THE MODELS

The Models of Boyhood

The Models of Boyhood

Introduction

The nineteenth publication of works such as Little Women written by Louisa May Alcott and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson are considered, to have been quite specifically aimed at gendered markets. Little Women, depicting life centring around a domestic, family setting predictably for the female reader, and Treasure Island (Weiten 2010, pp. 617), a robust, extrovert adventure story aimed at a predominantly young male audience.

Discussion

There are similarities within the books despite written on different continents and in worlds as far removed from each other as possible. However, both Little Women and Treasure Island portray youthful characters having to live within a dirty world; the March family. Laurie Lawrence and Jim Hawkins have lost their paternal male role models albeit it in unusual circumstances i.e. temporarily to the war in Little Women and permanently in respect of Jim's father in Treasure Island (Pietsch 2010, pp. 891). The girls in Little Women, therefore, look to their mother and to each other for support and guidance, Laurie to an elderly grandfather, whereas Jim looks to the novel's male characters including the disreputable individuals for guidance.

Whilst Little Women focuses on a predominantly female 'cast', male characters such as Laurie form an important and integral part of the story. The importance of the male gender is a constant theme within the novel with Jo March's open desire to adopt masculine traits within an all-female setting, possibly becoming the most memorable of all the March girls. At the beginning, of the book she is the 'tom boy' of the family actively seeking to be seen and treated as a boy with even her own father referring to her as "son Jo" (Alcott 2009, pp. 12). Jo firmly believes that boys have more fun than girls allowed and says “it is bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys' games and work and manners” (ibid). The strictures and expectations placed on the female population within this era had the ultimate aim of becoming a wife and mother as almost perfectly depicted in Little Women. It is perhaps no wonder then that girls of the time viewed a boys' life as one of little or no domestic responsibility, fun and adventure with a freedom that a girl could only dream of. Jo believes that, by dressing and adopting masculine mannerisms she, herself will achieve the same amount of freedom as her male counterparts enjoy, and, in fact, says that "boys always have a capital time" (Pietsch 2010, pp. 891). On the other hand, all women have to look forward to is to “stay at home and knit, like a poky old woman” (ibid).

The reader, introduced to Laurie at age fifteen during a party where he meets Jo March both of whom seek refuge behind a curtain to escape the adult world of dancing and manners. Laurie lives a materialistic comfortable life within the security of a prosperous environment, however, even within this enviable situation, Alcott provides ...