Eddie and the Old Man are definitely manly men—heck, the fact that the Old Man is known only by his general age/sex tells you how important manliness is to understanding what he's about. In Fool for Love Eddie obviously takes pride in being a man's man—or, as he would probably say, a guy's guy; he's all about roping steer, riding horses, and being dirty/smelly from his various many dudely activities.
When he's feeling insecure about May's possible involvement with another man, he just hauls out this cowboy-heavy idea of what it means to be a man and compares Martin against it. May doesn't seem to buy into any of this stuff, of course, but that doesn't seem to matter to Eddie—being the dudeliest dude at the dude ranch is super important to his own self-image.
Questions About Men and Masculinity
- Do you think May is impressed by any of Eddie's peacocking and cowboy act, or does she find it ridiculous? How do we know?
- Is the Old Man as much of a macho man as Eddie? How do we know?
- Are we supposed to find Martin sympathetic, or do we kind of (like Eddie) think he's a wet noodle?
- What's presented as preferable—Eddie's hypercowboy masculinity, or Martin's more gentle, bland grass tending? Or are they both equally repellent?
Chew on This
Masculinity gets kind of a rough portrayal in Fool for Love, with no truly positive or admirable male characters in sight. Even Martin, who is a nice guy, is hard to watch, since his whole character implies that "nice" guys must be spineless.
Martin may be bland, but he comes off as totally admirable compared to the Old Man and Eddie.