Feminist Literacy Theory

For this blog post, I have chosen to view the novel using the feminist literacy theory. Since the plot of this book is largely based on the journey of a young women, it made the most sense for the theory I used to focus on the feminism views. Since this book is based on a real story, the female characters are not view in any other way than the truth. There are no stereotypes against them, because it is based on who they truly are.

In the chapters I read, Cheryl is almost at the end of her hike across the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Since she has had so much time alone, she is thinking about her mother, and remembers all the poor choices she has made over the years. She soon meets a group of three young men, who are called the “three young bucks”, who she joins for a tiny bit before leaving them. Later in the chapter Cheryl meets two hunters (men), where one was making comments about Cheryl and making her feel uncomfortable.

Throughout this novel, I have come to realize that Cheryl thinks of men as sexual objects, it had been said multiple times within the text that she would have slept with just about anybody. I think that her isolation on the trail, makes her rethink her view on men, and helps her realize that they can be different. She realizes this through meeting men that she does not see in this way, she sees them as fellow hikers. Even with her views on men, Cheryl only shows her views on men being sexual objects once, when she meets a man named Jonathon.

Earlier I said that since this book is a true story, the stereotypes are lessened. But if you really think about the story, it is difficult to tell if it is real or not, or if it even happened. Going back to the two hikers she encounters, where one is acting rudely towards Cheryl, I believed this actually happened. The man viewed Cheryl as a sexual object. The things he said were sexist, and he implied that someone like him could just take advantage of her simply because of her gender and her size.

I really enjoyed how the women were portrayed in this novel, since it was in Cheryl’s perspective, none of the women were portrayed in a sexist or offensive way. Normally today, women are looking perfect, but this book goes against this stereotype with Cheryl not keeping up with her personal hygiene. She is this strong woman, even in this less than “clean” situation. I enjoyed that the book did try and make her seem like she was clean, or that she didn’t smell. They embraced the circumstances of where she was, and used that to empower women into thinking that you can do whatever you want.

In conclusion, this novel was an accurate representation of what women go through and it dethroned the stereotypes laid on women. She is an independent and strong character, who goes through some bad things. She did some things, like having a lot of sex and heroine, that made her go on this trip, that are not typical something that women do. She is a role model for women everywhere, not because of the things she has done, but because of the things she had overcome and how she dealt with them

#feminist #men #sexuall #novel #hikers #women #friends