We've got one guy and one girl telling us this story, so you can bet that the topic of gender comes up a lot. In fact, gender comes up a bunch for our minor characters too. In Flipped, it seems everyone is trying to figure out what it means to be the perfect woman or the perfect man. Is it about looks? Personality? Doing well in school or at work?
For some characters, like Mr. Baker, being the perfect man is a tall order, something he's not sure he can live up to it. For Shelly Stalls, being a perfect woman means being delicate—and you know Juli isn't going to like that one bit. In other words, this book doesn't give us many easy answers about gender—but it does have our characters asking some seriously difficult questions.
Questions About Gender
- What qualities define being a girl in Flipped? What about boys?
- How does the novel say ladies and gents are different? And how are they the same? Are boys and girls more similar or different in the book?
- Does the novel hint that gender is defined by biology or society? How so?
- What assumptions do the characters make based on gender? Are there any characters that avoid making assumptions or believing stereotypes altogether?
Chew on This
According to Flipped, it's a good thing to be a strong woman who speaks her mind—and it's a bad thing for a woman to be weak.
According to Flipped, there are no major differences between the two genders.