Gender Roles In Blue Dahlia

The first concept from chapter 3 that can be related to Blue Dahlia is gender roles. Gender roles are the sets of expected behaviors associated with males and females—communicated by society and the family. Stella pointed out early in the book that she relied on Kevin for help around the home. When something was broke, Kevin fixed it. She felt that the only time something needed repaired was when Kevin went away and all she could do was wait. Her role was to cook, clean, and care for the boys. Kevin’s role was to provide for the family and complete tasks that were too hard or were too much work for Stella. Women are typically responsible for light work and caring for others due to their compassionate personalities. Men are usually more equipped for hard work and providing for their families. Another character who portrayed a typical gender role was Hayley. She was a new mom therefore her role was …show more content…
“According to Robert Winch’s theory, we select a mate whose needs are opposite but complimentary to our own.” (Kunz page 122) Logan and Stella had completely opposite personalities. She was organized and planned everything through. Logan however, was disorganized and spontaneous. He didn’t mind being cluttered and not thinking everything through. He enjoyed jumping at an opportunity where Stella needed time to think about it. I believe it’s complimentary because Logan can teach Stella to take chances when necessary. He did convince her that they belonged together when she was hesitant. Stella could also teach Logan to be more organized and to plan things that needed planned. Some things need to be thought through before risking. Though this is the ideal way that their personalities will complement one another, reality is that they may be too different. After all, their initial impression of each other was that they couldn’t tolerate one another’s