The “Macho” Male Role in Chris McKinney’s Mililani Mauka and Boi No Good
Machismo, according to The Merriam-Webster's Concise Encyclopedia, is the sense of being manly - the concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride...[with] the supreme valuation of characteristics culturally associated with the masculine, and a denigration of characteristics associated with the feminine.” It is usually closely related to a man’s responsibility to provide for, protect, and defend his family. This idea is hugely defined by gender roles, an important part of human identity, as we conduct our beliefs and values through historical and current social attitudes.
Chris McKinney, a Hawaii born author who grew up in Kahaluʻu, Oʻahu, frequently addresses the meaning of machismo in local culture by regularly incorporating “macho” male characters in his writing. He also tends to include their foil, the anti-macho male whose purpose, it seems, is to provide a stark contrast that further emphasizes the importance of ultra-masculine men in local culture. In two of his widely acclaimed fictional novels, Mililani Mauka and Boi No Good, - both of which are set in Hawaiʻi – McKinney illustrates the standard manly male figure through aggressive, violent, criminal, characters like John Krill and Boi. As previously revealed, the author also casts their sensitive, educated, counterparts to clearly point out what is “manly” and what is not. By taking a closer look at these characters, and analyzing the qualities McKinney has prescribed to each, readers are able to uncover what it historically and socially means to be a “man” in Hawaiʻi.
In Mililani Mauka, we are first introduced to John Krill’s character in the Prologue. These extremely revealing first few pages of the novel paint Mr. Krill as a destructive man as we see him commit a premeditated crime of demolition. The readers are informed that John has planned his assault on Mililani Mauka months in advance, during which time he welded two layers of half-inch steel sheets, sandwiched with concrete, over his bulldozer. In the midst of his delinquency and flattening of a town center and major businesses, we get a brief look into his psyche when McKinney writes, “He sights on the main office, built out of the same parts as the houses. He smiles and puts his foot down. The flagpoles snap like matchsticks” (Mililani 2). The fact that he puts calculated thought into this violent act, then expresses joy while carrying it out says a lot about his character and uncovers a deep seated acceptance of aggressive behavior. But as the scene progresses we see that he begins to cry – For his son? For himself? Out of remorse? We do not know. Just when we think he’s softened up, John pulls out a gun and attempts to shoot down police and any other innocent bystanders that may be in the way. Eventually he is shot down and killed by armed cops, something he must have anticipated and had come to terms with prior to that fateful day. Ultimately, he sacrificed his life, but more importantly his family in his fit of rage and violence.
As we continue to read the novel, McKinney inserts sections of backstory giving readers a further look into John Krill’s past and his character. While Banyan digs up old newspaper articles about Krill - the ghost who now haunts his home - he finds that John was once an all-state pitcher for the Waiʻanae Sea Riders, engineering graduate of UH Mānoa, and an owner of his own contracting company. This hardly seems like a man who is prone to hostility at all costs. But the author later reveals that in his younger days not only was John the town athlete, but he was also the town warrior who severely injured two men in a brawl after they’d verbally harassed his girlfriend, Kai. He was known as “Big John” among his peers, and was revered for his strength and bravery during that fight in which it was rumored that he’d actually been stabbed mid-scuffle. Kai praised him as well for these seemingly barbaric acts of protection, divulging “she hadn’t been sure whether or not she loved John until she heard that man’s jaw pop” (Mililani 23). The narrator continues, “Kai was in love with someone strong and brave, the kind of guy who could stand there after he was stabbed and asked if she was the one who was okay” (Mililani 23).
The idolizing of John and his justified, but vicious actions didn’t end with his youth, nor did it end after his death. Months after his funeral, Krill’s son, Josh, was recognized as the boy whose father died mowing down Mililani Town Center. Josh feared that his peers would make wisecracks about his dad being nuts, but quite the opposite happened. Kaika Bustamante, a two-year senior at Waiʻanae High and one of the up-and-coming drug dealers on the Leeward side approached the younger Krill one day at school. The large, Escalade driving criminal put his bare, tattooed arm around Josh and said, “Your dad was the fucking man. That’s how I wanna go out, hard like that” (Mililani 76). Kaika was well known and respected for his own acts of vehemence as the author points out, “Being touched by Kaika Bustamante and living to tell the tale, that gave you some sway at Waianae High” (Miliani 76). Furthermore, upon witnessing the warm meeting between the very unlikely pair, even the Samoan bully, Lolo, who had kicked Josh in the face and stole his bike months prior apologized for taking his bicycle and agreed with Kaika’s sentiments.
Through these interactions, and the respect and praise John, Kaika, Lolo, and now Josh (indirectly) gain from aggressive and criminal acts, McKinney illustrates how local culture has acquired this disturbing acceptance of and even fondness for violent misconduct. These characters are feared but admired for their bold and sometimes vicious deeds that are often times connected to a life of illegal activity.
Mililani Mauka is not the only one of Chris McKinney’s works in which these types of characters appear. Boi, in his also Hawaiʻi-based fictional novel, Boi No Good, displays similar qualities. Before I get into the specifics of how Boi mirrors many of the traits found in John Krill’s characterization, allow me to share a brief summary of the highly acclaimed story, taken from the back cover of Boi No Good:
In 1997, social services rescues Boi, Shane, and Glory, three abused and
neglected siblings from a junked city bus where they have been living with
their frail dying grandmother and addict mother. Shane is adopted by an old
money state senator/future governor and his former beauty queen wife. A taro
farmer and his Polynesian Cultural Center hula dancer wife take in Boi while
the oldest, Glory, ends up back with her child-burning mother and a step-father
so bad that he makes her mother look like a saint. When these three siblings
reunite in their teens and twenties, there are immediate conflicts as they
attempt to change their life trajectories. Boi No Good is about a rich kid trying
to be street tough, a criminal with a horrific past who will do anything to stay
free, and a juvie turned cop who wants to both save the world and blow it up.
When a pending law threatens to change the face of Hawaii, Boi will do
anything to stop it even if his siblings and a governor he calls Uncle stand in the
way. McKinney takes us again on a romp through noir Hawaii as he traces the
life arcs of three lives grappling with emotional and social issues in a world that
was not of their making. A powerful story of sibling conflict set amid sharp
class and ethnic divisions exposing social ills swept under the rug to not deter
Hawaii's image as paradise.
Through this synopsis, it becomes apparent that compared to John Krill, Boi has been raised in a much harsher environment under more severe conditions, resulting in Boi’s aptitude for aggression. Throughout the story we see his character get in to numerous fights: once with his older brother during their first meeting, a few times with other local men who try to subvert his dominance, and twice with “haole” transplants who in his terms “think they’re better” than him.
Boi often seems to employ his violent ways as a means of showing and proving his power and supremacy over other men who may challenge him in some way. If someone questions his intelligence, his loyalty, his history, his culture, anything it seems, Boi takes it as a direct attack on his manhood. In order to restore or confirm his masculinity he must then tear down his opponent’s virility by beating them in the most primal form of conflict known to man. His ability to win a physical fight is his source of pride, and this is further illuminated by the lack of other things in his life from which he might find self-worth. This is revealed in Boi’s thoughts after having successfully embarrassed his older brother, Shane, in a friendly wrestling match in front of a large group of Shane’s wealthy, Country Club friends. Boi’s inner commentary says, “That’s right, motherfuckers. All you motherfuckers. I might be cleaning fucking toilets in a resort like this ten years from now, but you give me lip, I take any of you motherfuckers down” (Boi 52). Despite what this character may achieve in his life - within his small, very limited world – triumphing in a fistfight is the most fundamental form of success.
Like John Krill, Boi also receives a lot of admiration for his hotheaded demeanor and combative actions, most of which is expressed by Shane. Throughout the entire novel, McKinney discloses Shane’s inner feelings and reactions to his little brother’s tough exterior, all of which come from a position of esteem and awe. Even before the two siblings reconnect after having been separated through foster care, Shane takes on a rugged persona in an attempt to appear more masculine amongst his rich, private school friends. But when confronted with Boi, “the real thing,” McKinney writes, “It’s the kid Shane was pretending to be all these years. A hard case, a real Hawaiian O.G.; Shane always imagined himself as an O.G.” (Boi 22). What does Shane’s views about what a “real Hawaiian O.G.” is, say about our contemporary values and ideals?
As the brothers’ relationship begins to blossom, so does Shane’s adoration. He begins to “feel tougher” when he’s with Boi, “Boi’s own swag inflating him.” He tries to mimic his brother’s quick-tempered personality on multiple occasions. Even calling out a house full of private school boys when he can’t find his green lighter, as Boi grins with approval behind him. Shane not only wants to imitate Boi in regards to his unyielding fearlessness and high-strung disposition, he also wishes to take-on Boi’s gruff appearance. McKinney illustrates this desire when he writes,
He looks down at his clean hands then glances at Boi’s – callused, oil-stained,
palms covered with blisters. He’d kill to have those hands. Those thick-
knuckeled, flat-fingernailed, vise grip hands that everyone takes seriously. If he
had hands like that, he could’ve told those guys to lay off the girl, and they
would have obeyed. (Boi 118)
This obsession with wanting to become a figure of male physical dominance seems to uncover what qualities local society has deemed “masculine.” Shane lacks confidence because of how he fails to measure up to Boi in these regards. Boi, on the other hand, although he later aspires to be a law-abiding citizen, always clings tightly to his pride that is deeply rooted in his ability to “knock out any motherfucker.”
McKinney does a successful job thoroughly depicting what it means to be a “macho” male in modern day Hawaiʻi. To further emphasize these characters’ attributes he casts them beside individuals who serve as their foil – or complete opposite. In Boi No Good, there are multiple characters that fill this role: Shane, Shane’s wealthy politician adoptive-father, and Shane’s private school friends. Most of the members in Shane’s life represent the traits and values that are incongruous with Boi’s lifestyle. In doing this, readers are confronted with the alpha-male and the anti-male. The anti-males possess features that go against what is socially expected of men. Some of these features include being sensitive, being submissive in a physical or verbal challenge, or not being able to defend yourself and the ones you love. We especially see these characteristics in Shane when he cries after being caught in one of Boi’s painful foot locks. Or when he is overcome with fear after Boi calls him out after getting caught talking to Boi’s girlfriend. It is extremely evident in his inability to confront two men who are sexually harassing a woman on a cruise.
In the case of Mililani Mauka’s John Krill, it is his son who seems to act as his foil. Although Mr. Krill obviously displays some disposition towards violent behavior, we also see a weaker side to him, particularly when he chooses to ignore his wife’s various sexual affairs. But his son seems to have absolutely no aggressive bone in his body. At the very beginning of the novel we see him succumb to his peers’ bullying, abuse, and even theft. He soon acquires a close friend, Big Dan, who councils and protects him. These are things that if his father were alive, would have probably never happened due to his violently defensive behavior.
Chris McKinney has provided his readers with an extremely realistic illustration of contemporary Hawaiʻi including its culture, socio-economic issues, but most importantly, its people. Through his characters and their development he depicts what life really is like for men and women in a society that is bombarded with multiple different ideas and values due to the rich and diverse culture that permeate the islands. One aspect of this struggle he particularly focuses on is what it means to be a man in today’s local culture. By presenting “macho” characters like John Krill and Boi next to less masculine ones like Shane and Josh really allows for reader to draw their own assumptions about the culture, and even question what does it truly mean to be a man in this environment?
Works Cited
McKinney, Chris. Boi No Good. Honolulu, HI: Mutual, 2009. Print.
McKinney, Chris. Mililani Mauka. Honolulu, HI: Mutual Pub., 2009. Print.
