Gender Roles In Bastard Out Of Carolina By Dorothy Allison

l throughout the novel Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, the women of the Boatwright family, despite their capabilities, tough shells, and tenacity, bow down to the men of the family. While these tough southern women are not afraid to take their brothers to task or yell at their husbands, they still subscribe to the gender roles expected of all women, roles that place them in a submissive position to the men in their lives. Women take care of the children, the home, and clothe their children and men. The place in the family that women are allowed to occupy is a place in the home, as a caretaker and nurturer. This role is often one that doesn’t satisfy women. Especially considering the fact that men, as the gender allotted the power

This attitude toward females gets passed down to her daughters and contributes to the way they treat men. Anney, her daughter, always lets Glen, Anney’s husband, take the lead within their family. The love that Glen holds for Anney and the amount he needs her to make him feel safe, to validate him, and to provide for him gives Anney collateral with which she could hold the power in a family structure. However, she defers to Glen, allowing him to make financial decisions, discipline the children, and make decisions regarding moving the family. He often makes decisions that do not benefit the family, moving them from cheap, falling down house to cheap, falling down house, physically abusing Anney’s child, and being unable to spend money wisely or keep a good job. We also see examples of how boys are valued over girls when Glen gets Anney pregnant. He desperately wants a boy; so much that he doesn’t even consider the possibility of the child being a girl. This same attitude towards females is what Bone feels keenly when she makes up the “Mean

“ (pg 355) Because of the way family is set up in a patriarchal culture such as our own, Glen automatically is the family head, and Anney is happy to cater to him because it’s the way family is done “properly”. It’s the way her family did it, it’s the way society sees as correct, and it helps her feel legitimate in her belonging to a man and a family. Legitimacy and security is something Anney longs for. She knows that to get these things in the town she lives in she needs to have a strong man who provides for and fathers her daughters. Glen’s understanding of fathering is possession. He is raised on the idea that a man is the head of his family, and must be tough and ready to fight to prove anything. He also knows that is his role as a man to be the provider, and his failure to hold down a job and often to even bring home food to eat makes him feel like a failure. The only way he knows how to deal with that is to take his anger out on something else. The roles created for both Glen and Anney lead to a toxic structure in which the children and Anney are constantly emotionally abused by Glen, and the eldest daughter, Bone, is physically and sexually