A Bargain For Frances Character Analysis

Look up the meaning of sexism and you will find “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex” (Merriam-Webster). This definition itself is sexist regarding that sexism happens mostly to women when males are just as easily victimized in this unfair world. Sexism is everywhere we go: school, the workplace, and even in public crowds such as a restaurants and shopping malls. Our constitution tells us not to discriminate against each other and to see everybody as equal, but that seems a little hard to do when whenever we turn the corner, we are faced with a sexist comment or remark “Be a man”, “That’s pretty good for a girl.” The children’s book A Bargain for Frances is sexist against both males and females. …show more content…
The plot throughout the book revolves around two (girl) best friends who each have a love for toy tea sets, but how far will they go to get what they want? Will they to jeopardize their friendship? Right off the bat, the author is associating tea sets with little girls which are a huge female gender stereotype, out of the thousands of toys in the world; they pick a toy that represents the girl’s femininity. Frances is dreaming of having a real china set with blue flowers on the sides someday, while Thelma already has a plastic set with red flowers, they both disagree on which one is better and that is when Thelma starts messing with Frances. Frances tell Thelma her dream of having her own china blue flowered tea set (and how much she has saved) and that is when Thelma tells her those sets are very expensive, and that she probably will not get one because they are sold out. Thelma knew of another girl who had saved up for one and she could not find them for sale anywhere. This made Frances frightened and nervous knowing that she has wanted that one for a long time. That is when Thelma …show more content…
The book does not venture off of four colors: pink, red, purple, and blue. Three of these colors are known to be “girl” colors and are included in everything from the walls, the carpet, stuffed animals, and clothing. On page 31, the two girls are shown playing tea party with their red teacups; in addition, their sitting on a purple patio, with their pink and purple stuffed animals sitting on the pink grass. Is it too much to ask for some green grass like in a normal world? Why are females represented by bright warm colors? There are some girls whose favorite colors are blue, green, black, and even