Part-Time Indian Gender Stereotypes

Gender equality is held back through gender norms that have been ingrained into our minds since birth. These gender stereotypes not only influence the opportunities a child may experience, but will also influence the way they deal with everything throughout life. Gender biases and stereotypes are fed to our youth in many different ways, and are definitely omnipresent in adolescent literature. They are not only harmful, but continue to make gender equality in present time an unattainable goal. Through analyzing the influences that play a role in the formation of a child’s gender schema, and exemplifying the gender norms and stereotypes that run rampant throughout Sherman Alexie’s, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, evidence of …show more content…
Because “gender is socialized from infancy into adolescence” (Leaper Friedman 580), we should consider what actually influences this gender development. Once we understand this aspect, the process of applying it to Alexie’s characters, and novel as a whole should be very informative indeed. There are four processes that contribute to a person's gender schema, which include social-structural, social-interactive, cognitive-motivational, and biological factors. (Grusec Hastings)
First, social-structural factors refer to the societal influences on a child or adolescent's gender schema. These factors take into consideration such things as race, ethnicity, and economic class. Alexie’s main character, Junior listed rules for fighting, rules that the reservation kids follow, but when he actually is confronted at his new “white” school by a bully, he stands up for himself, which itself is a stereotypical male behavior. He was confused when the bully didn’t fight …show more content…
For example how girls, and boys are offered different opportunities, and how this builds the child's gender expectations for themselves. For Junior, this may not ring true. His family was poor, and could not afford to offer their kids many differing opportunities. The one opportunity that Junior was afforded was his transfer to Reardan. His sister was coined brilliant by her previous teacher. So why did her parents not try to convince her to go as well. We don’t get a ton of information on his sister, but we knew she was intelligent, and could have had a beautiful future. The sad part of this is that she was not comfortable sharing her dreams with her family, and never asked for the opportunity, as Junior did, to leave the reservation, and go to Reardan. Mary’s life could have been a lot different if she had not grown up thinking herself not worthy of the same things men were worthy of. Two kids grow up in the same house, one male, and one female, but only one gets the opportunity to better themselves. Seems like it could have had a lot to do with these social-interactive