As a novel set in the 19th century, there are some interesting depictions of gender roles. Eddy Carmichael challenges the traditional gender roles and norms of women who's usual norms were to stay home, cook, clean (basically all domestic work). Manual labor work were left to the men, but, with no parents and being born free from slavery, Eddy was a very independent woman who worked hard to earn money to follow her dreams. In the novel, you can see that many men who chased after Eddy did not want Eddy to have dreams and to just stay home to do domestic work (which Eddy didn't like the thought of that).
Considering how the performance of gender connects to love and romance, Eddy's gender performance does not impact her romantic life because Rhine loved how Eddy was independent and also a strong woman. In the novel when Rhine proposes to Eddy, she asks him if he would want her to change but he tells her that she can stay the way she is (which she is ecstatic to hear).
But doesn't her different attitude affect who she ends up with and how she builds relationships with people?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to think about how Eddy does work--and yet the work she does is traditional female labor.
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