Do you ever feel
pressured to conform to what society thinks you should be? Have you ever been,
or wondered what it’s like to be, bullied? Then follow me into Liz Prince’s
moving journey into these themes in her graphic memoir, Tomboy.
Even though
there are some serious, and even dark, themes portrayed in Tomboy, Prince tells her coming-of-age story with lots of humor—Her
“I don’t give a crap what society thinks” attitude will truly inspire you and
make you laugh. This moxie along with the universal themes within adolescence, humorously
entertaining dialogue and captivating illustrations are the strengths that
drive the success of this novel. The only weakness that I could extract was the
time frame of the novel’s events; young readers today will not get most of the
cultural references from the 80’s and 90’s.
Tomboy focuses on Prince’s refusal to
conform to the stereotypical attributes of her gender throughout different
stages of her young life while living in a world that takes high regard in the
adherence to specific gender roles. Prince’s story spans from early childhood
to adolescence (emerging adulthood if you count the epilogue) and through three
decades: mid-80’s to the early 2000’s. Very early in life, Prince discovers she
does not enjoy the qualities traditionally associated with girls/women;
dresses/fashion, long hair, dolls/other girl-specific toys and
hobbies/interests. Since her boycotting of these stereotypical attributes from
the age of four, Prince in consistently mistaken for a boy and bullied by her
peers for this purpose. Prince has difficulty making friends as she doesn’t
seem to fit in with boys or girls; she is brutally harassed both verbally and
physically. Along with the support of family and a couple good friends, it is ultimately
Prince’s perseverance and sense of humor that help her get through these
difficult experiences and inspire readers alike. The novel culminates with an
epilogue to give insight into Prince’s future and the rewarding aspect of
staying true to one’s self.
This story
will resonate with many young adults today considering the recent epidemic of
bullying due to new resources like social media outlets and other communicative
advances. This is as significant of a theme for young adults to explore and
understand as discovering who they are. This novel will also intrigue young
readers because many young adults know what it like to feel forced to conform
to someone else’s ideal, whether a father coerces his son to play football just
because he did, even though his son would rather audition for the school play,
or schoolmates believe you have to wear a dress and play with dolls because you
are girl. Tomboy will resonate with
all girls alike, girly or not—although Prince resists many feminine
stereotypes, she embraces many of the typical characteristics of female
adolescence including an obsession with boys.
Pros: Short
read with illustrations, funny, inspirational, and relatable content for young
readers.
Cons:
Novel’s time-frame; young readers won’t get cultural references from the 80’s
and 90’s.
To get a better understanding of how gender stereotypes
affect our society, check out this article;
To learn about the serious effects of childhood bullying, or to volunteer to help stop this problem, visit this page: https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-bullying
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