Masculinity In The Shadow Brumby

sufficient (192); Michael Milton “uses [his horse] like a motorbike” (67); and Sam’s father relinquishes care of his police horse to Sam because he does not understand how to take care of a horse (12). Even in instances where male characters do display acts of care, it is often placed in the context of their employment as a form of justification. For example, in the first book, The Shadow Brumby, Sam’s father saves a toddler, playing on the train track, from coming to further harm because it is “all part of being a policeman” (46). This characterisation reinforces ideas about normative masculinity and femininity by regulating “notions of nurturing and love …. to characters and spaces categorised as feminine” (Earles, 2017, 384). This representation …show more content…
The representation feeds into distinction between femininity and masculinity which is cemented by Bonnie and Sam who express bewilderment that male characters display indifferent attitudes as actions that do not equate in care or nurturing are incomprehensible to them. Consequently, the representation of male characters as ‘detached’ reinforces “the assumption that concern for others is a feminine trait” (Nodelman as cited in Jacobs, 2004, 18)
A second key assumption is the distinction between emotionality and stoicism. A key example of this is that female characters, throughout the narrative, are consistently depicted as having a better understanding of emotional needs whilst male characters are shown has having a better understanding of logic and reasoning (Diekman and Murnen, 2004, 383). The four narratives in the Bonnie and Sam series posits that the behaviours, actions and responses of female characters are always emotionally motivated. The narrative assumes that girls are far more emotional and more likely express their emotions