The myth of masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy

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dc.contributor.advisorStrand, Ericen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMiddleton, Sarahen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-14T14:29:14Z
dc.date.available2015-08-14T14:29:14Z
dc.date.issued2015en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis thesis sees Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy as a celebration of the nostalgia and romance characteristic of the Western and the attendant mythologies of masculinity that the genre implies. My argument runs counter to readings of McCarthy’s texts that view them as revising or querying the mythologies of American culture, such as the argument laid out by John Cant. The initiation process undertaken by the two protagonists in the trilogy is compared to the story of Iron John by Robert Bly. The narratives of both are seen as reactions against feminism, and as being involved in the process of remythifying a male coming-of-age story. In relation to this I will discuss John Grady Cole’s role as an embodiment of the mythical cowboy hero. My analysis then interrogates the dearth of female characters in the Border Trilogy, and uncovers some problematic roles for the females that do feature in the books. I go on to identify certain films that have resonances with McCarthy’s fiction. These occur both thematically in their approach to the ‘damsel in distress’ motif, as seen in The Searchers and Cities of the Plain, and with the representations of Mexico seen in The Wild Bunch and the Border Trilogy. Although it is tempting to read the Border Trilogy as a mythoclastic work, it relies on certain Western conventions and finally celebrates rather than queries the mythologies of American culture, and specifically the mythologies of masculinity.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMiddleton, S. (2015). <i>The myth of masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13737en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMiddleton, Sarah. <i>"The myth of masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13737en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMiddleton, S. 2015. The myth of masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Middleton, Sarah AB - This thesis sees Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy as a celebration of the nostalgia and romance characteristic of the Western and the attendant mythologies of masculinity that the genre implies. My argument runs counter to readings of McCarthy’s texts that view them as revising or querying the mythologies of American culture, such as the argument laid out by John Cant. The initiation process undertaken by the two protagonists in the trilogy is compared to the story of Iron John by Robert Bly. The narratives of both are seen as reactions against feminism, and as being involved in the process of remythifying a male coming-of-age story. In relation to this I will discuss John Grady Cole’s role as an embodiment of the mythical cowboy hero. My analysis then interrogates the dearth of female characters in the Border Trilogy, and uncovers some problematic roles for the females that do feature in the books. I go on to identify certain films that have resonances with McCarthy’s fiction. These occur both thematically in their approach to the ‘damsel in distress’ motif, as seen in The Searchers and Cities of the Plain, and with the representations of Mexico seen in The Wild Bunch and the Border Trilogy. Although it is tempting to read the Border Trilogy as a mythoclastic work, it relies on certain Western conventions and finally celebrates rather than queries the mythologies of American culture, and specifically the mythologies of masculinity. DA - 2015 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - The myth of masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy TI - The myth of masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13737 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/13737
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMiddleton S. The myth of masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 2015 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13737en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of English Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEnglishen_ZA
dc.titleThe myth of masculinity in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogyen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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