Interview mit Kerstin Grosch und Holger A. Rau über Gender Differences in Leader's compliant Behaviour. / Interview with Kerstin Grosch and Holger A. Rau concerning Gender Differences in Leader's compliant Behaviour.

This essay will examine the youth novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. The aim of this essay is to find tendencies of how the novel favours non-stereotypical male behaviour and characteristics. Using gender criticism, the novel and its most central male characters are analysed to highlight their gender characteristics. Symbols and metaphors constitute a part of the analysis for a more comprehensive examination. The results of this essay show that the male characters are divided into two factions, the good side and the evil side. It is evident that the male characters on the evil side are characterised by stereotypical male gender behaviour and the male characters on the good side tend to show a lack of stereotypical masculine traits. The Fantasy genre, which dictates a strong good versus evil storyline, extends this polarisation. The stereotypical male gender roles are therefore opposed and non-stereotypical male behaviour is promoted in the narration by favouring male vulnerability and ridiculing stereotypical masculine traits.

The aim with this study is to analyse stereotypical behaviour and attributes of characters in three fictional books. A question following the analysis is how this fictional literature can be used in education to create understanding of gender, gender categorization and stereotypical features of boys and girls. The three books I have chosen to analyse are Rekryten written by Robert Muchamore, Habib – meningen med livet written by Douglas Foley and Bröder emellan written by Tomas Dömstedt. The three books will be analysed separately and is based on the method critic discourse analysis where focus will be mainly on the protagonists of the books. My analysis of the three books indicates that all of them include gender stereotypes and typical gender behaviour. Reading these books without the opportunity to reflect on and discuss these types of questions, could probably contribute to and maintain gender stereotypes, typical gender behaviour and attributes, masculinities and femininity. The protagonists that this analysis focuses on are however, compared to other characters and discourses in the books, able to prevent traditional gender patterns. To analyse characters in books gives us a picture of our society´s social system and how we can contribute to a positive change and necessary improvements through conversations and discussions about these discourses. / Syftet med mitt examensarbete är att analysera vilka stereotypa drag av beteenden och egenskaper hos karaktärer som kan urskiljas i tre skönlitterära verk. En följdfråga är sedan, utifrån litteraturanalysen, hur skönlitteraturen kan användas i undervisningen för att skapa förståelse för genus, könskategorisering och stereotypa drag hos flickor och pojkar. De tre böckerna, Rekryten av Robert Muchamore, Habib – meningen med livet av Douglas Foley samt Bröder emellan av Tomas Dömstedt kommer att analyseras separat och grundar sig i metoden kritisk diskursanalys där fokus främst kommer att ligga på protagonisterna i böckerna. Min analys av de tre böckerna tyder på att alla innehåller stereotypa drag, och som vid läsning enbart för nöjets skull, utan vidare reflektion, troligtvis kan bidra till att könsstereotypa beteenden, egenskaper, maskuliniteter och feminiteter upprätthålls. Protagonisterna visar dock varierande egenskaper och beteenden som motverkar traditionella könsmönster. Att analysera karaktärer i böckerna ger oss en bild av hur samhällets sociala system kan se ut, och hur vi kan bidra till en positiv förbättring om vi tar oss tid att samtala om och diskutera dessa diskurser.