Be a Man: The Crisis of Masculinity and Identity Anxiety in Howard Jacobson’s The Making of Henry

Abstract

The Making of Henry by Howard Jacobson is set against the background that Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe seek to integrate into British society. It tells the story of Henry, the protagonist, who is accused of lacking masculinity, lost in identity anxiety and became a marginal man without a sense of existence. On the basis of combing the accusations of European male discourse hegemony against the “feminization” of Jews, this paper analyzes the internal reasons why Henry’s father Izz is eager to reshape Jewish masculinity in the novel. The examination of his own Jewish masculinity with the hegemony of European male discourse caused Henry’s confusion and loss of his own identity, as well as a deep sense of shame. Henry’s reconsideration of the hegemony of European male discourse reflects Jacobson’s positive response to how to construct Jewish identity in the anxiety dilemma of “feminization”.