "You didn't bring Attila the Hun here ... " AJ. took a deep breath and pulled up a chair right beside her. "1 know you love it, but try and control yourself, aIl right?" he said boldly. The half-dozen people at the table burst into laughter. Summer's jaw dropped, but then she snapped it shut. Her cheeks were pink for a long time. A.l. could feel the knots in his shoulders uncurling. So he wasn't being nice. But neither was she. You could only say you were sorry for so long. He'd probably bruised her ego, but didn't he have feelings too? ... (Wieler 1992, 188)

The ideological context of the text as represented in these conversational exchanges aligns the main character with sorne of the more misogynistic of Blye Frank's informants, who at their worst, perpetuate such notions as "women like it wh en you get rough". The notion that violence is an acceptable part of daily relationships and part of being male is thus being perpetuated. 193

Stretches of dialogue can also reflect more subtle aspects of ideology In The Lion and the Lamb (Harlen 1992) the author gives us a classic picture of violent masculinity.

Hector's father keeps a shotgun beside his bed, and when he gets angry he threatens to shoot people who live in their apartment building, workmen, anyone who gets in his way.

Wh en Hector is bullied by a neighboUf's children Juan loads up his shotgun, forces his way into their apartment, threatens them with his gun, then trains it on the goldfish bowl and pulls the trigger. After retuming from the police station, he drinks half a bottle of whiskey and then has the following conversation with his son.

"Y ou are a runt! his father growled. "Look at you! A weakling! You must leam how to fight! Fight, fight, fight! Then 1 will not have to use my gun against these animais ... these comunistas ... " "1 don't want to fight, Papa," Hector said. "It's not my way." "Y OUf arms, look at yOUf arms!" Juan reached out and enclosed Hector' s thin bicep in his enormous fist. "1 have more muscle in one thumb than you have in yOUf whole body! What sort of muscle is this? The muscle of a piglet!" "Y ou broke yOUf promise," Hector said. "Y ou promised not to fire the gun. 1 have no respect for you, Papa." (Harlen 1992, 15).

Juan insists that Hector meaSUfe his biceps and he continues to berate him, while

Hector feeds him and tries to calm him down.

"Y ou must leam to fight them, papi/o. To show them who is mas ter. If you do not, they will torment you. And then 1 will kill them, and they will take you away from me." "They'll never do that, Papa. Stop worrying!" "It is an iron law of nature," Juan said. "The strong torment the weak." "Y ou 're drunk," Hector replied. "Go to bed." (Harlen 1992, 16).

An idcological position on violent masculine bchaviour and macho idcology is demonstrated by Hector and his ability to control this scene with his drunken father. The position is that violence destroys and this idea is carried through to a dramatic final scene. 194

In A Shadow Like a Leopard (Levoy 1994) a conversational exchange is used to make a point about fear. Ramon, a street wise Puerto Rican boy, has formed an unlikely friendship with an embittered, wheelchair-bound old Jewish painter. Thinking that he will help the painter, he secretly takes sorne of his stockpiled pictures and persuades an art gallery to have a showing. When he takes the painter to the gallery and shows him, the painter starts ripping his pictures off the gallery wall. Furious with anger, Ramon yells "Hey Glasser! ... 1 done aIl this for you! What the hell are you doing! This ain't charity! What are you doing?" He accuses the old man ofbeing scared.

"You're afraid to leave your paintings up! 'Cause maybe - maybe you think people willlaugh or something! Or compare you against Pedro Picasso or something! You're scared, that's what! You'd rather sit in that room ofyours with the lights out! You'd rather be dead! 'Cause you're scared to be alive!" "So are you, punk!" "Me? 1 am not! 1'11 take on anybody, one on one! 1 ain't scared of nothing!" "Oh really! And how about none on one! You're afraid to not fight! You're afraid to give up that knife! What would they call you? A sissy? Weird? ... You're the one who's afraid of people laughing at you! You're afraid ofbeing your own self! You're scared, not me!" (Levoy 1994, 175).

The two of them come to an agreement, Juan gives up his knife and Glasser agrees

to having his paintings shown and sold, and the reader is reminded that there are different

kinds of fear and different kinds of courage.

Stretches of dialogue can also be used to make explicit ideological statements as in

the next two examples. In Shadow of a Bull (Wojciechowska 1987) Manola has lived aIl

his life with the expeetation (his own and that of the townspeople) that he will follow in

the footsteps ofhis famous bullfighter father, who killed his first bull at the age oftwelve,

and who was killed at the age of twenty two. Manolo does not want to be a bullfighter, 195 but he is ashamed of what he sees as his cowardice. Finally he is faced with his first fight. The Count, who has chosen his bull, expects him to want to fight, but Alfonso

Castillo, a famous bullfight critic, asks to speak to Manolo.

"The fate of a brave animal should never be anything but a noble death after a noble fight. But it is not the same with a man's fate. A man is not like a fighting bull. A man's life should not be all fighting, but also giving, loving. A man's life is many things. Before he becomes a man, he has many choices: to do the right thing, or to do the wrong thing; to please himself, or to please others; to be true to his own self, or untrue to it." (Wojciechowska 1987, 132).

Manolo has already heard this message from his mother.

"Y our father was a noble man. A man of honor. A man of pride. He would never do anything he did not really want to do ... That was the great thing about your father: his own will to do what he was doing. What he did was for himself, most of aIl for himself." (Wojciechowska 1987, 126).

Castillo goes on:

"1 have found that you cannot confuse bravery or courage with lack of fear. Real courage, true bravery, is doing things in spite of fear, knowing fear ... Don't let people push you ... 1 do not believe you are like your father. Be what you are, and ifyou don't yet know what you are, wait until you do. Don 't let anyone make that decision for you." (Wojciechowska 1987, 134).

Manolo gains the courage to be honest with the men of his own town and tells them that he does not want to be a bullfighter, but instead he wants to become a doctor.

Bullfighting will remain part of his life, but he has chosen a very different way than his father' s. Being truc to yourself is a common ideological message in literature for young adults. Frequently enunciated by the protagonist, it is a common theme and is central to 196 the western notion of achieving personal identity, of moving out from the protection, or perhaps domination, of other adults and becoming an adult in your own right.

Specifie issues, such as how to de al with bullying, can also be approached in conversational exchanges that contain explicit ideological statements.

In Men ofStone (Friesen 2000) Ben's problem is a buIly. In an effort to find a way of dealing with the bullying, Ben takes up boxing and finds that the violence in his life begins to escalate. One of his friends gets arrested for beating up someone who made him angry, and Ben himself los es it with his sparring partner and hurts him. Confused, he goes into the church his aunt goes to, and unwillingly ends up talking to the Pastor.

The Pastor comments that he too was bullied when he was young. He explains his bumpy nose by mentioning that he smashed into a door running away from a fight. Ben comments:

"But you can't always run away." ... "No. But running isn't the only option. There are others. Do you know much about pacifism, Ben? ... Pacifism means not running away from yourself." "Come again?" "Think about it. In every society at every point in history there have been wars. It's always been that way, possibly al ways will be. People fight - over land, over religion ... over a girl ... It's usually about strength. Strong guy, army, country rolls over the weak ... That's why it never ends. There's always somebody a little stronger. Refusing to fight means that you're saying the fighting ends here. Strength is not truth." (Friesen 2000,197-198).

He goes on to tell Ben that he did eventually fight the bully and in fact beat him, but, he tells Ben,

"1 lost something that day." "What did you lost? You won the fight. Maybe the point is you got the guy offyour back." 197

"And onto someone else's. But 1 still hated the guy. And an enemy like that has a lot of power over you." 1 thought of aIl my days and nights of rage, my nightmares about Claude. "Maybe." "1 think wh en you stop hating, you set yourself free." "But the other guy goes free too." He thought awhile ... "True, Ben, but you get to live your life bigger." (Friesen 2000, 198).

Once again, Ben is being told that violence is not the answer; in a book that has a strong Mennonite component, he is being told that there is a definite virtue in turning the other cheek, and that hatred destroys the hater. This is a popular component of western

Christian ideological tradition.

Conversational exchanges, stretches of dialogue are a key site for explicit statements of ideology, or for implicit ideological content in young adult novels.

Frequently the author structures the novel so that the teenage protagonist is the narrator.

Given the limits of knowledge and experience of such a narrator, this means that any kind of more experienced adult viewpoint, helping the teenager make decisions and learn from experience, is going to have to be revealed in a conversational exchange such as those described above. If the author intends any kind of proselytizing, this is one of the main areas in which such a "lecture" will appear. Methods of narration vary from book to book, and can affect the mediation of ideology in a number of ways.

N arratological Structure

Narratological structure refers to the way in which the narrative, the discourse of the novel, is constructed, its literary structure. The two key areas 1 will focus on are the 198 narrator's relationship to both the story and its audience, and closure, that is, how the story ends.

Narration

"How a text expresses its ideology is a function of narrative structure in order to better understand how such ideologies are communicated to readers, we can employ the strategies offered by narrative theory about the effect of narrative position and the relative involvement of a character in the role of narration." (Trites 2000, 70).

Stephens comments that "narrative point of view" has "the function of constructing subject positions and inscribing ideological assumptions" (Stephens 1992, 56). He identifies three main narrative processes: omniscient narration, first pers on narration, and focalization (Stephens 1992, 56).

Omniscient narration transmits ideology in two ways. The reader can be directly addressed by the narrator, the implication being "we share this view, don't we?". This gives the narrator overt control. In the absence of a narrator, statements made within the text that imply common shared assumptions between reader and author can have the same effect. Character and setting can be presented so that social and cultural ideology is implicit in shared experience.

Two of the novels selected for this study have omniscient narrators: The True Story of Spit McPhee (Aldridge 1987), and The Baitchopper (Cameron 1982). Spit McFee lives with his grandfather in the small Australian country town of St Helen. Tolerated by the local people, they live on the fringes of the community. Wh en Spit's grandfather dies, he becomes the centre of a struggle for adoption. Aldridge's narrator encourages the reader to join him in observing the way the townspeople behave when faced with 199

Spit's determined independence. An independence that many of them find threatening because it questions their own view of "correct behaviour". Small boys need "a respectable home and proper parental control." Aldridge is interested in exploring

different views of freedom, of moral, "correct" or "fitting" behaviour, of social obligation ... He poses questions as to what is necessary constraint of choice for the common good and what is rather the attempted imposition of one group's beliefs and customs on others, stemming from a conviction of social or moral superiority (Nimon and Foster 1997,94).

Aldridge presents his characters with sympathy and humour, and through his narrator, the reader is invited into a "we share this view, don't we?" relationship. This means that Aldridge's ideological slant on individual freedom and the importance of Spit being able to maintain his personal integrity effectively becomes the reader's position.

The fact that such an ideological position is one that western humanist philosophy is sympathetic towards should not stop us from recognizing the way in which such ideology can be inscribed in a text and accepted by the reader as "the right point ofview".

Stephens' second form of onmiscientnarration is one in which the absence of a narrator and "the way in which the existents of story (characters and setting) are presented may contribute towards the construction of an ethos (and hence ideology), and so may encode a societal ideology" (Stephens 1992, 57).

In The Baitchopper, Silver Donald Cameron (1982) describes the fight between fishermen and management in a small Nova Scotia town. The fishermen want to form a union, but management is against it. Cameron's political sympathies come through clearly in the text.

"What's a socialist?" asked Scott. 200

"If a business is big enough to control the life of a community, a socialist would say the community should own it," said Buck. He waved a hand at the fish plant. "Who owns that plant? Rich people in England and the United States and Ontario. AlI they care about is whether it makes money. They don't care what it does to the people down here ... " (Cameron 1982, 12).

Andrew's father is one of the leaders among the fishermen and prepared to go to jail to support his beliefs. The dispute splits the community, and wh en a disaffected fisherman cuts Andrew's father's boat adrift, Andrew has to risk his life to save the family's livelihood.

The images of masculinity in the two books mentioned above are coloured by the

ideological position of the authors. In both cases successful men and boys are expected to be independent, stand up for their rights, and know how to survive in their

environment. (Spit survives on his own in the bush, and Andrew manages to bring his

father's boat back to port, surviving a near collision with a ship, and a severe storm.)

Personal and political ideology support a traditional "heroic" role for the main characters

in both books.

Stephens' second form of narration is first-person narration. First-person narration has traditionalIy been very popular in young adult literature, particularly that of the

United States, part of the influence of Catcher in the Rye (Salinger 1951). This form of narration was seen as a way of helping the reader identify with an authentic tee nage voice. But at the same time it had a definite limitation. Critics like Maurice Saxby

(1996) point out that the use of a teenage narrator has serious considerations for the range of language to be found in the text (Saxby 1996, 80). This can affect not only the surface of the text, conversational exchanges for example, but also the more profound level of 201 describing and reflecting on personal expenence. Saxby's inarticulate "illiterate teenagers" using "the argot of the playground or the bus stop" (Saxby 1996, 80) might seem potentially to seriously limit the writer, and certainly casually overheard real teenage conversations are often staggeringly banal in content; but the writers using first- person narration in the selected novels for this study displayed an interesting variety of creative techniques for overcoming this constraint.

The following simple exchange (from Marino 1992) is the culmination of a scene in which Ted's friend Will, feeling totally betrayed by his irresponsible father, has phoned his friend in despair to beg him to come and get him. Ted has to give up his dream of becoming a life guard, something he has trained aIl summer for, because if he goes to get

Will, he will miss the aIl-important tryouts. There will be no second chance. He choses to help his friend and manages to calm him down and persuade him to come home, even

though he completely breaks down. The incident has been charged with emotion, and the

following simple exchange says it aIl for both of them.

My throat ached so 1 took a deep breath and let it out, then tumed to Will. "Y ou know something?" 1 said. "Growing up stinks. It reaIly does." Will nodded. "Don't 1 know it," he said. "Boy, don't 1 know it." (Like Sorne Kind ofHero, Marino 1992, 205).

Of the one hundred and three novels selected for this study, fi ft Y one are written in the first person. Alice Childress (A Hero Ain 't No th in ' But a Sandwich, 1973) overcomes

any limitations of first-person narration by having a number of her characters address the reader. Benjie Johnson is thirteen, black, and weil on his way to being hooked on heroin, although he keeps teIling the reader "1 ain't hooked 1 [just] ain't getting off of it yet"

(Childress 1973, 10). Benjie's mother, his grandmother, his step father, and his friend 202

Jimmy-Lee Powell, an have their own take on what Benjie seems to be doing with his life as does the local pusher and two of the teachers and the principal at Benjie's school. By choosing to provide an these voices, Childress is able to show us not just Benjie as he sees himself, but also as an the other people in his life see him.

Three writers provide split narration, with two first-person narrators. In Dear

Nobody (Doherty 1997) the story concems teenage pregnancy. By giving us both Helen and Chris as altemate first-person narrators, Doherty provides the reader with both points of view. This makes it possible for the writer to explore the different levels of responsibility and maturity demonstrated by both of her characters, as they justify their actions to the reader.

In J'Il love you when you're more like me (Kerr 1989) the author is looking at the way in which parental expectations can affect teenagers. By providing two first-person voices, a boy and a girl, both dealing with such expectations but in very different circumstances, she can add depth and reality to her portrait. By having her two main characters meet, she can also provide the reader with an added dimension as each character talks to the reader about his/her thoughts about the other character's expenences.

In Stone Cold (Swindells 1995) the author has also used two voices, only one a teenager. In this novel the dual narrator is used not so mu ch to provide us with different ways of viewing characters' actions, but to heighten the suspense and underline the desperate situation of the main character. The two voices belong to a tecnage boy, who through a particular chain of circumstances has ended up living on the street, and a deranged ex-army seriaI killer who is preying on the homeless.

----- ~-~~--- ~--- 203

ln Red, White and Blue (Leeson 2000) the author has one first-person narrator, but he has provided him with three different ways of talking to the reader. Wain has red, white, and blue writing paper.

Then 1 had this inspiration. Keep the white paper for the official version, like homework, which 1 have to hand in at school, to the powers that be. Keep the red paper for the real truth, like wh en 1 write to you, unknown friend. Ah, and the blue paper. That' s for my own writing, for my eyes only - a fantasy novel, about a place called Sylvania. It's so confidential 1 use a pen name. Gaw Penhallon (Leeson 2000, 10).

Although there is only one character talking, the reader gets three different versions of important issues in Wain's life.

In Mr Enigmatic, Jenny Pausacker (1995) also uses the idea of the main character writing down his thoughts. In this case he is involved in a writing project for his English class. Each episode he writes about is critiqued by his English teacher. Sometimes this results in him rewriting an episode and the reader is provided with a variety of views about particular incidents as the character is forced to reconsider his actions.

Stephens considers that first-person narration operates in two main ways to deliver its ideological viewpoint. Either the reader shares the subject position of the narrator, completely identifying with the narrator's world view, and is therefore directly implicated in any errors of judgement or representation of personal prejudice that form the ideological framework of the text; or the unreliability of the narrator may be confronted and the text used to construct an oppositional world view demonstrating what is "right" in the sense of expected social behaviour: the reader sides with the text against the narrator

(Stephens 1992, 57). 204

Two books in the selection encourage the reader to completely identify with the narrator's world view, and also with his prejudices. Both Leslie Choyce (Good Idea

Gone Bad 1993) and Liza Ketchum Murrow (Twelve Days in August 1993) are writing about the effects of prejudice. By encouraging the reader to identify closely with their main character, however, the reader is also encouraged to accept without question a specific view point.

Let me tell you about the night we pounded that kid Stephen. He had it coming so you couldn't say it was our fauIt or anything ... People like that, 1 figured, shouldn't even be allowed on the streets, if you know what 1 mean. 1 didn't know much about him. Hey, you'd never catch me hanging out with anyone like that fruit loop (Choyce 1993, 1).

Mike spends most of the novel encouraging the reader to share his prejudiced view point. Wh en he changes at the end of the book, it seems too little too late. This is ironic in view of the author's stated purpose for writing the book.

"The reason 1 explored violence in this book is because 1 was interested in examining the root of violence both in myself and in the world around me ... Ifyou read any ofmy other books, you'Il find that there's a strong underlying theme of "tolerance". Everyone should get along with everyone else no matter how different they are. l'm a pacifist, too, which means that 1 think aIl forms of fighting - schoolyard and battleground - are stupid. 1'11 do what 1 can to end violence (Choyce 1993, 135).

Choyce took a risk wh en he chose to write from Mick's point of view; he acknowledges that "Mick was a difficult character for me to get into" (Choyce 1993,

134). The ideology of prejudice and violence remains powerfully attractive for the reader, while the ideology of tolerance (at least in Mick's voice) seems weak and unconvincing. 205

Stephens' second form of first-person narration, where the reader is shown the unreliability of the narrator, is a more common narrative style in the young adult literature in this selection. The writer lets the teenage protagonist describe the frustration and difficulties of his life, but through connections with others, the errors of judgement of the main character are underlined and in this way the reader is encouraged to "side with the text", against the inexperienced narrator and to adopt a more socially desirable or responsible ideological position. The most common way of demonstrating the unreliability of the narrator is to have him de scribe either the reactions of others to his actions, or to report conversational exchanges which contain oppositional points ofview.

These exchanges are usually older, more experienced, people, but also often with girls, who are seen as both more responsib1e and more mature than the boys in the novels.

In Doherty's Dear Nobody (1991) the author has two first-person voices, Helen and

Chris. Helen is pregnant and the two of them have to find sorne way of dealing with this.

Unwilling to have an abortion, Helen takes on the responsibility of having the baby and dealing with her family's reactions. Her voice in the book is in the form of letters to the baby ("Dear Nobody"), and details how she is coming to terms with the many decisions to be made. Chris's voice on the other hand remains angry and immature, he even manages to console himselfwith another girl for a while. The author's ideological stance is multi-stranded. She is not simply concerned with teenage masculinity and inability to face up to the results of one's actions. She contrasts Chris and Helen 's situation with those of both sets of parents. Speeifically, she provides us with the image of Chris' s dad, who when his wife left him with two small children, managed to still make a successful life for himself and his sons. The author is more concerned with demonstrating the many 206 ways individuals choose to deal with personal responsibility than with writing a polemic on the dangers of teenage sex.

Frequently an author with a teenage narrator speaking in the first person will use an

older family member, a parent, a teacher, a counsellor, to underline the choices facing the

main character, and help him make decisions (Men of Stone, Friesen 2000; Staying Fat

For Sarah Bymes, Crutcher 1995; Life is a Lonely Place, Fritzhand 1975; Yuletide Blues,

MacIntyre 1998; Father Figure, Peck 1978; Sharkbait, Salisbury 1999).

The other technique that is used to encourage the reader to adopt a more socially

acceptable ideological position than the teenage narrator' s is to have that narrator change

his position or ideas because of his experiences. As the story unfolds, the narrator

becomes less self-centered, more sensitive to others, and able to recognize his own faults

and mistakes (Crabbe, Bell 1997; The MacJntyre Liar, Bly 1993; Summertime Blues,

Clarke 2001; Heart of a Champion, Deuker 1993; Hold Fast, Major 1978; The Year of

the Gopher, Naylor 1987; The Tuesday Café, Trembath 1996).

Stephens' third form of narration is "focalization". Focalization refers to an

indirect form of narration, where "events are narrated from the perceptual point of view

of a character situated within the text as if seen through the eyes of that character"

(Mc Callum 1999, 262). Fifty of the selected novels use this form of narration. The

reader is encouraged to identify with the focalizer and in this way the reader may become

subjected to the ideological content of the text. Stephens, who includes narrative fiction

for carly adolescence in his dcfinition of "children 's literature" (Stcphens 1992, 1) is

concemed that

If a function of children's literature is to socialize its readers, identification with focalizers is one of its chief methods, since by this 207

means, at least for the duration of the reading time, the reader's own self-hood is effaced and the reader intemalizes the perceptions and attitudes of the focalizer and is thus reconstituted as a subject within the text (Stephens 1992, 68).

A single focalizer encourages the reader to occupy the same ideological position.

In A Pair ofJesus Boots (Sherry 1975) Rocky has made a hero ofhis eIder brother Joey, a petty criminal.

Rocky lived mainly in a dream world, where school and home didn't have any existence for him. In his dream world he was either a successful criminal leader or a famous footballer - it aIl depended where his interests lay at that moment (Sherry 1975, 59).

Rocky's world is one of parental neglect and minor gang violence. Although initially the author seems to be encouraging the reader to share Rocky's fascination with the possibilities of a life of crime, her ideological position becomes clear when Rocky finally cornes up against really dangerous criminals.

Rocky took off his jumper and trousers and crept thankfuIly under the blankets ... he couldn't stop thinking about Joey, Joey the big leader who was now shivering and frightened in the hideout. Rocky's dreams about his brother had been finally shattered that night, aIl his half­ doubts confirmed. Joey had never been brave, he saw that now. Joey had been a small-time crook, and Joey had been caught ... And Rocky didn't want to end up that way. He didn't want to end up on the run from the police. He wanted to do something better than that (Sherry 1975, 133).

Rocky's romantic image of heroic masculinity has been altered through his experiences into a more mature, more "approved" ideological position, which the reader is also cncouraged to adopt.

Just as with multi-faceted first-person narration, the use of more than one focalizer can be used to give different points ofview. In Waitingfor the Rain (Gordon 1987), the 208 author gives the reader the chance to see Apartheid through the eyes of Frikkie, a young

Boer, and Tengo, a black South African. Because of the dual focalization the author is able to provide a more complete picture of the way in which violence and prejudice affect individuallives. She also provides the reader with contrasting images ofmasculinity.

In Out of Control (Mazer 1994) three boys assault one of the girls at their high school. The author focalizes the story through two characters, Valerie Michon, the girl who was assaulted, and Rollo Wingate, one of the boys who attacked her. By using two focalizers the author can make a stronger ideological statement. Through Valerie's eyes, the reader experiences her fear, anger, and helplessness. When the narration is focalized through Rollo's eyes, the author is able to point out the danger of certain types of masculine friendship. In this case, Rollo, not as articulate or as smart as his two friends, allows himself to be pulled into their violent, sexist behaviour. He finds his friendship with them flattering and exciting, and he makes no attempt to consider the possible consequences of their actions. The scene where his inability to explain his actions to his horrified father gives the author a chance to make a major ideological statement.

"Did you think about the girl? Do you think about anything? Rollo, look at me! This is the way life passes, Rollo. Like this." He snaps his fingers. "lt seems long to you now, but it's not. lt goes fast. And you only get one chance at it, that's why you've got to think. You've got to think about what you're doing, and you've got to live right" ... "Right now you think life is forever. You think time is endless. You don 't have a sense of urgency. You think you can do anything and it doesn't matter. That's not true. Everything malters. It matters to you. It matters to the other person. Do you understand what l'm saying?" (Mazer 1994, 137)

Ignored by his angry father, suspended from school, Rollo has time to think about what has happened and try and explain his actions to himself. The reader, seeing the events 209 through Rollo's eyes, is subject to the author's ideological view of teenage masculine friendship.

Rollo's thoughts, addressed to his father, go like this ... The thing is, you 're not thinking, even if on one level you know what you 're doing isn 't right. The thing is, there 's something in you that 's saying, Don 't think about il ... so you don 't, and that 's easy, because you don 't want to say something and be a jerk, you just want to do what your friends are doing. So you do il ... (Mazer 1994, 146).

Stephens is concemed that readers may become subjected to the ideology of a text because of close identification with a focalizer: "unqualified identification with focalizers attributes a coherent reality and objectivity to the world constructed by the text"

(Stephens 1992, 69). While this is a possibility, in sorne cases ideological concems which exist outside the text can interfere with the reader's total identification. Mallan

(1999) discusses the results of an on-line chat session between four groups of 13 and 14 year old boys and writer James Moloney (A Bridge to Wiseman 's Cove 1996). Moloney stated in the on-hne chat session that he purposely made Carl an outsider intending to win reader's support for his situation.

1 knew from the start 1 wanted Carl to feel he was different and unlikeable. Giving him a sack-like body shape seemed a good way to do it. It isolated him from other kids effectively and affected his self­ esteem ... the more difficulties 1 loaded onto Carl, the more the reader would feel for him and want to see him come through (MalI an 2003, 171 ).

Moloney makes Carl the butt of Nathan, good looking, popular, Carl's opposite in every way. Nathan and Carl have a stand off at a party. Maloney's strategy in this scene was to deliberately offer his readers "contrasting images of masculinity" (Mallan 2003,

172). While Nathan insults Carl's body and gets away with it, when he "attacks his moral integrity", the party sides with Carl. Maloney's intent to make the reader identify 210 with Carl and his less conventional masculinity was not completely successful with the boys who took part in the chat session. A number of them felt that Carl could have used his superior size and strength to successfully have a more physical confrontation with

Nathan. Their comments suggested that "while moral strength might be admirable,

asserting one's physical or linguistic dominance may be the most beneficial form of

action" (Mallan 2003, 173). The boys were aware of Carl's "herioc" qualities, but they

still favoured more traditional notions of masculinity as being the most desirable form of

behaviour. As mentioned above, wh en discussing Oliver's Wars (Wilson 1992), writers

who try and develop non-traditional "heroes" either faU into the trap of "demonizing"

traditional images of masculinity (Nodelman 2002, 14) or producing a character that

readers find difficult to identify with.

Closure

The end of a novel is the place where, traditionaUy, the author tied everything

together. Suggestions were made as to the possible future of certain characters; a novel

written in the first person usually had the character summing up his/her feelings about the

events described, and any moralizing or didactic purpose (lessons learnt) was clearly

articulated. The novels in this selection still fit within this pattern. Novels written for

teenagers tend to be focussed on the journey from childhood to adulthood. As McCallum

says:

The preoccupation with pers on al maturation in adolescent fiction is commonly articulated in conjunction with a perceived need for children to overcome solipsism and develop intersubjective concepts 211

of personal identity within this world and m relation to others (McCallum 1999, 7).

The majority of authors are concerned not just with depicting the many experiences adolescent boys may have, but also with demonstrating how these experiences affect

personal growth. Ideology may be presented via straightforward statements like the

following:

And th en it came to me that we're aIl in the same boat. No matter how old and wise you get, you go on making mistakes your whole life: Gramps choosing a career for Dad; Dad trying to push college on his kids; Mom banning me from Dave's house because ofhis father ... aIl grown-up people who hadn't got the hang of it yet. Somehow rd thought that wh en 1 was an adult, l'd naturally say and do the right things because 1 was mature. lt wasn't like that. Maybe rd never make the same mistake of ribbing someone like 1 did the night Marsh fell in the lake, but 1 might do something equalIy foolish later on. There were no guarantees (The Year afthe Gapher, Naylor 1987, 182- 3).

Ideology is also present in the way in which an author collects the threads of the

novel and makes a final statement.

And so, the end of my story. rd like to tell you that my parents got back together again and we aIl lived happily ever after. That didn't happen. At least the bit about my parents ... didn 't happen ... But 1 do see [Dad] more often now. We go fishing ... Previously it would have made me furious. 1 would have thought we were drifting ... But there are sorne things that don't have to be spoken. Maybe can't be spoken. His love for me. It's quite clear ... and l'm not in the business of pushing Dad away ... blaming him. 1 want him close by. As much of him as he can give. And he gives what he can, when he can, 1 know that. And 1 make it enough. One day, wh en 1 know how, 1'11 tell him how much 1 love him. But th en again, maybe 1 won 't. Maybe he knows alrcady. As for Ernest, l' d like to say that we keep in touch. More than that, that we've become close ... but that hasn't happened either ... AlI 1 know is that he's glad ofme and l'm glad ofhim. Jonathan Miker. rd like to say that we became, if not friends, then respectful of each other. That did happen ... Love - l'm blessed 212

enough in that. Courage - 1 plan to leam more of. And luck. Luck. If Mrs Sorrel taught me anything, she taught me that you make your own luck ... And then there's Kate. 1 expect you want to know what happened between me and the angel with the dimple? Sorry 1 can't tell you that. At least not right now, because, weIl, it's kind of a long story ... (Feather boy, Singer 2002, 283-286).

Both these examples are about love, responsibility, and choices, and the ideological position of the author is stated in the text. Because the novel written for adolescent boys is about becoming a man, the authors are preoccupied with demonstrating the effect of specifie experiences, experiences that they would expect to be similar to those of the boys reading the texts, or to have sorne relevance to images of successful masculinity. These experiences include the following.

Coming to terms with physical appearance and the extent to which it measures up to an ideal

Recognition of sexual identity (including homophobia) Success (or failure) with women Success (or failure) in sports Confronting prejudice Taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions Experiencing violence and/or bullying Learning about different types of courage Recognizing the difference between fantasy and reality Experience of death Coming to terms with past events and through this experience understanding others (particularly parents)

Recognizing the needs of others The responsibilities of friendship Achievement in the face of adversity 213

These experiences are used by the authors to make statements about how their characters have matured, and to emphasize ideological viewpoints. The majority of the books finish on a cautiously optimistic note. The achievement of a better relationship with parents (Rats Saw God, Thomas 1996; The Year of the Gopher, Naylor 1987;

Crabbe, Bell 1997; Father Figure, Peck 1978), the acceptance of personal responsibility for specific actions (The McIntyre Liar, Bly 1993; Like Some Kind ofHero, Marino 1992;

Sharkbait, Salisbury 1997), burgeoning relationship (Featherboy, Singer 2002;

Summertime Blues, Clarke 2001; Bull Catcher, Carter 1997), recognition of future possibilities, or an acknowledgement of realistic goals, rather than impossible dreams

(Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, LeGuin 1976; Pennington 's Seventeenth Summer,

Pey ton 1985; 48 Shades ofBrown, Earls 1999).

"Endings reaffirm what society regards as important Issues and preferred

outcomes" (Stephens 1992, 43). All texts contain ideological content. Stephens (1992)

comments that

writing for children is usually purposeful, its intention being to foster in the child reader a positive apperception of sorne socio-cultural values which, it is assumed, are shared by author and audience. These values include contemporary morality and ethics, a sense of what is valu able in the culture's past (what a particular contemporary social formation regards as the culture's centrally important traditions), and aspirations about the present and the future. Since a culture's future is ... invested in its children, children's writers often take upon themselves the task of trying to mould audience attitudes into "desirable" forms, which can mean either an attempt to perpetuate certain values or to resist socially dominant values which particular writers oppose (Stephens 1992, 3).

Authors writing specifically for adolescents are usually preoccupied with the

individual adolescent's struggle to bec orne an adult. They are also trying to speak with 214 an adolescent voice. This exercise can lead to sorne interesting contradictions within the text, particularly when looking at representations of masculinity. The majority of the authors of the selected novels are concemed with the traditional anxieties of adolescent boys: physical size and strength, the ability to deal with violence (courage), and achieving personal success in sport and work, and sexual success (with women, or men, depending on sexual orientation).

Ideological positions can range from straightforward ones like Richard Peck

(Father Figure, 1978), concemed with issues of responsibility for personal actions and the notion that maturity, that is, being a man, means taking on su ch responsibility, to the position of such as Leslie Choyce (Good ldea Gone Bad, 1993) and Melvin Burgess

(Doing if, 2003), both more interested in a "warts and aIl" non-judgemental approach, that relies on realistic description of what many adults would see as sorne of the least attractive characteristics of adolescence (including violence and sexual fantasies).

There is, therefore, a variety of masculine images to choose from, many of them still resting firmly on a traditional hegemonic masculine framework. Authors may do their best to subvert this framework, but this can be problematic. Efforts to contrast traditional images from the hegemonic ideal with a more sensitive "new age" masculine image, can run the risk of being "counter productive", as when "acceptable non­ traditional masculinity as constructed in such books perpetua tes a demonized conventional masculinity" (Nodelman 2002, 14). Fathers, for example, can be drawn overharshly in an effort to eontrast a son's efforts to step outside a rigid masculine image.

Such books can also subtlely undermine themselves by presenting images that are seen as 215 too unrealistic and therefore the reader does not identify with them at aIl (c.f. Mitchell and Reid-Walsh and student reactions to Oliver's Wars).

A number of books make attempts to step outside the mold, notably Easy Avenue

(Doyle 1995), 48 Shades ofBrown (Earls 1999), and Men ofStone (Friesen 2000). A few remain almost one-dimensional in their focus on a traditional masculine rite of passage

(Hatchet, Paulsen 1987; Dog Runner, Meredith 1989). The majority, however, are concemed with providing a multi-faceted picture of the difficulties faced by teenage boys as they struggle to produce their own unique form of masculinity. "As with most adolescent fiction, the subjectivity represented as a desirable outcome is formulated in terms ofcontemporary humanist ideology" (Stephens and McCallum 1999, 133). That is, while the central characters may be drawn as striving towards traditional masculine goals, winning a race, becoming a lifeguard, impressing the prettiest girls, being the star of the football team, doing something heroic, the ideological content of the majority of the books is more concemed with larger humanist issues.

Humanist thought seeks to engage human intellect, imagination and emotions in intersubjective comprehension of other people's worlds and ideas; it fosters a concem with social and political freedoms, and with justice. lt resists complacent or deterministic arguments that nothing can be done to change things ... it con tends that although men and women may not have complete freedom, they nevertheless have, or should have, the opportunity to make choices, to forge their own agency (McCallum 1999,263). 216

Chapter 6 Conclusion

Since 1 began the research for this thesis, concern for adolescent boys, their physical and emotional development, and their academic and social development, has, if anything, become even more focussed. Increasing concern for the cultural expectations and pressures faced by teenage boys continues to occupy both the media and academic research. My interests grew out of questioning how boys become men, what type of cultural discourse do they operate within, specifically what books do they read and what are the messages contained in those books?

My study had two major areas:

• to identify, analyse, and discuss the variety of images of masculinity found

in a selection of novels specifically written for this age group, and

• to look at the way these images, as representations of ideology, are

mediated by the construction of the selected texts.

The theoretical approach for this study was derived from the theory of hegemonic masculinity. A theoretical approach developed initially by Robert Connell (1995), it concentrated on the construction of masculinity in everyday life. Connell's approach looked at the way in which men had to come to terms with the dynamic day to day construction of gender in the face of the expectations of the social construction of the hegemonic image. 1 used the work of sociologist Blye Frank (1990) who had explored the "everyday masculinities" of a group of teenage boys, to develop a framework for examining the images of masculinity found in a selection of novcls written spccifically for this age group.

1 hoped my research would answer the following questions: 217

Do books written for young adults mirror the subtlety and complexity of a boy's choices?

Is their ideology concentrated on reinforcing the hegemonic image, or do they present different views of masculinity?

Does this literature provide a "space" for both the readers and the characters to develop their own highly relation al forms of masculinity?

There were 103 books in my final selection. They ranged in publication dates from

1967 to 2003; the majority of them came from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with one from New Zealand, two from South Africa, and one from

Uganda. It is unusual to have this large a number oftexts in a study that includes a forrn of "close reading" as part of its analysis, but 1 felt that a larger collection would pro vide a more in-depth collection of images of masculinity for comparison.

Blye Frank's study (1990) had already demonstrated the complex daily decisions made by his teenage informants as they constructed their fragile versions of masculinity, and as 1 collected my data from the selected novels, it became apparent that the main characters had much in common with these real boys. Like the boys in Frank's study, they measured themselves against society's images and expectations of masculinity.

Even those who - on the surface - seemed to approach the hegemonic ideal, heterosexual, tall, good looking, successful both academically and at sport, and attractive to women, demonstrated their own feelings of insecurity, and the vast majority had no hope of approaching the ide al at aIl. Real boys and fictional characters alike pragmatically made compromises and came to terms with the contradictions they faced.

AlI but the seriously psychologically damaged managed to find sorne area of success in their lives that gave them at least a fleeting sense of successful masculinity. As Connell maintained, and Blye Frank's informants demonstrated, the characters in the books 218 constructed their images of masculinity on a day to day basis, and one of the more interesting features of many of the books was the way in which the teenage characters were made aware of the fact that the adult men they dealt with were also involved in a similar practice of evaluation and experience. So, the answer to the first question was yes, young adult novels mirror the subtlety and complexity ofboy's choices.

The second question concemed the ideological content of the selected novels. Was this ideology directed towards reinforcing the hegemonic image, or were less traditional views of masculinity also represented? The literary construction of the selected texts provided an interesting framework for addressing this question. Although the characters in the novels aspired to traditional hegemonic goals, such as becoming a sports star, achieving incredible success with women, developing a more attractive physical appearance or winning sorne coveted race or prize, the majority of the novels featured an

ideological approach aimed at moving the reader beyond such narrow definitions of

"success". Ideology in the novels was more focussed on humanistic concems of individual agency and the problems of choice.

A major ideological concem was the balance between freedom of choice and

restriction of actions because of circumstance. As McCallum says:

The image of empowered individuals capable of acting independentlY and making choices about their lives presents young readers with a world view which for many is simply idealistic and unobtainable. Altematively, to overemphasize the construction of subjectivity within society implies a mechanistic view of individuals constructed within and determined by social institutions (Mc Callum 1999,257).

Generally, ideological statements in the selected novels moved beyond reinforcing specifie hegemonic images to supporting more general humanistic concems. However, closure, or the final scenes of specifie novels, often revealed a contradiction in 219 ideological approach. The more general humanistic viewpoint cou1d suddenly be subsumed into a single image which could seem to be underlining the importance of a traditional hegemonic ideal. An example of this occurs in the final pages of both Bad

Boy (Wieler 1989) and Rats Saw Gad (Thomas 1996), when physical size becomes a marker of successful maturity (underlined ev en further in one case, by the adolescent character having become taller than his father).

When the astronaut and 1 went to pick up the tuxedos earlier in the day, the woman behind the counter handed us each other's rentaIs. It wasn't until we were standing beside each other in front of the full­ length mirror that we noticed the error. He couldn't button his collar and his slacks dragged the ground. In the mirror 1 noticed 1 was perhaps half an inch taller than the astronaut. "My, what handsome men!" our saleslady said (Thomas 1996, 193).

Another popular single image involved in closure was "getting the girl", definitely an echo of traditional masculine hegemonic aspirations. This image, however, usually bore little relationship to an adolescent male dream of acquiring the beautiful blonde that aIl the other boys lusted after. The authors were more concemed with providing a more nuanced, realistic image. The ideological message enphasised the importance of personal maturity (usuaIly, that is, developing more sensitivity and awareness of the needs of others) as being the key to establishing any type ofrelationship with a girl (Men ofStone,

Friesen 2000; Doing lt, Burgess 2003; Bull Catcher, Carter 1997; Surnrnertirne Blues,

Clarke 2001; 48 Shades of Brown, Earls 1999; Life is a Lonely Place, Fritzhand 1975;

Sorne Kind ofHero, Merino 1992).

The answer to the second question, then, is that ideo10gy in the selected novels was not concentrated on reinforcing the hegemonic image. The majority of the novels shared a general humanistic approach to adolescent development which attempted to provide 220 more depth of choice and development for central characters. Different Vlews of masculinity were presente d, sorne with more success than others. Hegemonie images were certainly present in the books (see Chapter 4), often unfortunately in the characters of demonized fathers, coaches, and other adult male characters, serving the literary purpose of underlining the limitations and suspect moral position of the traditional masculine ideal.

However, at the same time as the books supported a broader ideological approach, they retained the contradictions of having a successful ending still tied in with traditional images. The authors writing these books are walking a tightrope. While recognizing the cultural power of the traditional images of masculinity, they are also trying to put forward a more general humanistic approach. They run the risk that "the portrayals of boys defying conventional machismo ... may have little influence on boy readers wh en compared to the huge power of cultural conventions which reinforce traditional desirable masculinity" (Nodelman 2002, 12): a view born out by the previous discussion on readers reactions to A Bridge ta Wiseman 's Cave (Moloney 1996).

Although this study is focussed on male characters in the selected novels, a brief comment should be made about female characters. Connell included the following statement in his book Masculinities (1995): that hegemonic masculinity is

the configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant position of men and the subordination ofwomen (Connell1995, 77).

An important part of the hegemonic image is then constructed through the subordination of women. In the selected novels there was usually a generational gap in the way female characters were described. Older women (mothers, for example) were often depicted as 221 subordinate to their husbands (The Runner Voigt 1994; Summertime Blues, Clarke 2001;

Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf, Hartnett 1999; Life is a Lonely Place, Fritzhand 1975;

Oliver's Wars, Wilson 1992; Stone Co Id, Swindells 1995). Younger women, the girls that the male characters associated with, or the teachers they were influenced by, were painted as having much more personal "agency", that is, "being capable of conscious and deliberate thought and action within the social discourses, practices, and ideologies constituting the culture" they inhabit (McCallum 1999, 4). Those girls who were victims of male aggression (Out of Control, Mazer 1994; Staying Fatfor Sarah Bymes, Crutcher

1995) or social pressure (Dear Nobody, Doherty 1991; The Year of the Gopher, Naylor

1987; Lizard, Covington 1991) were portrayed as fighting back in an effort to preserve their own personal freedom. The majority of the books recognized the way in which many older women existed in subordinate relationships to the men in their lives but suggested that the younger women could develop more equal relationships.

The third question asked in Chapter 1 is closely linked to the issues in question two.

Does this literature provide a "space" for both readers and characters to develop their own highly relational forms of masculinity? With the exceptions of Bad Boy (Wieler

1989) and Good Idea Gone Bad (Choyce 1993), the books in this selection generally provide a space for the reader to stand back and consider the choices offered by the situations described in the novels. Circumstances may limit choice to a certain extent, but characters are drawn as having sorne form of agency, sorne form of control over the directions their lives are taking. Evcn the most desperate (The Runner, Voigt 1994; Raw,

Monk 1996; The Con tender, Lipsyte 1996; A Hero Ain 't Nothin' But a Sandwich,

Childress 1973) are painted as having sorne form of personal choice in deciding what 222 kind of future they want. If the character in the book has this kind of space, then so too does the reader. The very contradictions mentioned above in the contrast between a general humanist ideology and the desirability of traditional images helps provide the reader with this space.

The exception to this would be for those boys exploring their own sexuality. There is little for them to identify with (in a positive sense) in the selected novels. Only one book has a central character who is gay (Dance on My Grave, Chambers 1995) and three feature supporting characters who are gay (Bad Boy, Wieler 1992; The Blooding,

Wheatley 1989; and l'Il Love You When You're More Like Me, Kerr 1989). There are, conversely, a number of books which clearly depict the unpleasant consequences suffered by boys suspected of being gay, or who bec orne the targets of homophobic bullying

(Twelve Days in August, Ketchum 1993; Good Idea Gone Bad, Choyce 1993; Hangman,

Jarman 1999; Life is a Lonely Place, Fritzhand 1975). In this particular area, young adult literature has sorne way to go before

the texts ... we create for young people and which play su ch a seminal role in their developing identities ... offer visions of society in which sex and gender are facts, and difference is enjoyed, but in which ail groups are equally able to participate (Reynolds 2002, 113).

Studies on boys and masculinity have tended to be focussed on the educational experience, specifically problems with literacy. There is widespread concern that boys lag behind girls in literacy skills and that any form of literary study, particularly reading, is seen as a feminine occupation and therefore boycotted by the majority of boys (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 197-221). Feminist interest in girl 's education, "although initially concerned with issues of access and equity as they pertained to girls' participation and involvement in classroom talk [and] female representation in textbooks and literature" 223

(Gilbert and Gilbert 1998, 216), moved on to a variety of issues concemmg the development of "the female literate self', including the texts that teenage girls were reading (Crew 1996, 2000, Christian-Smith 1990). Similar studies on texts written for teenage boys have only recently started appearing (Bereska 1999, Mallan 2002, 2003,

Reynolds 2002, Pennell 2002, Romoren and Stephens 2002). With the exception of

Bereska, these references are short papers often concemed with either a Freudian analysis of a few specific texts (Mallan 2002), or discoursal analysis of a few specific texts

(Pennell 2002, Reynolds 2002, Romoren and Stephens 2002).

Bereska's study (1999) involved thirty novels from 1940 to the present. She analysed these novels in an attempt to discover whether the structure of masculinity (as it related to North American youth) had changed over time. She isolated components that she considered made up this structure (agression, collectivity, adventure, athleticism, morality, for example) and concluded that these images remained stable over her 50 year time period. She concluded that in this area (literature) "the structure of the boy' s world has remained unchanged for more than a century" (Bereska 1999, [ii]).

The present study would disagree, in part, with this finding. In her selection of novels, Bereska included not just young adult novels (that is, novels written specifically for teenagers), but also adult novels, which have been appropriated by teachers and used with teenagers (Lord of the Flies, Golding 1954 and Catcher in the Rye, Salinger 1951, for example). These novels are about adolescence rather than written for adolescents, and as such, their ideological basis is different: they lack the didactic element common in literature for children and teenagers, for example. Although Bereska isolated many similar images of masculinity to those mentioned above in Chapter 4, she did not go on to 224 consider the literary and ideological framework of the novels. A major contention of this

study is that an understanding of the ideological message contained in novels for teenagers is crucial to examining how the images of masculinity are being transmitted in the text. 1 would not disagree that many of the traditional images of masculinity have remained stable over time, but many of the books selected for this study are attempting to

show, through the experiences of their characters and both hidden and overt ideological messages, how constraining such images are, and that other choices exist.

The implications of this study are closely tied in with suggestions of future research. Reading a text is a complex activity.

If we accept Iser's argument that what brings a literary work into existence is the convergence of text and (real) reader ... then the being or meaning of the text would be best characterized as a dialectic between textual discourse (including its construction of an implied reader and a range of potential subject postitions) and a reader's disposition, familiarity with st ory conventions and experiential knowledge (Stephens 1992, 59).

Each boy will bring his own individual mlX of intellectual ability and social

experience to the reading of the novels considered in this study. As demonstrated above

in the discussion about boys' reactions to the central character in A Bridge to Wiseman 's

Cove (Moloney 1996), external social expectations of hegemonic masculinity may

substantially affect adolescent boys' willingness to accept less traditional forms of masculine behaviour as being likely to be successful. The next step in the research process would be sorne form of reader-response project: to select sorne of the texts used in this study and work with a group of boys who would read the texts. Questions to be asked would include:

How do the boys react to the texts? 225

What sense do they make of the ideological content?

How does their own experience of the larger hegemonic masculinity discourse in popular culture affect their interaction with specifie texts?

Su ch a study would have relevance for any kind of educational literary experience, particularly those fueled by the notion that reading a specifie text may have sorne affect on life choices and the importance of specifie images. Literature continues to be regarded as a bearer of positive ideology. If teachers want to provide more relevant literary experiences for their teenage male students, and thus address in part the problem of boys' literacy and choice of texts, while also addressing the more limiting issues of the hegemonic image, then it remains increasingly important to be aware of the ideological content of the texts that the boys will be reading. 226

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Bibliography - Young Adult Literature

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Hinton, S.E. (1967). The Outsiders. New York: Viking.

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Appendix A List of novels used in this study.

Aldridge, James. (1987). The True Story ofSpi! McPhee. Ringwood, Vic.: Puffin.

Almond, David. (1999). Kit 's Wilderness. New York: Delacorte Press.

Alphin, Elaine Marie. (1992). The Proving Ground. New York: Henry Holt.

Ashley, Bernard. (2001). Little Soldier. London: Orchard Books.

Bell, William. (1997). Crabbe. Toronto: Stoddart Kids.

Bloor, Edward (1997). Tangerine. New York: Scholastic.

Bly, David. (1993). The Mclntyre Liar. Edmonton, AB.: Tree Frog Press.

Book, Rick. (1999). Necking with Louise. Red Deer, AB: Red Deer Press.

Boyd, David. (1993). Lookingfor a Hero. Oakville, ON: Rubicon.

Bradford, Karleen. (1989). Windward Island. Toronto: Kids Can Press.

Brooks, Bruce. (1984). The Moves Make the Man. New York: Harper and Rowe.

Burgess, Melvin. (2003). Doing il. London: Anderson Press.

Cameron, Silver Donald. (1982). The Baitchopper. Toronto: Lorimer.

Carter, Alden. (1997). Bull Catcher. New York: Scholastic Signature.

Chambers, Aidan. (1995). Dance on My Grave. London: Red Fox. (Original work published in 1982)

Childress, Alice. (1973). A Hero ain 't nothin' but a sandwich. New York: Coward­ McCann.

Choyee, Leslie. (1993). Good Idea Gone Bad. Halifax, N.S.: Formac Publishing.

Clarke, Judith. (1990). The Heroic life ofAl Capsella. New York: Henry Holt. (Original work published in 1988).

Clarke, Julia. (2001). Summertime Blues. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Collura, Mary-Ellen Lang. (1994). Winners. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre. (Original work published in 1984). 240

Connier, Robert. (1974). The Chocolate War. New York: Laurel-LeafBooks.

Couper, J.M. (1973). Lookingfor a Wave. London: Bodley Head.

Covington, Dennis. (1991). Lizard. New York: Delacorte.

Crew, Garry. (1995) Angel's Gate. Port Melbourne, Vic.: Mammoth Australia. (Original work published in 1993).

Crutcher, Chris. (1995). Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York: Laurel- Leaf Books. (Original work published in 1993).

Doyle, Brian. (1995). Easy Avenue. Toronto: A Groundwood Book. (Original work published in 1988).

Deuker, Carl. (1993). Heart ofa Champion. New York: Avon.

Doherty, Berlie. (1997) Dear Nobody. London: Collins. (Original work published in 1991)

Earls, Nick. (1999). 48 Shades ofBrown. Ringwood, Vic.: Puffin.

Fairbridge, Lynne. (1992). ln Such a Place. Toronto: Doubleday.

Friesen, Gayle. (2000). Men ofStone. Toronto: Kids Can Press.

Freedman, Jim. (1991) One Hand Clapping. Toronto: A Groundwood Book.

Fritzhand, James. (1975) Life is a Lonely Place. New York: Evans.

Fine, Anne. (1994). Flour Babies. Toronto: Penguin. (Original work published in 1992)

French, Simon. (1981). Cannily, cannily. London: Angus and Robertson.

Geraghty, Paul. (1992) Pig. London: Red Fox Books. (Original work published in 1988)

Gleeson, Libby. (1996) Dodger. Ringwood, Vic.: Puffin. (Original work published in 1990)

Gordon, Sheila. (1987). Waitingfor the Rain. New York: Orchard.

Griffin, Adele. (2001). Dive. New York: Hyperion.

Gwynne, Phillip. (1998). Deadly Unna. Ringwood, Vic.: Puffin. 241

Halvorson, Marilyn. (1997) Nobody said it would be easy. Toronto: Stoddart Kids. (Original work published in 1984)

Hartnett, Sonya. (1999). Stripes ofthe Sidestep Wolf. Ringwood, Vic.: Viking.

Harlen, Jonathan. (1992) The Lion and the Lamb. Rydalmere, NSW: Hodder and Stoughton.

Herrick, Steven. (1996). Love, Ghosts and Nose Hair. St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press.

Hinton, S.E. (1969) The Outsiders. New York: Dell. (Original work published in1967)

Hughes, Monica. (1982) Hunter in the Dark. Toronto: Clarke Irwin.

Jarman, Julie. (1999). Hangman. London: Anderson.

Kerr, M.E. (1989). J'Il love you when you 're more like me. New York: Harper Keypoint Books. (Original work published in 1977)

Katz, Welwyn Winton. (1996). Out of the Dark. New York: Margaret. K. McEldery Books.

Kropp, Paul. (1989). The Rock. Toronto: Stoddart.

Leeson,Robert. (2000). Red, White and Blue. London: Collins. (Original work published in 1996)

LeGuin, Ursula K. (1976). Very Far Away from Anywhere Else. New York: Atheneum.

Levoy, Myron. (1994). A Shadow like a Leopard. New York: Harper Trophy. (Original work published in 1981)

Lipsyte, Robert. (1996). The Contender. New York: Harper Trophy. (Original work published in 1967)

MacKenzie, Jean. (1971). River ofStars. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.

MacIntyre, R.P. (1998). Yuletide Blues. Saskatoon, SK.: Thistlcdown Press. (Original work published in 1991).

Major, Kevin. (1978). Hold Fast. Toronto: Clarke Irwin.

Mahy, Margaret. (1992). Underrunners. New York: Viking. 242

Marino, Jan. (1992). Like Some Kind ofHero. New York: A von.

Mark, Jan. (1976). Thunder and Lightnings. Hannondsworth: Kestrel Books.

Masson, Sophie. (1998). The Tiger. Pymble, NSW: Angus and Robertson.

Mazer, NonnaFox. (1994). Out of Control. New York: Avon.

Meredith, Don. (1989). Dog Runner. Saskatoon, SK.: Western Producer Prairie Books.

Moloney, James. (1996). A Bridge to Wiseman 's Cove. St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press.

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