Valle 1

Andrew Valle
Professor Jon Beadle
English 113B
29 March 2016
Gender Construction (Original)
In Everyday, by David Levithan, the characters live within societal standards because of
Gender Construction, and are pressured to not stray outside of these expectations. The literary
text connects to show the issue of Gender Construction going on now in the present. Gender
construction is known as a certain type of society that creates rules for what women and men do,
or how they should behave. There are clear examples shown in the text of how this applies in
life. People will try to make a comment in front of others to prove that they belong to a certain
gender group. This makes people to believe that it is right to follow gender construction and view
others who do not follow this as a different person not welcomed to society.
Gender Construction makes people try to impress others just so they can feel accepted by
the crowd, or society. I hate the way he thinks he can buy all his friends by throwing parties like
this (Levithan 70). Justin leaves Rhiannon to be alone in the party, since he immediately meets
up with the other guys to grab beer and talk. Nathan sees that Justin would prefer to hang out
with his guy friends instead of being with his girlfriend, and having a good time like dancing at
the party, therefore when Nathan walks up to Rhiannon he hopes of making her realize how
Justin is behaving according to Gender Construction. Another thing shown in Gender
Construction for this story is the way how Justin does not introduce his girlfriend to his guy
friends and move on to spend time with Rhiannon instead he gives his full attention to his guy
friends and leaves Rhiannon to the side as if she is a pet not even a person worth spending time
with, since he wants to show to his guy friends, how spending time with them and drinking beers

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proves his masculinity. I hate the way he treats girls (Levithan 70). A mentions this in the story
and it connects with Justins persona since as hes making his way to Steve Masons house where
the party is being held, Justin walks ahead of Rhiannon leaving her behind instead of walking
together with her. For Gender Construction some people may not feel the same in seeing
someone who doesnt recognize Gender Construction.
In Gender Construction those who do not take part in the same trend are treated
differently, and not as an equal way. Nathan has a neutral manner of introducing himself, and
does not ask for a drink to get in the zone of staying with the crowd, and neither does he mention
about which girl looks hot while he converses with Justin. Also Nathan doesnt get angry, or
threatens to fight Justin for saying this to him to prove his worth of masculinity by coming to the
party as the way he was dressed when Justin makes this comment, Yeah, I can tell from the way
hes dressedWhat are you doing here? (Levithan 72). When A is in the body of a guy named
Nathan he is thought to be looking not masculine enough, because he is dressed differently. But
before this Rhiannon introduced Nathan to Justin, and Justin was acting out as if he was a tough
guy who doesnt care about meeting people, and so he acts like this to try to prove that he has
strength or is bad a** in front of the crowd, and pressure comes from the crowd that looks at
Justin observing how he will respond. Nathan does this in order to keep his cool, I say hiHe
doesnt respond (Levithan 72). The result is that Justin doesnt show any friendliness towards
Nathan by not greeting him, and so it proves how Gender Construction can affect people from
not building a good relation with one another. In Gender Construction, those who agree with
Gender Construction may have their own set opinions of what a man or woman should do.
In the story we could see how society has only women assuming the role of working for
people as maids, More women join us in the van (Levithan 179). This is when in the story

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there is account told by A about how he/she awoke in the body of a young worker who has a
sister, and works as a maid. It shows that only women are preferred to work as maids and fulfil
house hold duties than men. Also it shows how there is a connection with how in real life women
are usually the ones that do household work like cleaning, and cooking, etc. Gender construction
can have a meaning for people in the way they understand it.
There is also an ideology that now starts to form, because of Gender Construction of
whats right and wrong. James brother is thought to be not manly enough if he reads books, and
as a result this is the pressure that he faces by James, Dude, he says, libraries are for girls
(Levithan 113). James says this, since he believes it isnt masculine enough to do these things
especially since hes a jock, toughness is thought to be proven in sports only. There is pressure in
this for the characters, since others may ridicule those who do not follow the standards of Gender
Construction, since men dont quit or make an excuse to abandon something or else they are
considered as cowards, and pus**** I thought it was pretty funny that Snyder had to end
practice so he could go, like, learn how to help his baby mama breathe (Levithan 117). People
who help others may also be laughed at and the loss of respect may also take place. But in
Gender Construction is now a something that should be noticed.
Gender Construction has a connection with one of the articles from class as well. In The
Secondhand Bookseller, there is a quote that shows Gender Construction. Why don't you go to
the bakery next door and buy yourself a few donuts instead?" taken from the article, this shows
how the little girl is not taken serious because of she is a girl, and back than only men and boys
would go to school and study while women would take care of the children, cook for the family,
and do the house hold duties. This would prove how Gender Construction is shown in Mariana
Nemats The Bookseller. There is also another example according to Boundless Women are still

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expected to be the primary homemakers, even if they are contributing to household income by
working outside the home. This shows how in some cases traditional Gender Construction
remains the same.
When having a conversation with someone Gender construction can also have a
significant impact in speech as well. This is because there is the belief that if one achieves a
lower voice than they are considered more masculine and not a wimp squeaker, or something
else that does not correspond to masculinity. Nagging about college to his teachers gay way of
talking (Levithan 193). The account given to us in the story tells of how when Justin would talk
with Rhiannon about what was going on during his day. Here there is a clear example of how
Gender Construction ideas carry on by the people, because fathers or mothers set the example by
behaving in such a way in front of their children. In Gender Construction the people would judge
others and so this proves it. Gender construction is shown in literature to depict how authors
view people of different gender.
In the story there is writing that states the manner in which women are. This could also
mean the manner in which society views it and agree it is in accordance with Gender
Construction. For example, in the text here is an example for women that states, Rhiannon
breaks hers neatly in half (Levithan 220). Characters written by the author throughout the story
show how Gender Construction follows through the mind of the reader, they can also be
influenced by it and become one to who now set rules in their head of how a woman is supposed
to behave, or a man is supposed to behave. But in Gender Construction people can often times be
judged too.
Women are considered to be a flower at times in Gender Construction, but may also be
called something negative. That negative name calling such as whore, or slut gets passed down

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by generation and so it reaches to the point that now it becomes attached to the gender as a way
of insult, and treatment amongst women. For example, I dont know who your parents are but I
didnt raise my son to hang out with whores (Levithan 222). As a result, the women insult each
other in such a way that they even judge each other as looking like a b**** from appearances.
The pressure of Gender Construction set upon people is a serious issue in our world
today. The literary text gives examples of this issue and how it happens more with males. It is the
result that leads to people trying to show off to others just how much they pertain to a certain
gender by acting in a certain way. Their mentality is changed of what they believed men or
woman can do before with Gender Construction, a set of rules created by a certain type of
society. This way of thinking affects generations of people who grow up influenced by this.

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Work Cited Page

Inside Source:
Nemat, Mariana. The Secondhand Bookseller. Literacy Narratives. N.D. Print.
Levithan, David. Every Day. Ember: Random House, Inc. New York. 2012. Print.
Outside Source:
Boundless. Gender Roles in the U.S.-Bound Open Textbook. N.D. 15 Mar. 2016.
N.P. Unexpected Social Pressures in Males. University of Pittsburgh. November 6, 2011. Web.
26 March. 2016.
Christina, Greta. 5 Things Society Unfairly Expects of Men. AlterNet. 10 Aug. 2010. Web. 29
Mar. 2016.