Men are to be stoic, assertive, courageous, and most of all, they are not allowed to show vulnerability. Of course, men are allowed to be angry but that is where their vulnerability ends because any sign of being emotional or being quick to shed a tear is deemed a weakness or feminine. Men are supposed to be the breadwinners of the home; they are supposed to be aggressive and defend their families; they are supposed to be “real” men. Masculinity is neither wrong nor deplorable; in fact, it can be an incredible thing to embrace, regardless of gender, because being courageous, being direct, and being protective have their virtues. Using masculinity as a weapon to undermine anything perceived as feminine is not virtuous. These themes are explored in “Miguel Street,” written by VS Naipaul, where readers are exposed to the lives of the Trinidadian men who come from all walks of life, connect with one another, and are attempting to navigate their place in the world as men. 

In the chapter titled “The Coward,” we are introduced to the life of a man called Big Foot. He comes across as a brooding, mysterious, and burly man to the other men in Miguel Street, and to readers, it may come across as a caricature of what a feared and powerful man is supposed to look like, at least to me. He is known to not say much but is often depicted as aggressive or volatile; an instance of this is when he randomly drew a knife and started to stab the back of a movie theater chair to silence the chatty moviegoers. Violence, through the eyes of toxic masculinity, is a way to assert dominance, something that is done to perform as a “real” man. The scripts that we follow through gender roles are often passed down from family or observed through the performance of our peers, so that it informs us about the proper way we are supposed to act. An example of this is in the text that states, “Every day Big Foot father, the policeman, gives Big Foot blows. Like medicine…And hear Big Foot talking afterwards. He used to say, “When I get big and have children, I go beat them, beat them.” (V.S Naipaul, 83). This further emphasizes my point of gender roles being something we acquire early in life, even before we even speak, and as we get more invested in this performance, the harder it is to break free from it. In the same way that poverty can be a generational curse, so can the harshness and rigidity of gender expectations. In times of vulnerability, a character like Big Foot believes that he has to hide his emotions in order to not be ridiculed by his peers. An instance of this is when Big Foot accidentally cuts his foot with a shard of glass, he cries out from the distance, believing that no one else saw him. When the narrator came to him with a dog in tow, he never addressed the fact that he was in pain, masking it by playing with the dog that was nearby. Another moment of vulnerability that proved to be detrimental to Big Foot was when he was introduced to the town as a professional boxer. During one of his boxing matches, Big Foot had unfortunately lost, causing the audience to roar with laughter as he was crying in the ring. The narrator reads, “He was like a boy, and the more he cried, the louder he cried, and the more painful it sounded” (V.S Naipaul, 93). This led to Big Foot leaving Miguel Street in shame because he failed to live up to the expectations of what a man should be like. 

In the chapter titled “Bogart,” the narrator talks about a character with the chapter’s namesake, who is simultaneously mysterious and ambitious. Named after Hollywood star Humphrey Bogart, he is like the star of his own town, with many of his people having fondness for him. The narrator contends, “He never laughed audibly. He never told a story. Yet whenever there was a fete or something like that, everybody would say, “We must have Bogart” (V.S. Naipaul, 11). This reveals a form of masculinity that, on the surface, is positive. Despite not being much of a talker, Bogart is able to connect with other men in Miguel Street and have a good time with them even in the face of adversity. Toxic masculinity can be suffocating but a healthy form of masculinity could look like one where a man could bond and share freely without the reprisal of others.

There is no one way to be a man. A man can be pompous and puff up his chest, walk into a room with a domineering presence and still, with this alone, it would not make him more of a man than one who shows their vulnerable side. I do not know what it is like to grow up as a man, so take my words with a grain of salt, but being a “real” man would mean being open to all the emotions, vulnerability, and sensitivity the human experience has to offer. Toxic masculinity tethers men to rigid ideals, often leading them to disempower themselves and negatively affect the people around them. 

Work Cited 

Naipaul, V.S. “1. Bogart.” Miguel Street. Vintage Books, 1959, pp. 1-18.

Naipaul, V.S. “7. The Coward.” Miguel Street. Vintage Books, 1959, pp. 79-94.