A Study On The Reconstruction Of Ideal Masculinity In Jack Maggs

Peter Carey is one of the leading Australian writers in international literature today.His novel Jack Maggs,published in 1997,won the Miles Franklin Award and the Commonwealth Writer Award in 1998.This novel,designing the convict's returning to England in search of his adoptive son as the main line,tells a story of Maggs,a deported convict who flees back to Australia after suffering all kinds of remorse and torment in British Empire.This thesis is intended to employ Connell's concept of masculinity and its classifications to analyze the specific presentations of multiple masculinities represented by the male characters in this novel,and to illustrate how their masculinities are disillusioned and reconstructed so as to verify that masculinity is the result of “social construction”,“manufacturing” and “remanufacturing”.Using this theory,this thesis firstly analyzes the specific presentation of multiple masculinities in Victorian society,and then,in combination with the text,analyzes the types and characteristics of masculinities represented by the various male characters in this novel.Secondly,by revealing the crisis and anxiety behind hegemonic masculinity of middle-class gentlemen,this thesis questions hegemonic masculinity constructed by the middle class.And also through analyzing their specific presentations in morals,economic,family life,etc.,this thesis makes an analysis of the disillusionment of their hegemonic masculinity.Finally,this thesis discusses in detail Jack Maggs' s ideal masculinity in terms of the construction of ideal male image and the establishment of harmonious relationships with others.Through analyzing the presentations,disillusionment and reconstruction of masculinities of the male characters in the text,this thesis illustrates that masculinity is not changeless but a process of construction.The purpose of this thesis is not only to make it known that one's masculinity is not changeless and there always exist the possibility and chance for everybody to change his present masculinity and seek his advancement,but also to provide some feasible advice and guidance for reconstructing an ideal masculinity of any individual or collective.