Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Miguel Street, the character in the book by V.S. Naipaul

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…are examples of the illusion that men are the superior ones of Miguel Street. Only a shallow read could see that otherwise. When all is said and done it is the women who carry the qualities of 'strength, vigor and boldness' while the men have the qualities of 'gentleness, weakness, delicacy' although definitly not 'modesty'. On Miguel Street, the only male quality the men have is the lack of modesty, the rest is all illusion.