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from Part III - Performing Masculinity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2013
To really develop the traditional masculine role, the young boy needs to be able to try out different behaviors and feelings, practice and display them, and have an audience - especially a male audience - that mirrors back how wonderful and masculine he is.
—Warren Steinberg, Masculinity: Identity, Conflict and TransformationAdrian. Why do you wanna fight?
Rocky. Because I can't sing or dance.
—Sylvester Stallone, RockyYet why not say what happened? […]
We are poor passing facts,
warned by that to give
each figure in the photograph
his living name.
—Robert Lowell, ‘Epilogue’Rose Boys originated from the eulogy the author gave at the funeral of the central subject of his memoir. Robert Rose's death and funeral conclude this work of tribute by the subject's brother, an inevitable climax to a family narrative of suffering and life curtailed. In describing the service, the author summarises his eulogy, eloquently stating the autobiographical impulse and purpose of Rose Boys:
I was determined to express my revulsion at the suffering inflicted on Robert. I described it as grotesquely cruel, like a stupid, vicious swipe from the gods. I wanted the high ceilings and elongated crosses to resound with some kind of refusal, however feeble. I spoke about Robert's sporting career. Many in the church, I knew, were unfamiliar with his record. I drew on crucial incidents and images, some of which will be familiar to readers of this book […] Then I turned to my consolations: Robert's closeness to Salli and my parents and his genius for friendship.
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