Transgressive Female Characters in Literature
Start Date
April 2020
End Date
April 2020
Major Field of Study
Humanities and Cultural Studies
Student Type
Undergraduate
Faculty Mentor(s)
Carlos Rodriguez, MA
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Female character development in literature can be revolutionary, especially for protagonists that bend the rules and replace society’s image of classical femininity with their own gender non-conforming expressions. In Gender Rebels: Transgressive Female Characters in Literature, comparative analysis is used to study the non-conforming aspects of three gender rebels: Jo March from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1947), Scout Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960), and Eliza Sommers from Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (1999). Through a close reading of each novel, aspects of their physical appearance, mannerisms / behaviors, and aspirations for the future are examined. Family structure and societal influence over gender is weighed, as are feminist trends within their respective eras. The impact that gender bending characters such as Jo, Scout, and Eliza have upon future works and readers alike is indisputable. Each novel has been notably remembered for their coming of age stories and the ways in which they resisted gender norms. With each generation, a new wave of female readers discover the rich complexity of these characters and are shown that there are alternative ways of being a girl.
Transgressive Female Characters in Literature
Female character development in literature can be revolutionary, especially for protagonists that bend the rules and replace society’s image of classical femininity with their own gender non-conforming expressions. In Gender Rebels: Transgressive Female Characters in Literature, comparative analysis is used to study the non-conforming aspects of three gender rebels: Jo March from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1947), Scout Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960), and Eliza Sommers from Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (1999). Through a close reading of each novel, aspects of their physical appearance, mannerisms / behaviors, and aspirations for the future are examined. Family structure and societal influence over gender is weighed, as are feminist trends within their respective eras. The impact that gender bending characters such as Jo, Scout, and Eliza have upon future works and readers alike is indisputable. Each novel has been notably remembered for their coming of age stories and the ways in which they resisted gender norms. With each generation, a new wave of female readers discover the rich complexity of these characters and are shown that there are alternative ways of being a girl.
Comments
This presentation was accepted for the Scholarly and Creative Works Conference at Dominican University of California. The Conference was canceled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic