All Books Have Genders — Gaiman
Neil Gaiman (one of my enduring literary-crushes) had this to say about book genders:
“Books have sexes; or to be more precise, books have genders. They do in my head, anyway. Or at least, the ones that I write do. And these are genders that have something, but not everything, to do with the gender of the main character of the story.
When I wrote the ten volumes of Sandman, I tended to alternate between what I thought of as male storylines, such as the first story, collected under the title Preludes and Nocturnes, or the fourth book, Season of Mists; and more female stories, like Game of You, or Brief Lives.
The novels are a slightly different matter. Neverwhere is a Boy’s Own Adventure (Narnia on the Northern Line, as someone once described it), with an everyman hero, and the women in it tended to occupy equally stock roles, such as the Dreadful Fiancee, the Princess in Peril, the Kick-Ass Female Warrior, the Seductive Vamp. Each role is, I hope, taken and twisted 45% from skew, but they are stock characters nonetheless.
Stardust, on the other hand, is a girl’s book, even though it also has an everyman hero, young Tristran Thorne, not to mention seven Lords bent on assassinating each other. That may partly be because once Yvaine came on stage, she rapidly became the most interesting thing there, and it may also be because the relationships between the women – the Witch Queen, Yvaine, Victoria Forester, the Lady Una and even Ditchwater Sal, were so much more complex and shaded than the relationships (what there was of them) between the boys.”
- Your task (after reading this post) is to comment with: whether you agree or disagree with Gaiman.
- If you agree with Gaiman then you need to:
- briefly describe a book that you have enjoyed
- state what you think is that book’s gender
- tell the readers (us) why you think it is that gender (your reasons — see Gaiman’s writing above for hints, help)
- the best part of you realizing that all books just may, indeed, have gender!
- If you disagree with Gaiman then you need to:
- briefly describe a book that you have enjoyed
- state why you think books do not have genders
- ideas from your chosen book (in 1) to back up your opinion that books do not have genders
- the best part of reading your book – what really stayed in your skin long after you read it.
I have had an enduring relationship with the classic novel “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell. I have read the book 27 times and counting. In my opinion, its gender is female. Our heroine, Scarlett O’Hara is very much the diva, a woman who knows what she wants and goes after it. The book is female because the point of view is distinctly female, the reader sees the end of the War of Northern Aggression through the lenses of women who were very much “of their time.” We eavesdrop on love affairs, marriages of convenience and of necessity, broken hearts, births, and deaths — all which make up the realm of woman in that time period. Women ARE the book, their thoughts, their worries, their hopes, their dreams, the things they do to survive in a dying South. The men are mostly stock characters – the upstanding honorable hero archetype – Ashley, and the rogue privateer whom Scarlett may (or may not) love – Rhett. The book was written by a woman but that does not necessarily dictate its gender, another female-gender book “Memoirs of a Geisha” was written by a male and it is also very much a female-gender book! “Gone with the Wind” won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937 even though Mitchell stated stated on several occasions that it was “a rotten book” and that she hated the act of writing! My favorite line is when Scarlett is in the wrecked garden scrabbling for a morsel of something to eat. She finds a nasty radish and chows down then she raises the stump to the sky and vehemently vows, “AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, I SHALL NEVER BE HUNGRY AGAIN!” I know that feeling…
I remember the day that I really got a taste of how much books can change you. I was around ten at the time and I was talking to my dad about my recent reads (yeah, I talk to my dad about books that I read) and he interrupted my animated summary of the literary art of sixth grade level books (which I thought were really advanced for me to read) saying, “Have you ever read ‘A Wrinkle in Time’?” I stopped rambling and frowned, “Sounds kinda dumb.” I tried to ask him what it was about, but he refused, knowing that if I already had it in my head that it was some dull fictional book of science, him adding was going to go straight through one ear and out the other. He found it unlikely that I would stray away from my usual tween hero or heroine solving a mystery and learning life lessons along the way and/or saving some kind of animal and go towards a different route. I remember forgetting about our conversation until he came into my room handed me a copy of ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ and walked out without a word. I called behind him, shouting my thanks and curled up on my bed, opening the cover. I recognized the famous first line: “It was a dark and stormy night.” The rest was history. I couldn’t put it down. I read that book cover to cover. I didn’t want to talk with my dad about it for days afterward. I can truly say that ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ gave me my very first existential crisis. I questioned everything that I thought I knew about the way the world works. The book also gave me my first idea that books do give you a sense of their gender. I believe that ‘A Wrinkle in Time is female. Don’t get the wrong idea about why I say this. The book radiates an energy that can only be described as courageous and extraordinary, but that doesn’t mean I sat there shouting, “Girl power! Girl power!” Madeline L’Engle painted this picture of Margaret, the main character, and used a way of words to make you believe in anything that Margaret did. My ten year old self was mind blown. That’s the only way of describing it. You have these females who are their own brand of crazy (Whatsit, Who and Which) and you have Margaret who is literally traveling through time and space to find her dad. It’s an amazing book that really got me to think and appreciate the complexity of the world we live in and how in the very end, it’s important to keep an open mind and be a problem solver. That’s really corny but it’s true. My idea of books and the world have been completely bent by Madeline L’Engle.
I disagree, I do not think that books have genders. I think this because, as Neil Gaiman says, “These genders have something, but not everything to do with the gender of the main character of the story.” In “Legend” by Marie Lue, she uses the point of view from both a female and a male character which, in my opinion, says that a book can be both about a female and a male. There are multiple books out there like this, as well as some that are not. The best part of reading the book was seeing the same world through two different eyes, that made me realize that everybody sees things differently than us.
My favorite book of all time, as well as the first chapter book I ever read, was “The Tale of Despereaux.” It is a story of a young mouse who was so incredibly small, it was believed by his mother that he would soon die and because of this, she named him despereaux, meaning “disappointment” in french. The young mouse, however, went against all other odds and became a hero to the other mice, a princess, and an entire kingdom. If this story were to have a gender I’m unsure as to what it may be. The story directly refers to the reader and the narrator reminds me of the way a gentleman may speak. While this may be the case for narration, the emotional appeal to the rest of the story remind me of how a women may look at the world. It’s almost as if the story is split in half between male and female.
I don’t think books have genders, they can appeal to certain genders, but that does not mean they have genders. One of my favorite books of all time, The Female of the Species, at first seams to be more focused towards women, but then it switches direction and seems to be more focused toward men, and then it goes back and forth, switching between characters, this book clearly does not have a gender because of it’s constant switching, and while I do understand why other people might think books have genders, and I do agree at times, but I think books just appeal to a gender, they don’t have genders.
I agree, Racing in the Rain, it has been my favorite book, it is mainly about the dogs life, how the dog and his owner have a good relationship, which leads me to thinking its a male. but when its not about racing or the owners friends it, its usually about his wife and how bad the owner wants to see his daughter. but at the end of the book i still think its male due to the racing and being blamed on something you didn’t do almost your whole life. i do think books have genders, but some might not have a gender. i think books that have a theme like myths, or just being a picture book like comics. not all books have genders, but i believe most of them do.
A book I enjoy, and have actually been able to read multiple times, has to be “Unwind” by Neal Shusterman. One thing I have never done while reading this book is assign a gender to the pages. The book offers 3 main unique characters, two boys and a girl, to follow as they cross paths through the similar situation they have all been put in. This book never struck to have a gender. I’ve never thought or think I want to perceive books in that manner. Yes, a book may appeal to a more stereotypical male or female mindset, but I wouldn’t call the book itself a man or woman. Each time I have read the book, I feel as if I’m watching over the characters due to the third person omniscient. Shusterman veers from social stereotypes to an extent. I wouldn’t call two of the protagonist,Lev and Conner, profoundly masculine. Although there are more male characters, I don’t feel that gives this book a gender. The reason I like this book so much is it, along with being my favorite genre, reflects on a social issue we have today in a attention grabbing way, and Shusterman allows insight on three extremely varied characters who all come together in the end. This novel has more significant ideas to think about then a opinionated gender.
During my freshman year I got into a book series called “The Program Series”. The first book “The Program” is a very interesting concept. It may be triggering towards people with depression and suicidal thoughts, so a fair warning. In this dystopian future suicide has become an epidemic, so when teens are shown of having any true feelings at all such a sadness they will be sent to the program. The program is to erase the memories of the teen so they aren’t suicidal anymore. The main character, Slone, is a fight for all type of girl. this book is a female “gendered” book. The conflicts in this book are from a woman’s point of view. The best part of the book is dealing with running away from the from the program, the kick everyone in our way has a way of saying that this is a female run story.
My favorite book is “Stolen” by Lucy Christopher. It is about a young girl who gets drugged and taken by a man in the airport. Gemma was 16 and Ty the man who kidnapped her was 24 years old, and he took her to the Australian outback where it was hot and all desert. Through out time Gemma begins to finally deal with Ty and you wonder if she is feeling something for him or just trying to get him to trust her. I think that this is a female book because it focus’ more on Gemma and the female prospective in the story. The book focus’ as well on the issues that girls and boys have faced or are going through. It gives us a way to look at sex trafficking and the harsh reality of it, and through out the book you feel bad and guilty that this had to happen to Gemma. How she takes and handles things in the book and how she made a friend even if it wasn’t human.
I have enjoyed many books but my all time favorite would have to be “The Sun And Her Flowers.” It’s a poetry book about women’s struggles and overcoming those struggles and learning to love yourself. I think the book’s gender would be female because the book is about a woman getting through her struggles. The main character is a woman so it only makes sense that the book gender is female.
I believe books do not have gender because books are books; we don’t need to add gender in to an innocent topic. Otherwise, you will have people taking it too seriously and getting political about it. I don’t know why we need to add genders to books since it won’t do anything good and it might actually bring controversy. In the post, it talks about how the main characters determine the gender of the book, but most books don’t just have female main characters or male main characters. For example, “Unwind” is a good book that I enjoyed but had different characters with different genders. If we do add gender to books then it won’t fit with every book that has main characters with different genders and will only cause arguments on whether it should be a female book or male book. Adding genders to books will only cause confusion and controversy which is something we don’t need or want in books, we want to sit, read, and enjoy the book, we don’t need to worry about it being a female or a male book.
let’s take the “across the universe” book series, written by beth revis. it focuses on an earth girl and a boy whose ancestors are from earth, but were raised in space as the future leaders of a ship. they work together to unearth the secrets behind the ship and the sudden string of murders, then a way to get to centauri-earth. i honestly cannot say for sure whether or not the book is gendered, because in my mind i can’t try to pin anything on it because it’s just paper and ink and paper and ink don’t have genders, but the words can shape a more feminine or masculine feel. however, that does not mean it’s explicitly male or female. merely masculine or feminine, or something else entirely. with “across the universe”, it’s based around both a boy and a girl and their struggles. the book doesn’t follow typical boy issues/girl issues, despite there being plenty of those sprinkled since they’re teenagers and all. regardless of all that, the book acknowledges that the story is bigger than the characters. the main point isn’t amy realising who she is and learning things about her body, it isn’t about elder coming to terms with his deepest insecurities. it’s about two people who need to have faith in themselves and get over their own stuff and lead a community who has been blind for too long. they value the colony over their own issues and are willing to put themselves aside for the betterment of the ship. and that holds no gender.
When I was about 5, my mom started reading bedtime stories to us and I remember when I was about 6 we started reading a book called “Where the Red Fern Grows.” As soon as I heard the question, “Do you think books have genders?” this was the first book I thought of because it most definitely has a gender. This book is about a little boy who goes on adventures with his dogs and often gets into some type of trouble which is often times a male thing the boy also works pretty hard to get these dogs in the beginning but by the end all of his hard work is lost all because of a cougar that killed one dog and because of sadness the other one followed behind. I really think that this book is prominently male because not only is the main character is a boy but the book shows a lot of very male characteristics.
I agree that books have genders. The book I have been reading is part of a trilogy. It is the last in the series. The title is called “Jinx Fire” It has the lead of a male, but has two very important, powerful woman roles. The book focuses more on the male rather than the females even though they are in the story as much as the male character.
One of the books that stands out to me when I think about books having a gender is “A Farewell To Arms” by Ernest Hemingway. His book is set during WW1 with the main character, Fredric Henry, enrolled in the Italian army as an ambulance driver. While at the fronts of the war he meets a beautiful woman, Ms.Barkley, who is actually his friend’s love interest. Ms.Barkley is still heartbroken and distressed over the death of her fiance so Henry sees it as an opportunity to offer her emotional support and swoon her over. The perspective of the book heavily leans towards a more masculine gender. It can be agreed upon that the book is written in a way only a male experiencing a great war would think. I truly doubt Ms.Barkley felt and thought similarly over woman or war the way it is described in Hemingway’s book. As for books where the tone and perspective can’t be pinpointed on a certain gender, they can be described as unisex or neutral.
I believe books have gender traits but anyone can read it.A book can be targeted to a certian group or gender but it wont stop anyone else from reading it.A book I read “called Into The Crips” It was about a ex gang member telling his life story. It wasn’t really a book you’d find the average girl reading but it wouldn’t stop any one of them from reading it.