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- Wilson Slader Post
- How are women depicted in Stained?
- basic overview
- American culture and identity
- Women in contemporary society
Wilson Slader Post
April 4th, 2007 by yhsstained
One of the questions being considered during this unit is: How are women depicted in contemporary fiction and media? During your reading of the novel, comment on the ways in which women are being portrayed. Consider relationships, experiences, situations, etc.
Stained represents the typical stereotypical girl. She is emotionally unstable, doesn’t stick up for herself, and is torn between boys. This is not necessarily the best representative of what girls are like. Jocelyn, or Joss, in her younger years, is shown as a girl inferior to Gabe and others. She seems dimwitted and that she is untouched by society. Not yet has she been introduced the to realities of life. When Gabe and Jocelyn are talking about suicide, she is confused and has no idea what to think about it. She listens to Gabe and believes everything he says.
She feels like she is powerless and that she has no control over her life or the people around her. When Benny breaks up with her she just accepts it. She doesn’t try to talk to him and find out why, she just walks away. At the parties she feels secluded, she doesn’t have the confidence to talk to the “jocks”. She feels that she in inferior to them.
Overall Jocelyn represents a very instable girl who has so many problems she doesn’t know how to deal with them. Maybe the end will solve them. Maybe not, we will see soon.
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on April 4th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
How are women depicted in media, literature, and the book in general?
Good point WILSON! I never really thought about Jocelyn that way. I do agree with you that she’s a pretty weak and insecure character thus far. Her relationship with Benny is pathetic. She obsesses over him and is at his beck and call – for example when he breaks up with her, and then he tells her (in their “secret code”) for her to come visit him in the woods the next day. Jocelyn does not hesitate to visit him immediately. This portrayal of the weak-minded lovesick teenage girl is relevant in both the book and media today. I’ve felt somewhat disappointed in the author so far, and her inability to give Joss any real depth to which I can relate. She’s pretty one dimensional, I feel – despite a few twists, she’s a stereotypical teen.
“I can’t have this conversation right now. I’m already so confused. I don’t know if Benny’s changed his mind about what’s right and what’s wrong. I don’t know if I’m going with Benny now or not. I have no idea what he feels about today. I have no idea what I feel about today… And now Benny is changing his mind.”
Truly, how pathetic is this? Jocelyn, I have an idea, why don’t you try TALKING to the boy you’re so obsessed with? She frustrates me. Her weakness lies in her indecision and inability to decipher “how she feels.” Honestly.
The other women characters we’ve met also fit pretty neatly into stereotypes. There’s the caring, free-spirited friend, Theresa. There’s the pitiful promiscuous girl, Bernadette. And then there’s Jocelyn’s mom. She is the one woman character I think is worth discussing. Through the book religion has been a strong theme. Jocelyn lives in a very religious, very Catholic community. The priest is often seen around The Grill, talking with boys and socializing. Jocelyn and her mother, however, are not part of this loving religious family. The book tells of how her mother becomes disgusted with the Church’s stories of Heaven and Hell to children, and they stop going. Her mother defies the social norms of the community due to her individual concept of what is right and suffers isolation from the community. This, in itself, is worthy of admiration. Jocelyn’s mother is the one person I have respected throughout the book.
on April 10th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
What does the way women are depicted in this book say about our culture/society?
As we’ve all spoken on before, I think the many of the women depicted in this book fall more or less into sterotypes. These stereotypes speak strongly to the way women are typically depicted in society today. As we’ve talked about before, Jocelyn is the typical emotional teenage girl, Theresa the typical free-spirited friend, etc. However, with continued reading, some aspects of certain female characters have been revealed.
For example, Bernadette. At the beginning of the book we are introduced to Bernadette as, quite frankly, the town floozy. Jocelyn naturally assumes, along with everyone else, that her relationship with Gabe is limited to sex and that Gabe is interested in little else. However, on page 103, we are met with something unexpected: Bernadette is a virgin. She also reveals, at the end of the chapter, that she loves Gabe. The assumption the community makes about Bernadette being a slut is connected to several things. First of all, the theme of religion. Bernadette is not a member of the church, and so the community finds it easy to make negative assumptions about her character. We see this also in Jocelyn’s mother, who disassociates herself from the church, and as a result is shunned by the community that once embraced her. The assumption made by the community about Bernadette is also connected to female prejudice. They view Bernadette negatively and Gabe as the religious golden boy. As a result, the community concludes that the relationship between the two cannot be respectful and loving. They conclude that Gabe must only be interested in a girl of lower status because he is using her for sex. This is mirrored in our culture today, this concept of sluts and men using women who are of lower status.
In the most powerful scene in Stauined thus far, the issue of sex is addressed explicitly. Jocelyn and Gabe are in the woods when Jay, Gabe’s cousin, shows up. Jocelyn feels awkward with the presence of the new boy. They go “undie-dipping” and the boys tease Joss to show them her “parts.” The kids joke and laugh about showing each other their skinny butts, but then it turns serious:
“Without words, Gabe and Jay are racing toward me. I run, but I don’t stand a chance. Gabe throws me down…Gabe rolls me over and sits on my stomach the way he has a hundred times before except this time he pulls up my shirt. Then he pulls my pants down around my ankles. I hear words and laughing. Gabe slides off my stomache, but his knees still hold me down. I feel fingers, at first only poking, then pinching and probing. They rub against me, but I am no longer on the bank of Kiddy Brook. I am far away. Finally, they stop. Gabe says “Hey, get up. Get up, Jocelyn!” “Leave her,” says Jay. “She’s a whore.”
In this passage, the young boys find it acceptable to rush at Jocelyn and force her clothes off. They find no problem in using her until she grows so shocked that she actually feels removed from her body, “far away.” The boys think it is acceptable to treat her as an object. Not only do they brutalize and sexually harrass her, they also call her a “whore” when they are done. This vulgar treatment of women and the view of them as objects is mirrored in our society today. Magazines depict women as mere objects – skinny figures of the ideal woman body. Media in general makes women out to be mere objects as well.
Looking forward to hearing from y’all about opinions of the book!
on April 23rd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Blog 1- Talo great response, i like the fact that you brought up how obediant she is. No matter how derogative this may sound it is true. When it comes to her relationship with Benny, she is like a dog. She is too loyal and not assertive enough. She needs to take control.
on April 24th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
True that, Lauren! At the first part of the novel I am in total agreement with you (and my statements before)… Jocelyn is an obedient little puppy. However, in the end of the novel she totally redeems herself when she acts with confidence and assertion for the first time. Joss has an epiphany of page 164 when she fully realizes the true character of Father Warren:
“Time stops. It’s as if I wake up from a dream. I clear the sleepies from my eyes and reliaze one simple fact: This man, priest or not, is not going to answer my questions. He does not care about me. He doesn’t care if I’m the Virgin Mary or Satan himself…Father Warren rattles on about how adolescence is a confusing time. And I think, So what doe you have to gain from your repeated talks with Benny? Why do you ask him, “where do you touch her?”
Jocelyn’s epiphany turns her world upside down. She realizes that the supposed perfect, holy and righteous man conducting her community is nothing but a dirty pervert. This takes confidence and strength on her part. It took confidence to confront Father Warren at his office when she first got her hunch (especially considering that she was confronting him about something so personal as her and Benny’s relationship). It took even more confidence to then tell Gabe’s parents his whereabouts after Joss discovers the truth of the real relations between Gabe and Father Warren.
Jocelyn’s change in confidence is a signal to an absolute turnaround in character. Before the incident with Father Warren she is weak and submissive. She is clumsy, shy and sad. Jocelyn’s later actions demonstrate not only growth and maturity but incredible courage — she effectively reveals the town priest as a fake and a pervert. Perhaps this turnaround in character is symbolic of the possible strength women are capable of possessing. By the end of the story, Jocelyn has grown into herself; her valor transforms her from a helpless lovesick teenager to a crusading woman CHAMPION.
Needless to say, I was very happy with the end of the story. It finally made the main character likable. It also had an effective twist in plot concerning Father Warren. This event accentuates the confusion associated with adolescence. Perfect Father Warren is actually the town pervert while the weird quiet teen is the only one who can actually see the truth. I think this was both interesting and impressive.
FROM TALO.