An Analysis Of Gender Pattern Of Protagonist In Narrative Writing
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1) There are differences in how teenage boys and girls write narratives and characterize protagonists. Boys tend to write about heroic male protagonists with superpowers who save the day, while girls write about emotionally distressed female protagonists who are victims. 2) These differences stem from a variety of social and psychological factors like media influences, peers, culture, and personal experiences. Research shows that males and females use language differently and discuss different themes in their writing. 3) This paper aims to analyze gender differences in language use and protagonist characteristics in teenage narrative writing in order to understand the influences that lead to these differences.
An Analysis Of Gender Pattern Of Protagonist In Narrative Writing
- 1. ` Page 1 of 9 An analysis of gender: Pattern of protagonist in narrative writing Cathy Nelson Anak Sigan MARA University of Technology Faculty of Education, Section 17, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia E-mail: cathynelsonsigan@gmail.com Abstract Possessing indescribable strength and effortlessly able to defeat villains have always been the most popular choice of characteristics of the protagonist in boys’ narrative writing. The main idea of this paper is to comprehend the differences between teenage boys and teenage girls narrative writing style and what characteristics they give to their protagonists. Basically, teenage boys and girls go through different course of life simply because they are of different gender which will eventually reflect in their writings. This paper reveals differences on language use by genders and the factors affecting the differences. The factors revolve around media, peers, teachers, cultural, environment and social structure. Meanwhile the characters are different from fairies to princesses and superheroes. When writing, women use more words depicting emotions as compared to men. Keywords: language, gender analysis, narrative writing, language differences 1 Introduction Male and female have always been different since they were created. Not only they are different in terms of physical, they are also different in language use. In the study of discourse, numerous researches have been done to prove their diversity in writing .In a typical classroom, teachers have to deal with students of different characteristics, behaviours, learning style and writing style. For instance, differences in writing style can be clearly seen in their narrative writing. Narrative writing is an account of sequence of events which requires the students to creatively approach the title by writing according to their own plot and by creating their own characters and story. Students’ narrative writing could possibly show their individuality as if perceiving the world through their eyes.
- 2. ` Page 2 of 9 Most of the time their individuality can be seen reflected through the protagonists in their narrative writing. Protagonist is basically the hero or the leading role of the story. 1.1 Statement of problem These differences could be the result of the students’ psychological, social, cultural, environment, emotional background or limitations of their experiences. There a lot of researches done on language and gender but a few focused on the character preferences by male or female writers and what influence their character preferences. In interest to the choice of characters by students in their narrative writing and due to lack research on this area, this conceptual paper will reveal the differences of language use between genders which will later lead to a theory of their choice of characterization in narrative writing according to the writer’s gender. 1.2 Background and significance of problem Interestingly, teachers have come across different characters with different characteristics in students’ writing. Some main characters were very disturbing, some were heroic, and some were annoying and some just plain boring. There are obvious patterns of the choice of characters by the male and female students. Female students often express female characters that are broken-hearted and backstabbed by their boyfriends or best friends. On the other hand, male students often express heroic male characters who always safe the day and in some cases these characters possess superpower. There was a case when a female student created a female character that was raped and later took revenge on men. In such a case, it was disturbing for the teacher to read as the writing was full of revenge and hatred. Apart from that, there are also boys who wrote in female’s perspective. 1.3 Purpose of this conceptual paper: 1) To find as many differences of language use between male and females in various areas 2) To figure out characteristics of main characters and themes expressed by male and female students in their narrative writing
- 3. ` Page 3 of 9 3) To determine factors affecting them to create those characters with such characteristics 2 Literature reviews According to a theorist, Gardiner (1980), boys and girls live differently because of their gender and these differences will eventually reflect in their writing. Female writers do write based on their mother-daughter bond. Gardiner also came up with a theory by saying, “The woman writer uses her text, particularly one concentrating on a female hero, as part of a continuing process involving her own self-definition and her empathic identification with her character” According to Williamson (2001), male authors who wrote in women perspective, write in such a way because they are unhappy about some women in their lives. He also added at times it is also be a portrayal of the perfect women that they expect to have in their lives and sometimes portrays their mothers. 2.1 Differences in expression through language According to Newman, Carla, Lori & James (2008), the absence of acknowledged studies has contributed to the argument whether there are compelling variances between men and women’s language. In this regard, after a series of research by applying Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Program by Pennebaker, Francis & Booth (2001), Newman et.al (2008) stated that, women used English language more to talk about individuals and their lives. They also used a lot of words describing feelings, expressions and verb in present and past tense. In addition, women tend to utilize more function words in discussion and use more pronouns in their text samples. On the other, hand, men use language to mark external events, objects and processes. Not only that, they also often added profanity in their discourse. In discourse, men often express negative feeling and also often added profanity. Unlike in their writing, they discuss more about their past in writing. In writing, men and women wrote diversely when expounding on a traumatic addition, women utilized more pronouns in their text samples as compared to men. All in all, language usage is different among genders whether spoken or written.
- 4. ` Page 4 of 9 2.2 Effects of society on language differences in gender In terms of sociolinguistic, Bamaiyi (2012) had done a gender analysis by analyzing lexical hedges, tag-question, verbosity, intensifier, hyper-correct, adjectives, words etc. using Lakoff’s (1975) level of analysis. The research concluded that cultural and environmental factors are said to contribute to the distinctive discourse patterns between male and female which later caused miscommunication and misinterpretation while they are communicating. Not only that, the distinctive discourse patterns between male and female which later caused miscommunication and misinterpretation while they are communicating are very much influenced by culture and environment. They also found that at places where gender difference is a major concern, language plays a crucial part in the society. Hence, through this study, it is also evident that there is contrariness in language use among gender. According to Adrian (2006), an author depicts others and the people around her. Think about again the perception, made prior, that particular writings are powered by records of key occasions that happen over the long run, occasions which the author feels are vital enough to express: a marriage, a tragic storm, a girl leaving home, the normal of work. 2.3 Similarities and differences in online identity However, Huffaker (2004) studied gender differences focusing on the aspects of how teenage bloggers distinct in their online exposure of individual info, differences in their choice of name, sort of avatars they make, sort of emotive characteristics they express and how language is utilized to express thoughts and affection. Interestingly, the findings showed that there are more gender similarities than differences in their blog posts when looking at the aspects mention earlier. 2.4 Writing using emotions According to Mulac & Bradac (2001), references to emotions are characterized as a linguistic structure that happens when somebody's language incorporates ‘‘any mention of an emotion or feeling’’. Leaper & Ayres (2007) supported by mentioning women use more emotional words as compared to men. Colley (2004) also mentioned that women use more words referring to emotions more than men do. In contrast, Mulac, Seibold & Farris (2002) said that men uses more words referring to emotions more than women.
- 5. ` Page 5 of 9 2.5 Gender analysis of writing themes Researchers have been analysing the impact of sex on writing styles, engages furthermore cause for more than 40 years. Over that time, their exploration has demonstrated to us that girls have a tendency to expound on subjects identified with the home and family. On the other hand, Graves (1973) stated that boys have a tendency to expound on themes of home and school. Tuck, Bayliss & Bell (1985) and Romatowski & Trepanier-Street (1987) further explained that children have a tendency to expound on characters of their own sex and regularly stereotype those characters. Furthermore, Pajares & Valiente (2001) mentioned that a feminine orientation has a tendency to have a positive impact on writing evaluations. In discourse, Wadhaugh (2005) found that females often talk about food, drink, life and books while males’ topic revolves around politics and taxes. Daitsman (2011) mentioned gendered patterns do appear in story writing. However, only a few students did not conform to gender stereotyping in their writing. Daitman later explained that he instructed his students to describe their characteristics as ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ stories. Just as mentioned earlier, Daitsman’s findings revealed that girls tend to write stories that contain princesses or fairies. On the other hand, boys’ stories are about combat or superheroes. According to Ning, Dai, Zhang (2010) Men and women selection of topics are also distinct. For instance, men’s topics are serious including politics and economics, while women choose education and family. Meunier (1996) said in his article, “The topics such as sports, politics and cars which are seen as ‘serious’ are preserved for men only, the choice for women are the topics such as child-bearing and personal relationships which are labelled as ‘trivial’”. 2.6 Media, social structure and peers influencing writing style Jones, (2002) concluded that media influence is unquestionably noticeable in influencing teenagers’ writing style. Current media can have a remarkable effect on gender in children’s stories. Fine (2010) stated that “social structure, media, and peers offer no shortage of information to children about masculinity and femininity”.
- 6. ` Page 6 of 9 2.7 Teachers influencing gender stereotype Groot (2011) revealed that a compassionate, competent and reliable teacher may unintentionally expose children to gender-related messages in classroom. Jacobson (2011) exposes that teachers actually have the choice to reinforce or abandon gender stereotype by relating those two genders to each other. This is to avoid children to stereotype genders that could influence their writing. 3 Results The theories are later related to the purpose of this paper: 3.1 To find differences of language use between male and females in various areas According to Newman et.al (2008), female writers tend to use more words describing emotions as compared to male. Male on the other hand, often use more profane words with negative feelings and they often talked about the past. Mulac et.al (2001), Leaper et.al (2007) and Colley (2004) found that women use more words referring to their emotions as compared to men. Therefore women are more emotional in writing as compared to men. 3.2 To figure out characteristics of main characters and themes expressed by male and female students in their narrative writing Earlier research by Graces (1973) found that girls often depict home and family in their writing and boys depict home and school. According to Ning et.al (2010) and Meunier (1996) women often discuss education and family while men discuss about politics and economics. Wardaugh (2005) mention that in discourse women often talks about food, drinks and life while men talks about politics and taxes. As mentioned in the problem statement, female and male students tend to depict different protagonists in their narrative writing. Daitman (2011) revealed that girls often write about fairies or princesses while boys write about combats or superheroes. Hence female writers tend to focus on personal matters while male more on current issues.
- 7. ` Page 7 of 9 3.3 To determine factors that affecting them to create those characters with such characteristics Factors affecting genders to write differently come from different sources. Lakoff (1975) revealed that cultural and environmental factors contribute to distinctive discourse patterns which can eventually reflect in their writings. Stowe (n.d) explained that when writing, a writer depicts others around them and also occasions that happen around them. On another account, Kim (2011) mentioned that teachers are also responsible in influencing gender stereotyping in children. This is later supported by Jacobson (2011) saying that teacher has the power to encourage or abandon gender stereotyping in classroom. Considering teachers as influential figure in school, this theory is acceptable. Jones (2002) and Fine (2010) stated that media, social structure and peers are other factors influencing differences in writing among gender. Consequently there is nothing could be done to stop these exposure but parents and teachers should guide teenagers on matters that are appropriate to be depicted in their writings. 4 Conclusion Normal and privileged teenage boys and girls revolve their lives around friends, families, teachers, media and technology. Their lives experiences are not wide enough to give them ample choice when selecting characters for their narrative writing. Therefore it is logical that their choice of protagonists directly reflect their personal experience. It is believed that in school, teachers are responsible to expose students to gender stereotyping and it is believed that further research on this area will open the teachers’ eyes on the importance of not stereotyping genders as it could be reflected negatively on their perception towards different gender. This research is worth focusing on especially in Malaysia because it has not been conducted anywhere around Malaysia. The findings of this research could also help teachers and parents realize that they are also responsible to expose their teenage children to different topics in life so that they can write on different topics without touching on gender stereotyping.
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