Uprising, By Margaret Haddix: An Analysis

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Recommended: Gender in 20th century literature

Did you know that the average gender wage gap in America, as of 2015, was
21%? In 1910, however, even in a time where a lot of common workers were not paid as much as they should have been, women were paid up to 45% less. In the book Uprising, by Margaret Haddix, the main characters are two women, named Bella and Jane. The story is set in the early 1900s and both women are subjected to discrimination and bias because of their gender. Bella and Jane are both very different though, because Jane is rich and Bella is very poor, but they both are faced with injustice because they are women and both of them react to it in their own way.

In the book Uprising, Bella is mistreated, cheated and discriminated against many times because of her gender. …show more content…

Jane is the mistress of her house as her father is away on a business trip and he's gone Janes governess is very mean and rude to Jane, Bella and Yetta so Jane threatens to fire her governess, Ms. Milhouse. “You’re even more foolish than I thought! You can’t fire me! You’re just a girl. You’re nothing. Just a bit of fluff your father’s going to use to marry off, to enhance his business. That’s all you’re worth. That’s all any girl is worth.(Haddix 167). Janes governess Ms. Milhouse tells Jane, that she’s powerless and can do nothing and then tells Jane that no girl is worth anything but a business exchange. This is another example to what a great extent this bias and sexism goes, to that even Jane’s governess as a girl herself, still says extremely sexist things. Jane like Bella also naturally retaliates against this injustice because she knows that her treatment is unfair. ‘“Please!” Jane shouted at him, sliding into the backseat. “You have to take me to . . .” Where could she go? Somewhere away from this house, away from her father.”(Haddix 203). Jane rebels against this unfairness by running away because she’s upset and mad. Though this may seem like a slightly childish reaction her purpose is to attract her inattentive fathers attention. Jane though in a very different setting is still treated poorly because she’s a girl and she too rebels against her unfair treatment though in a very different

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