Enforcement of Masculinity in Rabi Thapa’s Nothing to Declare

Abstract

This research looks into Rabi Thapa’s story collectionNothing toDeclareand argues that masculinity is a social construct and it is enforced on male charactersfrom the very young age. Almost all the characters in the story collection are maleson the one hand and on the other side female characters are not given appropriate role. Nothing to Declarecenters on the experience of Nepalimiddle class youthsin and around the capital. They follow a loose chronological progression, starting with initiation where a young boy is deeply embarrassed by the rituals of an initiation ceremony, moving through to boarding school experience in Angles, to college, movingaboard and running, to exploring an arranged marriage.The masculinity of contemporary middle-class youths seems to be constructed at a middle space between tradition and modernity, by the new modes of consumption, and by a desire togoto otherforeign locations.