Gender Criticism In Jay Asher's What Light

Gender criticism could be described as an examination of the individual in light of a particular group to which he/she belongs, or more specifically, how men and women are portrayed in a work. This is yet another literary approach. In Jay Asher’s holiday romance What Light, the relationship between men and women is illustrated as purely romantic, or attraction, and friendship. Sierra is very social and makes a connection with practically every character in the story. Male characters generally accept the role of being protective and hard-working. For instance, Sierra’s father is a stereotypical, overprotective parent. As shown by Sierra, when she is working in Oregon with a helicopter she remarks, “Last year was the first year Dad let me do this. I knew he wanted to tell me the …show more content…
This implies a lack of good judgement on Sierra’s part, almost making it sound as if she were unintelligent. Caleb also blames his sister for his attack because she basically nagged him until he couldn’t take it anymore, “And some switch in me…flipped” (121). Women also seem to have the most drama in this story. Sierra actually talks about a conflict with her friends in Oregon as “‘Just some drama in Oregon,’ I say” (155). Sierra actually displays some negativity toward her own sex when she states, ““Do they think my decision was easy? Or that Caleb can’t possibly matter to me? It’s not easy, and I am not becoming one of those girls” (155). ‘Those girls’ is a very derogatory term for that particular side of the female spectrum. On the other hand, Asher does interweave gender specific traits into other characters. Caleb actually displays some feminine qualities such as being so devoted to commitment, usually the woman’s role. Sierra takes on the more masculine mannerism of being reluctant to commit, “I feel awful, but he [Caleb] can’t possibly think there’s a real future in such a long distance relationship” (143). Overall, Asher clearly