Gender socialization and gender roles have always existed in society. When analyzing gender roles and their coming of age in the stories “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro and “A&P” by John Updike, they are not always equal or consistent when comparing cultures; however, the expectations for males and females are often times defined by the community they reside in. Another way gender stereotypes are produced is through media such as television shows and movies. Media tends to have two kinds of gender tropes that show the ideal types of characteristics each gender is supposed to have. Masculinity tropes consist of having expectations of what a man should be, such as brave and diligent, and that men who have these features are considered real men. Femininity tropes …show more content…
This is seen throughout the story in many occasions such as when the narrator hears her mother talking to her father and says, “I heard my mother saying, ‘Wait till Laird get a little bigger, then you’ll have real help’or ‘And then I can use her more in the house.’” Another time this gender role assignment was obvious was when her grandmother comes to visit and tells her all the things girls aren’t supposed to do, and when she is roughhousing with her little brother and the farmhand, Henry Bailey tells her, “that there Laird’s gonna show you, one of these days.” While the narrator disagrees with the adults and tries not to respect the rules to their expectations, at the end of the story both she and her brother end up conforming to their expected gender roles. Throughout the story, the different roles and expectations placed on men and women are given the spotlight and the two children reaching maturity is described in a way that can be related to many women looking back on their own childhood. The narrator also leaves out the word child and began on identifying a new role as a young