British Scholar: Dawson - "Soldier Heroes"

Soldier Heroes: British Adventure, Empire and the Imagining of Masculinities
Graham Dawson (London: Routledge, 1994), 350 pages

The Falklands-Malvinas War of 1982 serves as the catalyst of Dawson’s book on the impact of the
soldier hero on the formation and prolongation of British identity. He argues that both British imperial
identity and its predecessor English national identity were formed by heroic soldiers. As a result,
Dawson claims that in order to understand identity in British society it is critical to investigate the role
of soldiers and their attendant myths as perpetrated by mediums such as the media (Sir Henry
Havelock) and personal propaganda (as in the case of T. E. Lawrence).

Since the soldier hero has been defined throughout history as male, Dawson claims that masculinity
dominates British identity. According to Dawson, however, a role does exist for women. Women, and
their concomitant femininity, correspond with the masculinity of the male soldier hero in that they stay
within the domestic sphere and care for the children while the man protects them and their way of life
through combat. In this manner, masculinity and femininity play complementary roles in establishing
and perpetuating British identity. Dawson claims that these roles reemerged during the Falklands-
Malvinas War when the all-male soldiers leaving for combat were sent off by “the tearful goodbyes of
girlfriends, wives and mothers,” (p. 2) who would wait anxiously at home for news on the fate of their
heroes. Moreover, Dawson states that the continuation of national greatness, due to its reliance on
conflict, was based upon both men and women fulfilling their predetermined roles. In addition to the
role of gender in the creation and continuance of British identity, Dawson seizes on the use of the
media in idealizing war by taking famous soldiers such as Sir Henry Havelock, and turning them into
celebrated images. Havelock becomes a legendary figure, on a par with Nelson and Wellington from
the Napoleonic Wars, and hagiographies of his life and military prowess fit nicely into the continuance
of the myth of the British nation. T. E. Lawrence, better known to much of the world as Lawrence of
Arabia, fused his exploits in the Middle East with an idealized view of his actions through the
imaginative works of Lowell Thomas. Through their carefully coordinated propaganda campaign,
Lawrence transformed into a legend that the British people in general and British boys especially
could look up to as a modern-day military hero who exemplified the power of the nation. The final
section of Dawson’s book is autobiographical and shows how the images of heroes, so important to
the power of British identity, shaped his own sense of self growing up.

Overall, the idea of masculinity and femininity defining an overarching British identity serves as an
important topic not just for Britain but for all nations. The use of myths and heroes is a definitive way
for a country to invest a strong sense of meaning in the population at large. While the project proves
worthwhile, Dawson’s turgid style, most likely defined by the post-modernist period in which he was
writing, slows comprehension of a very abstract subject. Although the historical narrative sections are
quite informative and obviously well-researched, the tone of the book cannot overcome the author’s
pretentious prose.