Hendrix+UPLAN+rationale

Gender and Identity in American Literature Rationale: Before we’re even born, we are categorized by our sex. “Is it a boy or a girl?” is usually the first question everyone asks of expectant mothers, and the answer to this question permeates every area of life. From birth on, nearly everything is split into neat, binary camps: girl toys and boy toys, girl colors and boy colors, girl jobs and boy jobs, etc. Once gender is learned and children begin to behave in “masculine” or “feminine” ways, gender becomes an integral part of their identity. There are many reasons why this unit is important to students’ development. Not only is it highly relatable (everyone is impacted by gender), but it is also important for students to consider the many ways that gender influences their lives. Inequalities, inconsistencies, and expectations surround the terms “femininity” and “masculinity,” and it is vital for students to understand the larger cultural debates that surround gender. A great way for students to study these larger cultural phenomena is through literature from different time periods by diverse authors. From literature, students can get a firsthand look at what it meant to be male or female from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.

I plan to use four short stories (“The Yellow Wallpaper,” “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” and “The Story of an Hour”), and Benjamin Franklin’s “The Speech of Polly Baker,” to have students consider the following big questions: 1. What does it mean to be male or female, masculine or feminine? 2. How and to what extent has gender shaped identity throughout different time periods in American history? 3. How have perceptions of gender changed over time? I chose to use mostly short stories because of the length of the unit. Also, I find it more likely that more students will be engaged in the lessons if they have some variety and the opportunity to identify with a host of characters rather than a select few characters in a novel. By covering many short texts, students can also more effectively draw comparisons and contrasts between time periods in American history.

Since the short stories only over up to about the 1960s and it is important for students to understand present-day controversies, I plan to incorporate modern advertisements and parts of TV shows to allow students to examine how gender shapes life today. Sample commercials include Slim Jim Dare Sticks ([]) and Yoplait yogurt ([]). Students will be asked to describe what assumptions the clips make about the nature of masculinity, femininity, manhood and womanhood, and how these assumptions compare and contrast with the assumptions present in the short stories, speech, and novel. Before starting the unit, I would ask students to write what they think it means to be male and female, masculine and feminine. After the unit’s completion, I would ask students the same questions to see if their views have changed. Handouts and comprehension checks will accompany each short story, novel excerpt, and speech to check for student understanding. Daily class discussions will also serve as informal assessments. For a final assessment, students will create a product (essay, brochure, poster, or another appropriate product) that: (1) explains what masculinity/femininity/male/female meant during the time period of one of the texts, (2) describes how gender roles of that text’s time period shaped two characters’ senses of identity, and (3) explains if and how the perceptions of gender in the text have changed over time by comparing the text’s perceptions with modern literature, advertisements, music, etc.