How boys become men : examining the representation of boyhood masculinity in Hughes’s Tom Brown’s school days (1857)

Abstract

Masculinity today is a highly contested subject. In current cultural discourse, it has frequently been viewed as a deeply embedded social system that is harmful and dangerous. In this dissertation, I wish to explore the period in boys’ lives where masculinity is learned and to consider the possibility of instilling more positive forms of masculinity. This aim has directed my focus to consideration of the schoolboy environment, specifically as it is depicted in Thomas Hughes’s well-known novel, Tom Brown’s School Days (1857) [1993]. In the novel, Hughes presents a loosely fictionalised depiction of Rugby, a renowned and elite British school for boys. The story is set in the nineteenth century, during the years of Dr Thomas Arnold’s headmastership. Hughes’s novel is pertinent to my exploration of masculinity due to the character development of its protagonist, Tom Brown, during his schooling at Rugby. Tom’s journey offers insight into how young boys develop in this environment. In conducting an analysis of Hughes’s novel, I explore the influence of Dr Arnold, who is renowned as a significant historical figure and educator, as well as the interactions among the schoolboys themselves. The novel is analysed alongside an exploration of R. W. Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity and criticisms of it, in order to understand how masculinity as a social phenomenon is able to operate and sustain itself. I also explore research conducted on masculinity in the nineteenth century to provide an appropriate historical context, as well as on boys in modern schooling environments, in order to develop a theoretical framework on boyhood masculinity. Through an analysis of Tom Brown’s School Days, a famous account of boyhood experience, I aim to discern what values and expectations masculinity instils in boys, and to identify aspects of masculinity which may be deemed to be beneficial for boys’ overall development.