In Between Masculinity and Society - Ian McEwan's Dead as They Come - Essay Example

In Between Masculinity and Society A Critique of Ian McEwans Dead as They Come In his short story, Dead as They Come Ian McEwan evokes a gloomy, almost depressing, fragment of a world where the narrator fights to balance himself on the edge, and finally falls to reveal himself as the broken, self centered man that he is. This solid and well crafted story is both haunting and disconcerting as the reader witnesses how the narrators selfishness and insecurity slowly leads to his ultimate demise and insanity. McEwan uses his readers knowledge of culture and society to help showcase his narrators masculinity throughout the piece. As the story line progresses the reader slowly comes to the conclusion that it is the narrators own selfish desires and insecurity are what ultimately destroy the image of masculinity he has worked so hard to achieve. "Mens behavior," McEwan has been quoted as saying, " is somehow invisible; we dont see ourselves as having a behavior that is indefinitely male, were just human" (Brown). The blurring of the lines between what is masculine and what is feminine is brought to the forefront in Dead as They Come as the narrator fights with emotions that are characterized with those belonging to both male and female alike. As the narrator begins his story, his romanticized obsession with the storefront mannequin "Helen" is like that which women love to read about in romance novels. He describes in rather over the top romantic detail saying, "Her body in its rippling changes of posture, adapted itself to the unique demands of each creation; with breathless grace the lines of her perfect body played tender counterpart with the shifting arabesques of sartorial artifice" McEwan 75). While statements like these make it obvious that the narrator has a romantic and passionate soul, he feels the need to make up for this emotional weakness by reminding the reader over and over again of his overabundance of wealth and success as a business man. He goes on to say, "I bore you with lyricism," and abruptly changes the readers attention by explaining, "I must tell you something about myself. I am wealthy. Possibly there are ten men resident in London with more money than I. Probably there are only five or six" (McEwan 75). These opening statements follow the narrator through the rest of his story as he constantly feels the need to over compensate for his emotions which he seems to feel are weak and at times effeminate. Modern theory of masculinity is addressed throughout the story as the narrator struggles between his emotions and his need to suppress them. Most members of society feel that, "Male norms stress values such as courage, inner direction, certain forms of aggression, autonomy, mastery, adventure, and considerable amounts of toughness in mind and body" (Donaldson). While the narrator ultimately acts in these forms of masculinity his inner emotions are strikingly different. For example, the narrator is very much afraid and lacks the courage to go into the store and purchase Helen for many days. He continues to walk be the storefront and gaze at her wishing he cold have her. This goes hand in hand with the thought that not only is masculinity somehow invisible "its crisis is always ontologically shifting in a way that over determines our view of how, and where, patriarchy actually heals itself with the very same fears of cultural feminization fuelling blandishments of its own unmanning crisis" (Brown). McEwan manages to showcase this crisis between masculine and feminine traits by revealing the narrators every "feminine" emotion and insecurity then following up with his ultimate "masculine" actions in an effort to cover up such feelings. McEwan employs writing styles throughout the text that overcome many of the more feminine descriptions and emotions giving the overall tone of the piece one of strength and masculinity. For instance, throughout the story whenever the narrator is feeling insecure or worried he repeatedly refers to himself as "a man." This usage occurs most often directly after the narrator rebels his emotions as if to make up for his emotional revelation and to remind the reader that he is in fact a strong, responsible man who deserves their respect. The narrator takes great pride in his work and feels that this is the aspect of his life that truly defines his masculinity because it showcases his success and dominance over those with less money. An example of this usage can be seen directly after the narrator reveals he if feeling low about being almost forty-five, divorced three times, and it being Christmas Eve. He follows this revelation by reminding the reader, "A man of forty - four has not time to pause. I am a man in a hurry" (McEwan 76). As he says this, the narrator seems to not only be informing the reader, but also building himself up. He feels the need to try and overcome his insecurity by reminding himself that he is everything a man should be and that everything he does is perfectly justifiable. Other descriptions help to convey this overall tone of masculinity as well. For instance, the narrator seems to both fear and detest anything that threatens his powerful will and overall manhood. He shows that he likes to be in charge and finds the endless banter, opinions and nagging to be extremely off-putting which the reader cannot help but believe would be the reason for his three previous divorces. He says that he desires a "silent women who take their pleasure with apparent indifference" (McEwan 76) and that one of the reasons he loved Helen so much is because "I talked, Helen listened" (McEwan 85). Not only does this show how his happiness is defined by his dominance and masculine importance it also shows his overall self centeredness. He says his "ideal conversation is one which allows both participants to develope their thoughts to their fullest extent, uninhibitedly, without endlessly defining and refining premises and defining conclusions." To the reader this sounds almost ridiculous because this does not describe a conversation between two people, but a completely one-sided conversation with one person not caring about the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of the other. While these thoughts are completely rational to the narrator it is only through the readers interpretation that McEwan is able to prove their masculinity. "As we have seen, the opportunities for readers to become implied watchers in McEwans fiction are crucial to his unpacking of masculinitys interface with its constitutive fields of power" (Morrison). By using this technique McEwan seems to be pointing out that what it means for men to assume, and be compelled to assume, a gender that is defined as masculine starts with the cultural and societal ideas of what masculinity means. The narrator is not consciously aware of his comments and how they come across to the reader. To him, he is simply expressing himself, but the reader can see his struggle to maintain his masculinity and how he must fight to keep his emotions and insecurity in check for fear that they will render him helpless and weak. This fight to maintain his masculinity is what ultimately drives the narrator over the edge causing his lose what little sanity and rationality he has left. The narrators overall masculinity is seen in at the end of the novel in his display of pure dominance and power in his rage and murder of Helen. By the end of the story the narrators overwhelming anxiety has convinced him that Helen is having an affair with his chauffeur. This angers him because his masculinity has been threatened and he has now been rendered powerless in Helens eyes. Up until this point Helen "did not seem to need any company other than mine" (McEwan 86) and this was the main reason the narrator was so in love with her. With Helen, he had absolutely no competition what so ever and had truly felt like the epitome of true masculinity for the first time in his life. Up until this point he had complete control and dominance over her. Upon realizing his competition the narrator feels that he has no other choice that to force his dominance over Helen and to exert his manhood in the most violent way he possibly can. The decision to rape and murder Helen coincides with the theory of masculinity defined in Donaldsons essay which states that masculinity is all about, "the winning and holding of power and it is importantly about the ways in which the ruling more dominant class establishes and maintains its domination" (Donaldson). By the end of the story the narrator has fully convinced the reader that his emotional insecurities have threatened his masculinity and he must compensate for this by acting in the most dominant and powerful way possible. In the end his fight for his masculinity takes over completely, overriding any rational thought he had left. The reader cannot help but see how McEwan has managed to bring the narrator to life by revealing his dumb helplessness and his obliviousness to his inner conflict. In doing so McEwan makes the reader care for the narrator even as they deplore his condition. McEwans true thoughts on gender and society are perfectly conveyed in this work and it is clear to the reader that understanding the importance of being true to oneself and overlooking the sometimes stifling pressures of society should not influence your decisions and overall mental state of mind. Works Cited 1. Brown, David. "A Boy Stepped Out: Migrancy Visuality, and the Mapping of Masculinities in Later Fiction of Ian McEwan". Textual Practice. Spring 2009. Vol 17 Issue 1. 2. Donaldson, M. "What is Hegemonic Masculinity?" Theory and Society. October 1993. Vol. 23. 3. McEwan, Ian. In Between the Sheets. First Anchor Books Edition. New York. March 2003. 4. Morrison, Jago. "Narration and Unease in Ian McEwans Later Fiction." Critique. Spring 2001. Vol.42 Issue 3. Read More