Jacqueline Woodson in her novel The House You Pass on the Way tells the tale of a young girl named Staggerlee. Throughout the read we stand by Staggerlee as she struggles to discover and understand her identity.“ She didn’t know what she was” explained Woodson, “Seemed all the girls at school knew who they were somehow. The way they dressed. The way they moved in clusters- laughing and holding their books tight to them. The way they sloe-eyed the boys.” (13 Woodson) However, Staggerlee knew she was different from those girls and always assumed it was because of her, “[…] mixed blood- the black and the white of her leaving her somewhere in the middle of things” (14 Woodson), but she came to the realization that it was something else, something inside her, which made her different.
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Her clothes, the thick-soled hiking boots, her hair.” (43 Woodson) Hintz and Tribunella reveal in RCL, in our reading of chapter 11: Genders and Sexualities, the roles in which gender plays and how they affect ones identity. “One not only enacts a particular set of behaviors perceived as masculine or feminine but also thinks of oneself as having a gendered identity such as man, woman, or transgender” (391 Hintz, Tribunella) So what happens when the behaviors, which “define” a young girl, don’t apply to or interest a girl, like Staggerlee? These girls are often given the nickname, tomboy, which is defined as, “[…] the girlhood performance of masculinity” (393 Hintz, Tribunella). Playing outdoors, having an independent spirit, the tendency to wear masculine clothes, and the act of adopting boyish nicknames all define the term tomboy. However, although these terms exist they go against what is portrayed by society, as the “right” way of doing things, leaving a child who can relate to this definition, confused. Classic children movies, in addition to literature, are an excellent example of society influencing children to follow a particular path in
Her clothes, the thick-soled hiking boots, her hair.” (43 Woodson) Hintz and Tribunella reveal in RCL, in our reading of chapter 11: Genders and Sexualities, the roles in which gender plays and how they affect ones identity. “One not only enacts a particular set of behaviors perceived as masculine or feminine but also thinks of oneself as having a gendered identity such as man, woman, or transgender” (391 Hintz, Tribunella) So what happens when the behaviors, which “define” a young girl, don’t apply to or interest a girl, like Staggerlee? These girls are often given the nickname, tomboy, which is defined as, “[…] the girlhood performance of masculinity” (393 Hintz, Tribunella). Playing outdoors, having an independent spirit, the tendency to wear masculine clothes, and the act of adopting boyish nicknames all define the term tomboy. However, although these terms exist they go against what is portrayed by society, as the “right” way of doing things, leaving a child who can relate to this definition, confused. Classic children movies, in addition to literature, are an excellent example of society influencing children to follow a particular path in