How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She wore a man's long ulster (not as if it were an affliction, but as if it were very comfortable and belonged to her; carried it like a young soldier), and a round plush cap, tied down with a thick veil. (1.1.3)
Here's one of the first physical descriptions we get of Alexandra. The narrator goes out of his or her way to point out how comfortably Alexandra wears a man's coat, looking "like a young soldier." Well, turns out that's just the beginning of Alexandra's gender bending.
Quote #2
She stabbed him with a glance of Amazonian fierceness and drew in her lower lip—most unnecessary severity. It gave the little clothing drummer such a start that he actually let his cigar fall to the sidewalk and went off weakly in the teeth of the wind to the saloon. His hand was still unsteady when he took his glass from the bartender. His feeble flirtatious instincts had been crushed before; but never so mercilessly. He felt cheap and ill-used, as if some one had taken advantage of him. (1.1.7)
When this middle-aged guy tries to make an innocent pass on Alexandra, she more than shoots him down. She "stabs" him with her "glance of Amazonian fierceness." Yowza. The tables of gender are turned, and in this case, it's the older man who ends up feeling like he's been violated.
Quote #3
He was a thin, frail boy, with brooding dark eyes, very quiet in all his movements. There was a delicate pallor in his thin face, and his mouth was too sensitive for a boy's. The lips had already a little curl of bitterness and skepticism. (1.1.12)
Let's face it: Carl is not your stereotypical frontier Man. He is "frail," "brooding," "delicate, and his mouth is "too sensitive for a boy's." Like Alexandra, the narrator portrays his gender as seriously bent. A match made in heaven?