These Shallow Graves Gender Roles

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Imagine that your father has been murdered but you can’t look into it because of your gender. In Jennifer Donnelly’s novel, These Shallow Graves, you explore Josephine Monfort’s life as she tries to uncover her father’s secrets, including those that lead to his death. Set in New York during the nineteenth century, Josephine cannot just be a journalist as she dreams, and has to set out for help from a writer to find answers. Coming from a wealthy family, every move is watched by her family, friends, and even enemies. Jo has to act like a lady at all times, and when she stops, those closest to her take extreme measures to keep her from the truth that would ruin them all. This novel addresses and challenges gender roles, as Josephine turns from New York’s most attractive to most unsophisticated by speaking out, being curious, and persisting to find the truth. …show more content…

In Donnelly’s novel, you learn about Josephine challenging those gender roles and going against them. One part of gender roles that was addressed in the novel was with which topics that the women could speak of. “You know the rules: get yourself hitched, then do what you like. But for heaven’s sake, until you get the man, smile like a dolt and talk about tulips, not mill girls!” This quote is from Josephine’s friend from school, Trudy, explaining that Jo could not write about just anything she wanted in the paper because it would make her look undesirable when she was looking for a husband. Josephine couldn’t speak about many topics because she was a lady, despite the fact that she needed to discuss the subjects to be a

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