I'm actually more intrigued by the developments in the later books, where the main characters experience tension between the social construction of their gender roles - what society says a 'man' or a 'woman' should be or do - and what their personal natures or preferences or geas or goals push them to do. Alina's balancing act on the field in _Sun Sword_, Diora's relationship with Valedan and also with Andaro, Valedan's balancing between North and South (with those standing proxy in many ways for gender stereotypes) and the implications of that for his relationships with the Tyr'agnates....
So many times we see characters flouting gender conventions yet experiencing no psychological or social discomfort for it. These characters experience both the tension between their gender roles and their personal or historical roles, and also experience the psychological discomfort in ways that make the gender role conflict a primary theme in the storyline, for me at least.
Thoughts like this are rather out of character for me - I usually read fiction for fun and for plot, and leave the deep analysis for my work-reading. (Yes, I'm a social scientist, I study things like gender roles for a living, lol.) But this just seems to stand out from the story in ways that make it seem a purposive element rather than a sidebar.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-12-01 02:16 am (UTC)So many times we see characters flouting gender conventions yet experiencing no psychological or social discomfort for it. These characters experience both the tension between their gender roles and their personal or historical roles, and also experience the psychological discomfort in ways that make the gender role conflict a primary theme in the storyline, for me at least.
Thoughts like this are rather out of character for me - I usually read fiction for fun and for plot, and leave the deep analysis for my work-reading. (Yes, I'm a social scientist, I study things like gender roles for a living, lol.) But this just seems to stand out from the story in ways that make it seem a purposive element rather than a sidebar.