The policemen (p267- p273)

Q1: What is the ‘code’ referred to on page 272-273?  Can you give examples of how it might work in contemporary society?

“According to the code by which men are brought up and made manly, there’s something shameful about  blubbering. This schoolboy embarrassment at tears linger on.  There was a time, two or three hundred years ago, when it was considered by no means unusual or shameful for a man to weep. Not in the twentieth century, though, and certainly not in front of a policeman.”

In this extract, the code refers to the norms and expectations by the society about how a man should act and react. In the time of the story, the concept of masculinity was widely accepted about working hard, earning money and (financially) taking care of the family. It had nothing to do with being emotional and showing emotions, especially in public. These things were rather considered to be womenish.

To my mind, in today’s society it somehow works the same-same but different way. Even though the widely accepted concept of masculinity does no longer exclude  showing emotions, crying and talking about feelings are still considered to be rare amongst men.

Q2: How does Rawle’s use of language make this episode so tense and dramatic? How does he evoke pathos for Roy/Norma?

• Strange, unusual, almost meaningless metaphors, symbols e.g. “you could tell  he was from Z Cars because he knew all the right things to say” (p269), “wishing now that it was, and that the key was at the very bottom of a coal mine in Wales” (p269), “with lips so full and luscious that would have put Carmen Miranda to shame” (p273)
• Roy/Norma uses the language of advertisements again (just like in every time when he/she faces an uncomfortable situation)
• The way how the policemen unpack the luggage is very detailed and well described with lots of verbs and adjectives
• The amount of words in capital and huge font size increases, while the average size of the rest of the text decreases
• The unity of the layout of the text becomes disrupted (not equal  line lengths, more kinds of fonts and colours in a row)

 

Q3: Roy has dressed as Norma for many years, of his own volition.  Can you explain why this incident with the policemen is so traumatic for him ?

In this case, he was not dressing up and acting as Norma, but was humiliated, shamed and made fun of as Roy, as a man, because of the clothes and accessories of Norma. To make things worse, this was made by two policemen, who, due to their title, are considered to be in general as the embodying of masculinity.

Furthermore, the incident emphasised the absurdity of Norma’s existence in Roy’s life for  the man. He had to face that what is the way of handling grief for him, can bee seen as something funny, strange, even something wrong by others. 

Q4:  If the police are representative of law, order and authority, what does their behaviour suggest about society’s attitudes and values when it comes to gender identity?

They represent a really strict and conservative mindset about how a man and how a woman should behave and look. Their attitude towards Roy is quite aggressive, humiliating, immature and unintelligent. For them, it is completely fine to shame and abase a lonely and vulnerable person in the middle of the night, at a hidden and abandoned place where no one can see and interrupt them. They even use their title to force Roy to do things he does not want to (to self humiliate himself).