Gender Roles in LHOTP

Gender Roles

Pa and Edwards

·      Pa is dominant male as he is the one who sells the house and calls the shots from chap 1 and decides to settle in chap 4

·      Chap 2 Pa in water with wagon

·      Chap 4 Pa scavenges while Ma does chores

·      All throughout Pa makes things

·      Pa plays fiddle. Skilled individual. Craftsman e.g chap 9 with chimney, roof and table.

·      Same with Edwards

Ma

·      Cooks and clean

·      Does house chores and trains the young to do more basic ones

·      More sensitive. Stereotypical traditional mother. Plays well to natural female emotions and uses these to her advantage in all aspects throughout the book.

Children

Children have no gender roles.

How does Ma parent?

How does Pa parent?

Chores in chap 10. Incentive for play

Community and coming together is usually initiated by men e.g Scotts, Edwards and to an extent, Natives e.g chap 5 he goes onto neighbor Edwards and natives in chap 18 where they eat silently together.

How do gender roles in this book fit with modern society?

Is this degrading?

Are the genders equal or is one seen as lesser?

Who works the hardest? Use all relevant examples without focusing too much on one part