The Gender Game series: A Literary, Gendered, and Rhetorical Analysis of YA Dystopian Fiction Topics

Introduction-

“For fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent

comes a story like no other...

A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender.

Women rule the East. Men rule the West.

Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes.

But one decision could save her life.

To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit.

Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive.

But abiding by rules has never been Violet's strong suit.

When she's thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom ...

including forbidden love.

In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive” (Goodreads).

Why YA?

Why is Young Adult (YA) Dystopian fiction so popular in today’s culture? According to Jonathon Stephens the term Young Adult, “refers to a story that tackles the difficult, and oftentimes adult, issues that arise during an adolescent’s journey toward identity” (Stephens). As to the other word some might know it, Dystopian; what does it mean? According to an article by Justin Scholes and Jon Ostenson, the definition of Dystopia “As a counter to earlier fictional utopias (depictions of idealized societies that promise a glorious future), dystopian fiction instead satirizes utopian ideals or describes societies where negative social forces have supremacy” (Scholes & Ostenson). This newer interpretation of YA Dystopian fiction that it’s changing from a Utopian to Dystopian is accurate in terms of Gender Games. Books that fall under this Dystopian category include The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Gender game (a play on Hunger Games).

In an article by Laura Miller entitled “Fresh Hell: What’s Behind the Boom in Dystopian Fiction for Young Readers?” She begins by addressing the success of the Hunger Games, and then proceeds to name off ideas rooted in the young adult fiction genre. “There are the post-apocalyptic scenarios…humanity is reduced to subsistence farming or neo-feudalism, stuck in villages ruled by religious fanatics or surrounded by toxic wastelands, predatory warlords, or flesh-eating zombie hordes” (Miller). The Gender Game series includes these elements of fiction with the added twist of including gender as a defining factor of how men and women are treated. By using the methodology of a literary and rhetorical analysis this essay will determine how the Gender Game series falls in line or breaks the status quo of male versus female agency and power, promotion of gender binary, exclusion of LGBTQ characters. primacy of and heteroromantic relationships.

Marketing

First, an analysis how the publishers of Gender Game produced two different covers of the first book, and how the covers construct agency and power directed at males and females. Picture this, a young man walks into a book store looking for a new book to buy. He doesn’t know what genre he wants to read yet, but the Young Adult section is calling his name. At this, the young man begins to look through the stacks of books on the tables, shelves, and end-caps. He sees a book with a nice blue color and girl on it. This cover gives no indication that the story beneath the cover envisions a thriller as well as romantic. The young man uses his agency to buy the book he has found, because he’s curious about the girl on the cover.

In an article by Melanie Koss written in 2009, she states that YA publishing markets have been changing over time and adding more variety in what the publish such as diverse authors, topics, and book covers. Readers have started to see the creation of book covers that target both male and female genders. “This increased ‘market’ has spawned more products designed for the young adult (YA) population, resulting in a growth spurt in the YA literature and other targeting materials” (Koss). Since more books in this genre are being pulled from the shelves, the gender game has elevated its book covers to become more inclusive to different audiences. Publishers have decided to market this genre of book in multiple ways to attract more diverse readers as well as male and female. However, in reference to the first book of the Gender Game series, the target audience presents as strictly male and female.

The first cover has a light-turquoise background that covers the majority of the book’s front and back. The central part of the front cover is the golden framed circle. Within the circle, it’s assumed to be Violet, the main character, who appears from the neck up with the possibility of not wearing clothes outside of the camera’s view. The egg-shaped structure extends to the symbol of the female gender. Where men normally have all the power; the gender roles are being flipped to show women can act strong even if they are more intimate compared to the other cover. The egg creates the greatest symbolism thought out the series. What importance does the symbol hold in the books?

“He had managed to prevent the embryo from dropping a chromosome and becoming male, ensuring that every implantation would result in an enhanced female. No wonder King Maxen had wanted it. It represented a very real threat to the continues existence of Patrus” (Gender Secret 353).

Not only is the presence of the egg in reference to being female, but it also represents a symbol of power that many are trying to obtain throughout series. Whoever holds the egg could take hold of the most political power.

The hiding of the gaze from the audience represents how she’s hiding in an attempt to conceal her identity from the viewer, which she does throughout the first book. According to an article by John Berger, he states that “Her presence is a manifest of her gestures, voices, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings, taste—indeed there is nothing she can do which does not contribute to her presence” (Berger 1). In the sense of power, like Berger states, the way she acts allows women the agency to want to present themselves as powerful. The men, the strong stance, clothing, and tall demeaner promotes a role reversal of sorts that women can do anything a man can do. “I needed to own my part in everything, and realize that my decisions have consequences from here on out. I knew what I wanted—to be free from all this, and to have my brother returned to me” (Gender Secret 237). This might attract males that want to understand why women would try and break the status quo of gender roles. Males could also choose agency to pick up this book’s particular cover to give power to the idea of females being as strong as males. Males and females can both find attraction to the message set by these book covers.

The second cover released for the series shows a completely different narrative from the original cover. This cover shows Matrus and Patrus far in the background surrounded by the blueish green haze in the background. The haziness of the background appears as if the cities are toxic from the surrounding environment. In the middle of the cover stands Violet in a firm stance overlooking the city. Violet’s back is turned away from the audience, and we cannot see her eyes at all like the previously described cover where we saw a sliver of the right eye. Berger also mentions in his article about the gaze how men believe they have power to look at women’s bodies. “The promised power may be moral, physical, temperamental, economic, social, sexual—but its object is always exterior to the man” (Berger 1). Men believe they have the self-proclaimed power and agency over women, but in contradiction to those believes, these covers show that a woman can act fierce in intimate relationships and on her own.

An interesting article by Naomi Johnson informs about how young adult fiction and the way publishing companies sell best-selling romances. Since the Gender Game series does not primarily plot as a romance novel, some points in the article will not apply. Johnson makes the major claim that female characters can promote certain ideals or portrayed as objects to audiences. According to Johnson, “Rather, storylines now promote—even prioritize—particular products and brands as integral to heroines' search for love” (Johnson 55). From looking at the first cover, it might be assumed the genre is romance, but as this quotation enlightens, the product of searching for love is sold as a romance instead of a thriller compared to the other cover.

Next, Young Adult books have been separated into what publishers believe boys and girls will enjoy separately. In an exploration of how readers react to male and female characters, and how those responses could make impacts in their lives. According to Beth Brendler, the author of Blurring Gender Lines in Readers’ Advisory for Young Adults, her theory based on YA literature focusing on producing the gender binary. She states that “Literacy has been gendered based on the cultural expectations of males and females in our society, and literacy practices have been studied through the lens of those cultural assumptions (Brendler 221). Instead of books being written or read from strictly male or female perspectives; the societal roles of gender are changing. While the YA world expands their view on gender representation, the Gender Game series has denounced those blurring lines of gender and remained a part of the binary narrative.

There are many other representations that society believes should have a voice in fiction. she gives an example of The Perks of Being a Wallflower to illustrate how the teenager who doesn’t really fit in because of his gender identity relatable to more young readers due to the change in gender conversation by millennials. Brendler states “The more we promote the notion of ‘boy books’ and ‘girl books,’ the more we maintain a gender binary…if we pay attention, we will begin to notice all the variations within gender” (Brendler 224). Books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower show the variation in gender that that Brendler points out, unfortunately, The Gender Game series strictly depicts heteronormative norms and maintains the gender binary.

Gender

Next, this section will cover the general idea of how gender is viewed in the young adult literature culture, and how gender representation appears throughout the first three books of the Gender Game series. First under the category of gender determines the representation of female protagonist in the genre. According to Miranda A. Green-Bareet, YA Dystopia fiction authors present their main female characters as those who defy stereotypical attributes set on women by society. “Recently, Young Adult (YA) dystopian fiction has been heralded for featuring strong female protagonists who question the stereotypical representations of girls” (Bareet). The Gender Game series is no exception to this ideal of strong female protagonist as Violet is portrayed as a woman who can stand her own ground; she can wrestle men to the ground. “I floored him. He thrashed as he landed on his back, attempting to grip my throat. I grappled with him, twisting myself until my legs were in the perfect position to stretch out his arm… He grunted in pain” (Gender Game 230). This passage physical description of Violet’s brute strength as a way the author, Bella Forrest, provides and proves the notion that Violet appears physically strong on her own apart from the stereotypical gender role than women always need their help. Even though Violet knows and the men in her circle know she can stand on her own, she is still forced to work with those men.

The other man, Lee, is her fake husband in an undercover mission set by the queen just as Katniss and Peeta are faking their relationship in order to get sponsors during the games. Lee does not openly show affection to Violet, only when her attention takes focus away from her given task at hand. Violet’s rebellion and strategizing attitude reflect the same attributes like Katniss in order to stay in the game. Broad states in the book chapter “the performance of Katniss’s fake romance with Peeta draws the reader into drama at the same time as it reiterates the spectacle of the games themselves” (Broad 119). The love triangle trope presents itself in the first book but disappears after Lee is eliminated. At the end of the first Gender Game books, the audience witnesses an accidental murder of Lee in Patrus whose death makes Violet panic over what she’s done. “Clinging to the base of the aircraft, the blood rushing to my head as I gaped down at Lee’s body, I felt paralyzed” (Gender Game 398). In this moment of the story, Violet is exposed to another crime that she did not mean to commit, and the game changes from living to find peace among the nations to running away from being a pawn in a broken society’s battle of the sexes. The drama created by the last few chapters of book one address the end of the fake relationship between Lee and Violet, which opens the following books to play up the romance between Violet and Viggo, so that they can survive like Katniss and Peeta in the arena of Matrus and Patrus.

Next, there are no mildly ambiguous LGBTQA+ characters in this series; the line of gender is strictly male and female. Straight- heteronormative women are portrayed this way instead of in a more progressive manner like including non-binary persons such as gay, lesbian, or bi-sexual in the story. Bareet also claims that queer female protagonists are rare in YA Dystopia fiction. “We examine the tendency to minimize queerness, arguing that despite its seeming emphasis on presenting strong, fully-actualized adolescent female protagonists, dystopian YA overlooks queer girls” (Bareet). In YA books like Gender Game, Hunger Games, and Divergent that all have heteronormative relationships, between main characters, the storylines are not as progressive in gendered identities as those books that have been published in the recent years. The significance of absence of queer identities in YA Dystopia novels like Gender Game is that those who recognize as LGBTQA+ might not identify with a main character.

With the absence of queer women or men in The Gender Games Violet stands as an empowering force to reckon with. In the case of being queer, Violet does dress as man in order to hide her true identity. “By the time he was done, I was a black-haired man with a mustache and generous beard. The facial hair helped to cover the softness of my jaw” (Gender Game 162). The action of wearing the manly disguise represents Violet’s ability to ignore girlhood culture norms while wearing it. At all other times, Violet is without queerness and the series as a whole heavily focuses on straight characters. In the form of a disguise, Violet’s queerness differentiates from those of transgendered individuals. By dressing as a man, she can bypass the gender norms that accompany her in Patrus from other men and women in the community in order to complete her mission.

Finally, the way women are treated in Patrus in compared to Matrus is completely different. A woman in Patrus is treated like a pet in which a lady is told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it by the men who run the city or their husbands. According to this quotation from Rudman and Glick, “Cultural narratives of femininity also suggest that women have, or should have, more limited agency than men. Agentic women are usually penalized unless they temper their strong-willed personalities with niceness” (e.g., Rudman & Glick, 2001). It’s the current culture that wants women to be submissive to every word that a man says. Violet encounters a group that believes women should fully submit to the men in both Matrus and Patrus. They use violence to get their message across to any women they find wondering around without a man to protect them. “The black triangle tattoo was the mark of the Porteque gang. The gang that had been labeled terrorist, and were the ultimate form of misogyny” (Gender Lie 52). The Gender Game series flips this idea on its head with main characters rebellious behavior to get away with small acts of freedom from her constraints when she can.

This trend of social order or in this case, the appearance of social disorder, in a Dystopian society will also elicits discussion within the next few paragraphs. According to Angela Huber in her article about sexism in books main for young adults’ states “The knowledge readers of such fiction might gain about social reality, even of structural determination, is paradoxically productive of individual agency, effective resistance, and even social transformation” (Hubler 84). In the sense of some YA books that present women as strictly submissive can be misleading to young girls who are trying to stand as stronger females. However, the Gender Game does set up a partial world where women are told to submit, but pushes away that stereotype as Violet is a strong heroine for girl to look up to.

Trends in YA/ Politics

The Gender Game series, mostly in books 2-3, takes place in the environmental disaster of The Green. In this desolate forest the majority of the second book takes place, and one bad situation after another falls upon Violet. She’s alone through the majority of the book, and she must learn to survive on her own. According to Elizabeth Braithwaite’s essay, “the function of the disaster is to create a situation in which the young adult protagonist and others survivors…have to struggle with staying alive” (Braithwaite 8). The disastrous setting influences Violet’s mind and body as the fumes, bugs, and basic survival skills are attacking her or leaving her defenseless. From an article by Clare Bradford, she believes that “within the last few years writers have moved away from nuclear disasters and more environmental and biological constraints (Bradford 8)". In agreement with Bradford, the Gender Game series focuses on the environment of the Green and the biological constraints of testing the boys of Matrus to see if they can live under the rule of Matrian society or if they face removal from the country.

Three subgenres that authors of the YA genres can write in are survivor, social order, and quest/adventure texts. Elizabeth Braithwaite’s article “Post-Disaster Fiction for Young Adults: Some Trends and Variations,” discusses the deep dive into post-disaster fiction has been released out into the world and how these types of narratives make an impact on readers. Braithwaite takes into consideration three outcomes of using post-disaster frameworks to create Young Adult Dystopian books. She starts by introducing the ‘disaster plot’ as the set up for something to happen. “It seems almost obvious to worth stating that a disaster provides a perfect narrative opportunity for the murder…even if it’s not the adolescent him-or herself who does the killing” (Braithwaite 6). Indeed, creating a world that has a major crisis occurring before the beginning of a novel, allows for the protagonist and the readers to engage in the plotline right from the start.

Additionally, a discussion on how the constructed social order within the first three books impacts the narrative. Throughout the plot of Gender Game books 1, Violet is constantly at war with herself trying to decide if following Matrian orders is worth losing her freedom as a woman in the Patriarchal society of Patrus. Violet’s told after causing another infraction, at her third detention center, that she can either participate in an honorable mission for her queen and get the chance of seeing her brother again or die for her actions. Braithwaite states “The narrative scenario tends to be that the protagonist is or becomes at odds with the society and must decide whether to succumb to the social order, to leave it, or stay and try to reform it” (Braithwaite 222). Queen Rina and her ambassador Alistair both encourage Violet to take their offer, because at least she will be alive and have the opportunity (more like force) to serve her country even though transferring to a totally different socially ordered community in Patrus would mean giving up her already small set of freedoms. “Besides, however dangerous this mystery mission could turn out to be, anything was better than death… Wasn’t it?” (Gender Game 57). Violet takes the offer to complete the Queen’s mission because she knows it’s the only way to survive on either side of the border. Matrus will sedate her for her crimes if she doesn’t comply, and Patrus will hang her if they find she’s faking her compliance.

The second book, Gender Secret, follows Violet and Viggo, in The Green on their misadventures in trying to survive long enough to find one another, and Violet’s brother. Braithwaite states “The exact nature of the disaster in quest/adventure novels is not always clear, and this, lack of clarity can contribute to the creation of a particular kind of world in the text.” (Braithwaite 15). Since the book is told in two perspectives, readers experience the trauma, heartache, and convictions of Violet and Viggo. Before Viggo finds her, Violet is bitten by a venomous centipede and her mind stops functioning at full capacity. Violet’s foggy mindset causes the lack of clarity from her point of view and creates the unsettling awareness of the Green and what lies up ahead. Violet’s vulnerability begins to show through her thick wall of resilience in the presence of Viggo taking care of her. “For a moment, I wondered if this was how humans sounded to wounded animals, until I remembered, I was a wounded animal” (Gender Secret 140). When Viggo finds Violet, she’s in bad shape from the centipede bite. In an attempt to help Violet, Viggo starts tending to her wounds. This scene proves intimate and it’s not the first time these feeling have crossed between Violet and Viggo. The next major section discusses the romance aspects found in the first three books of the Gender Game series.

Romance/ Friendships

To begin talking about the romance element found in this book series. Romance isn’t the main contender in the plotline, but it does help the story move along as the relationship between Violet and Viggo strengthens and keep one another safe. Similar to how Violet and Viggo fight together to survive, Katniss and Peeta from the Hunger Games do the same. A book chapter by Katherine Broad in Contemporary Dystopian Fiction for Young Adults: Brave New Teenagers analyzes The Hunger Games and the idea of Utopia as romance. Broad starts out with introducing Katniss Everdeen as a new heroine of Young Adult Dystopian books. “Collins flouts literary stereotypes that keep feminine protagonist waiting at home, and proclaims that girls can do anything that boys can do, including strategize, make demands, and even hunt and kill” (Broad 117). Katniss Everdeen was one of the first female characters to break down the barriers of classic women like Jane Austin, or the girl from Sense and Sensibility who acted politely and never talked back.

The boyish personality traits found in Katniss Everdeen’s character are similar Violet’s character who strategizes in her own mind to navigate different situations such as new romance. Broad makes the claim that The Hunger Games is mostly a story about romance with a little death and rebellion all mixed into one Dystopian novel. “The Hunger Games trilogy is, significantly, a love story tracing Katniss’s fluctuating desires for two boys who fight alongside her” (Broad). In the Gender Game book 1, There is a care circle, or in this case, a love triangle that consists of Lee, Violet, and Viggo. The name of this category, the care circle, could reference the love triangles trope.

Next, a description of the care circle, which includes family, friends or friends of friends are the male characters that center themselves around a female protagonist and appear to have personalities that resemble more of a woman than a man’s brawly personality. According to Jessica Seymour’s article, “‘Murder Me…Become a Man’: Establishing the Masculine Care Circle in Young Adult Dystopia,” women have been given stronger portraits and the men have been receiving more caring and nurturing personalities. Several personality traits that these men could have are “compassionate, emotionally intelligent, pacifist, non-heteronormative, and actively opposed to victimizing women and sexist behavior” (Seymour). These qualities are geared more towards women on a broader scale, but sometimes YA Dystopian fiction writers do introduce male characters who have deeper feelings like a woman. In the Gender Game, Viggo is the more soft-hearted between Lee and himself even though he’s described as a fighter with attractive features.

The author might make the intentional move to give Viggo more stereotypical personality traits of women, meaning the soft-gentle type, in order to contrast the serious and demanding attitudes of Lee. According to the article “While many of the male characters in YA dystopia do embody the classic muscular, protective character traits associated with masculinity, there is still a particular emphasis on emotional intelligence and compassion within these narratives” (Seymour). In reference to emotional intelligence, it most likely means that a man who knows his feeling can also interpret a woman’s feelings. The idea of Viggo being more attentive in contradiction to Lee could signify what girls want to a man; they want someone who will listen and treat them as a human being instead of an object.

The final point to make under the category of romance and friendship is that Violet among other YA female characters find it hard to stay quite in the face of outward rebellion with the people around them in order to survive their situations. Jessica Seymour mentions Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games who chose to fight against oppression in the districts to save her people and her sister, Prim. “Katniss maintains that she cannot fight back against the Capitol because she needs to save her energy to care for Prim” (Seymour). In contrast to how Katniss rebels, Violet commits to rebelling in the secrecy of her own thoughts while Katniss is up front. In the same regards, Violet knows that she cannot rebel out in public or even in her own mind if she wants a way to see her brother again. Violet and Katniss both have to restrain themselves from rebelling in order to survive in their situations. Both are fighting to protect younger siblings and loved ones, and not taking a part in the games set by the governments to make their own paths to victory in their own games of power.

What word comes to mind when the word game is spoken? What ideas come to mind when the word gender and game are in the same title? The first three books in the Gender Game series mostly stick to the status quo of binary relationships, but they also break the gender roles between men and women. The books enact this situation, and so do the book covers. The boys and girls who buy what the two different books are selling have different agencies depending on what books they look at. Finally, why is YA so popular and why is the Gender Game books important to analyze? For one, there are no queer characters, which takes away a large group of people from being interested in the book; two, this series is more than just a romance and the use of gender to focus on the binary of gender is important; and, three, it makes you think more about the way gender is being presented in YA Dystopian fiction today. There is still more to discover and analyzed about this book series, but I believe this essay is a start in the right direction to fully understanding gender in the Gender Game series.

Works Cited:

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Braithwaite, Elizabeth. “Post-Disaster Fiction for Young Adults: Some Trends and Variations.” Papers. http://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30030406/braithwaite-postdisaster-2010.pdf.

Brendler, Beth M. “Blurring Gender Lines in Readers’ Advisory for Young Adults.” Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 3. JSTOR. 1 Mar. 2014, pp. 221–224. https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=76768b15-253e-4f2f-8ac5-a7563219dd6e%40sessionmgr4007. Accessed on 21 November 2020.

Berger, John. “Ways of Seeing.” Canvas, 2019. https://canvas.park.edu/courses/49874/files?preview=6454349

Broad, Katherine R. Ch. 7: The Dandelion in the Spring Contemporary Dystopian Fiction for Young Adults Brave New Teenagers. Routledge, 2013, pp. 117–130.

Forrest, Bella. “The Gender Game.” Nightlight Press, 2016.

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Koss, Melanie D., and William H. Teale. “What’s Happening in YA Literature? Trends in Books for Adolescents: This Analysis of Young Adult Literature Reports on Trends Found in the Genres, Descriptive Features, Subject Matters, and Writing Styles of Books That Can Help Teachers Select Reading Material for Their Students.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 52, no. 7. EBSCOhost. Apr. 2009. p.563.

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Miller, Laura, et al. “‘The Hunger Games’ and the Boom in Dystopian Young-Adult Fiction.” The New Yorker. June 2010.

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Rudman, L. A., & Glick, P. “Prescriptive gender stereotypes and backlash toward agentic women.” Journal of Social Issues. pg 57, 743–762. 2001. http://rutgerssocialcognitionlab.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/9/7/13979590/rudmanglick2001jsi.pdf. Accessed on 21 November 2020.

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Seymour, Jessica. “‘Murder Me…Become a Man’: Establishing the Masculine Care Circle in Young Adult Dystopia.” Reading Psychology, vol. 37, no. 4. EBSCOhost. May 2016, pp. 627–649.

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Stephens, J. “Young adult: A Book by Any Other Name: Defining the Genre.” The ALAN Review. pg. 35, 34–42. 2007. https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v35n1/stephens.html

“The Gender Game (The Gender Game, #1) by Bella Forrest.” Goodreads. 24 Sept. 2016.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31131467-the-gender game?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=2GyEATpZXu&rank=1