The Development of Katy's Femininity in Susan Coolidge's What Katy Did

Abstract

Femininity is a trait that attaches to those who are born female. This idea is constructed by society and spread from generation to generation. The social construction of femininity is experienced by the main character of What Katy Did novel. She experiences the development of her femininity caused by the social gender construction around her. Society taught her to become more feminine and she learned that through the female characters around her. Her development started after the accident that made her disabled for a while. Her disability becomes the trigger of her femininity development. This study provides a portrayal of society's gender construction for American girls living in the Victorian era. This study is significant because it shows the criteria of a good girl according to the ideal Victorian construction of females in America. This research focuses on analyzing the development of the main character’s femininity influenced by the society in Susan Coolidge’s What Katy Did. With the method of qualitative research, this research aims to reveal the development of Katy’s femininity influenced by society using Stuart Hall’s theory of representation with the approach of discursive approach by Michael Foucault. This research also aims to reveal the ideological position of the Author which is Susan Coolidge toward the issue of femininity and disability. This research found that Katy developed her femininity through the influence of her society which includes the ideal Victorian female construction and a character who has the same condition as Katy. Femininity traits of Katy slowly develop to fit into society's construction. Katy becomes a well-dressed and wellbehaved girl which is different from her character at the beginning of the story. She started to become an angel in the house and become a good girl according to the construction of Victorian culture. Society constructs gender and that construction molded children to behave and dress according to their gender. Katy learned about gender from the female characters around her and also from a character who has a similarity to her. Coolidge tries to show people the Victorian female construction and how it influenced the gender idea of children.