A MASCULINIST INVESTIGATION OF MALE REPRESENTATIONS IN SELECTED FEMINIST NOVELS OF CALIXTHE BEYALA

Abstract

Representations of the male in feminist discourse generally tend towards the negative. Existing studies on male representations have focused on the feminist perspective, with little attention paid to the masculinist viewpoint. This study is, therefore, designed to examine the representations of masculinity in male characters of Calixthe Beyala, with a view to balancing perspectives on male representations. Robert W. Connell’s Masculinity Theory is adopted as the framework, while the interpretive design is employed. Two novels of Calixthe Beyala―Le Petit prince de Belleville (Petit) and Maman a un amant (Maman)―were purposively selected based on their demonstration of the masculinity types. The novels were subjected to explication de text. Four major masculinity types were identified in the male characters of the selected novels: the hegemonic, the complicit, the subordinate and the marginalised masculinities. Hegemonic masculinity is exhibited by male characters in the community of Belleville, such as Abdou, Monsieur Kaba and the police men: as seen in their domineering, violent and exploitative relationships with women in both Petit and Maman. Hegemonic masculinity is observed in the ways patriarchal characters like Abdou invested much in ensuring that their male children sustain patriarchy: Abdou’s interdiction des tâches ménagères (forbids his son from participating in house chores) in Petit and Maman. Toxic hegemonic masculinity of the male characters towards the female characters in Petit and Maman leads to unwanted pregnancies and prostitution by Aminata and Esther, divorces for Mathilda and M’am, and death for Soumana in Petit. Complicit masculinity is identified as benign towards women. There are men like Kouam, Laforêt and Inspector Antoine whose masculinity is benevolent towards their wives in Petit and Maman. Kouam overlooks his wife’s excesses by allowing her to smoke, drink and go to bars, which is unacceptable for a Muslim wife; while Laforêt supports Caroline’s decision to leave him to cater for three children in Petit and Maman. Subordinate masculinity is found in homosexuals: gays and lesbians like Nkomo and Mathilda are portrayed as persecuted members of the society in Petit. The homophobic men of Belleville perceive Nkomo as a whore, who sleeps with his male bosses for promotions in Petit. They judge Kouam as unmanly, because his wife left him and became a lesbian in Petit. Marginalised masculinity is exhibited in the dynamics of the relationship between the subjugated blacks and the white supremacists, which is depicted in Abdou’s powerlessness before his white rival, Monsieur Tichit, who seduces and sleeps with his wife M’am in Maman. Marginalised masculinity is perceived in the fear of the black men of Belleville in confronting the white man that eloped with Abdou’s wife in Maman. Their initial bravado became emasculation before a superior white supremacist masculinity. Marginalised masculinity is shown also in the helplessness of Abdou and other black men in Belleville against the racism of the white policemen in Maman. Calixthe Beyala’s deployment of the hegemonic, complicit, subordinate and marginalised masculinities in Petit and Maman, balances the customary malevolent portrayals of men in feminist novels.