Methods
To observe the trend in which gender roles stereotypes in young adult dystopian novels have changed, main characters of the novels mentioned above are analyzed according to instances of Evans and Davies traits. Evans and Davies suggested that traits of characters could be divided into 2 groups: masculine and feminine, each group involves 8 traits. Masculine characteristics are: aggressive, adventurous, argumentative, assertive, competitive, decisive, risk-taking and self-reliant. Meanwhile, feminine stereotypical traits are: affectionate, emotionally expressive, impetuous, nurturing, panicky, passive, tender and understanding. Definitions of each trait are shown below:
- Masculine:
• Aggressive: actions and motives with intent to hurt …show more content…
Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trilogy is the character has most traits, with 13 traits overall, not including decisive (masculine trait), impetuous and passive (feminine traits). Cassia of Matched trilogy is the character with least traits, she performs 7 and only 1 of them is masculine traits (adventurous). She is also the only protagonist who isn’t argumentative and risk-taking. The only male main character of the 5 novels, Thomas of The Maze Runner trilogy, exhibits 10 characteristics, 6 masculine traits and 4 feminine traits specifically.
Also, none of these protagonists has all of the traits that associated with their genders. Katniss of The Hunger Games trilogy and Beatrice from Divergent trilogy perform 7 out of 8 traits generally connect to a gender, however, they are masculine traits. They both do not express decisiveness.
All of 5 main characters are described as being adventurous, affectionate, emotionally expressive and nurturing. However, none of them is decisive, perhaps because they are put in dire situations in which every decision of them could lead to serious results, therefore, they have to be careful before doing anything. The second least popular characteristic is passive, as only Lena of Delirium trilogy performs this …show more content…
Male characters could show their weak sides, while their female counterparts could be strong, confident and have the traits which used to belong to men only. Moreover, they keep these traits all along the whole trilogy which is another new tendency as well.
We have many reasons behind this trend. First, dystopian worlds create situations in which male characters have to express their emotions, such as stress, death, diseases, terror… For example, in The Maze Runner trilogy, lead character Thomas witnesses the death of his only friend Chuck, which pushes him to cry and shout. Next, female characters are also more likely to rebel, break the rules, become adventurous and risk-taking in those worlds, as they have to do so to stop the oppressions that they receive. Lena in Delirium trilogy, for example, grows in a society in which love is considered as a disease and forbidden. Teenage boys and girls will receive a treatment to be immune from love when they turn 18 and then marry the ones who are chosen for them by the government after graduating. However, Lena falls in love with a mysterious boy right before her treatment, so she decides to leave home and run away with him before her birthday, despite the risks of being caught and sent to jail. Finally, creating independent, smart and strong female protagonists is one of the strategies to attract female readers.
To observe the trend in which gender roles stereotypes in young adult dystopian novels have changed, main characters of the novels mentioned above are analyzed according to instances of Evans and Davies traits. Evans and Davies suggested that traits of characters could be divided into 2 groups: masculine and feminine, each group involves 8 traits. Masculine characteristics are: aggressive, adventurous, argumentative, assertive, competitive, decisive, risk-taking and self-reliant. Meanwhile, feminine stereotypical traits are: affectionate, emotionally expressive, impetuous, nurturing, panicky, passive, tender and understanding. Definitions of each trait are shown below:
- Masculine:
• Aggressive: actions and motives with intent to hurt …show more content…
Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trilogy is the character has most traits, with 13 traits overall, not including decisive (masculine trait), impetuous and passive (feminine traits). Cassia of Matched trilogy is the character with least traits, she performs 7 and only 1 of them is masculine traits (adventurous). She is also the only protagonist who isn’t argumentative and risk-taking. The only male main character of the 5 novels, Thomas of The Maze Runner trilogy, exhibits 10 characteristics, 6 masculine traits and 4 feminine traits specifically.
Also, none of these protagonists has all of the traits that associated with their genders. Katniss of The Hunger Games trilogy and Beatrice from Divergent trilogy perform 7 out of 8 traits generally connect to a gender, however, they are masculine traits. They both do not express decisiveness.
All of 5 main characters are described as being adventurous, affectionate, emotionally expressive and nurturing. However, none of them is decisive, perhaps because they are put in dire situations in which every decision of them could lead to serious results, therefore, they have to be careful before doing anything. The second least popular characteristic is passive, as only Lena of Delirium trilogy performs this …show more content…
Male characters could show their weak sides, while their female counterparts could be strong, confident and have the traits which used to belong to men only. Moreover, they keep these traits all along the whole trilogy which is another new tendency as well.
We have many reasons behind this trend. First, dystopian worlds create situations in which male characters have to express their emotions, such as stress, death, diseases, terror… For example, in The Maze Runner trilogy, lead character Thomas witnesses the death of his only friend Chuck, which pushes him to cry and shout. Next, female characters are also more likely to rebel, break the rules, become adventurous and risk-taking in those worlds, as they have to do so to stop the oppressions that they receive. Lena in Delirium trilogy, for example, grows in a society in which love is considered as a disease and forbidden. Teenage boys and girls will receive a treatment to be immune from love when they turn 18 and then marry the ones who are chosen for them by the government after graduating. However, Lena falls in love with a mysterious boy right before her treatment, so she decides to leave home and run away with him before her birthday, despite the risks of being caught and sent to jail. Finally, creating independent, smart and strong female protagonists is one of the strategies to attract female readers.