This essay examines gender norms and how gender is understood in Deborah Feldman’s novel Unorthodox released 2012. Any connections made by the author between gender and religion are explored and Feldman’s exiting process from the Hasidic community is analyzed. This is done using a close reading and a qualitative content analysis of the novel. West and Zimmerman’s theory Doing gender has been used to provide an understanding of gender and to analyze the results of the content analysis. The results show that the predominant gender norms for men portrayed in this novel were that men have a superior position and are expected to exercise their power over women. They are also expected to be intellectual scholars of Jewish scripture and law. The predominant gender norms for women were that they should be modest, quiet, unassuming and are expected to obey and serve their men. Feldman’s exiting process happens in stages, where she questioned her Hasidic community more over time, and broke more rules as time went on. Her faith in god was effected in this process. It becomes clear that the norms and rules she is expected to follow are products of people’s interpretations of religion and not a result of the religion itself.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-477290 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Viberg, Maja |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Religionssociologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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