Gender Roles In Childrens Literature Essay -- essays research papers

Gender Bias in LiteratureI have thought close some(prenominal) unlike ways to organize this paper and have come to the conclusion that the outflank way to approach the topic is on a book-by-book basis. My perceptions of the gender crookes in these books vary greatly and I did not want to begin fastening my views on each so that they would fit into certain contrived connections. What interests me nigh in these stories is how the authors utilize certain characters at bottom their minded(p) environment. Their instincts and reactions are a wonderful window into how the authors perceive these people would move with their surroundings and often are either rewarded or punished by the author through consequences in the plot for their responses. Through this means we bath see how the authors expect their characters to behave in relation to their post in the world. We must be very careful as readers to judge these deflectes found only on evidence within the text and not excogitate them from our own psyche due to the individual world we know.In Louis Sachars award winning book Holes, we see gender biases in numerous characters. The first and most obvious bias in this book whoremaster be found in the way Sachars characters address Mr. Pendanski, adept of the staff members at Camp Green Lake. Many of the boys refer to him sardonically as mom, and it is not because of his loving nature. Mr. Pendanski is neurotic about things the boys look trivial and he has a tendency to nag them. Because Mr. Pendanski is portrayed as the antithesis of Mr. Sir, who simply drips testosterone, others view him as a egg-producing(prenominal) for his weakness. The fact that Sachar allows his characters to be weakness with femininity, or more accurately motherhood, shows a certain bias towards the supposed strength that innately accompanies masculinity. This attitude is only furthered by the fact that the rest of the book as almost totally devoid of female characters other than the witch-like caricature extraditeed to us in the form of the warden. She comes complete with a vicious disposition and poisonous fingernails. The most interesting part of this bias is that the boys chose to name Mr. Pendanski mom in light of their own personal family histories. I think it can safely be assumed that not many of these boys had a functional relationsh... ...d allows future generations to go on clinging to the same mushy social values we fault now. Each author presents to us an protrude of the world and then displays the principles they hold dear by controlling their characters within it. It is by analyzing these images and principles that we will be fully able to understand the views present around us and thereby form a more enlightened one of our own. Ernst wrote, changes in childrens books often come long aft(prenominal) they have been seen in reality (76). We as teachers have a business to dialogue these notions with our students so that they will have the insight to write about it in the future.BibliographyBloor, Edward. Tangerine. bleak York Scholastic Inc., 1997.Coman, Carolyn. What Jamie Saw. New York Puffin Books, 1995.Creech, Sharon. Walk Two Moons. New York Harper Trophy, 1994.Ernst, Shirley B. Gender Issues in Books for Children and Young Adults. Battling Dragons. Portsmouth, NH Heinemann, 1995. Sachar, Louis. Holes. New York Frances Foster Books, 1998.