A Discussion of the Representation of Masculinity and Femininity in ...

The 1st person plural pronouns are also used in the wider context in reference to
the British people:
Brownies Scouts
‘Smile’ “That is what our soldiers
and sailors do…”
______________
‘Loyalty’ “Soitisinournation.” “We have seen in the
“But if we “play the great war…”
game”…”
“…the discipline of our
“…our country will always soldiers…”
be successful.”
“…with our men it is
different…”
Table 4: The 1st person plural pronouns in the Brownies’ and Scouts’ text(s).
The table above presents all the nationalistic references in both the Scouts’ and
Brownies’ texts, and can be interpreted as injections of the imperialistic ideologies of
utmost concern in the early twentieth century. Imperialism was the dominant ideology
grounding both the Scout and Guide movement, and as I discussed in chapter 4, the
motivation for the movements was to generate patriotic and disciplined characters within
the youth of Britain who would put country before self.
Thus, Baden-Powell clearly associates himself more with the Scouts than with
the Brownies, and indicates a socially proximal relationship with the Scouts through the
use of 1st person plural pronouns. The Brownies are generally distanced from Baden-
Powell through greater reference to them in the 3rd person.
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