Tomboy stories have a distinct theme: taming through romance. The romance usually resolves the tension and makes the tomboy story palatable for the general public. But there are a few other important factors that distinguish tomboy stories. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Speculative fiction
Speculative fiction about tomboys often features characters who have to overcome adversity and make their own choices. The tomboy character is as influential as the romantic heroine and the plucky girl. The tomboy character’s literary lineage stretches back to antiquity, when women were warriors. Emma Donoghue argues that classical and early modern literature have reflected the blending of two types of female characters.
A great example of this is the Octavia E. Butler sci-fi novel, The Time Travelers, which centers around a tomboy. Butler’s work combines fantasy elements and dystopia with time travel and vampires. The world-building is incredible, and it makes for some fantastic reading.
Lyra, a twelve-year-old tomboy at Jordan College, Oxford, has a reputation as being mischievous. Her naughty habits have earned her the nickname Silvertongue, which she earns from her older brother, Iorek. Another tomboy in the book is Jean Louise Finch, the daughter of a widowed father named Atticus. She is an expert car thief and enjoys skateboarding.
Urban contemporary fiction
The tomboy character is an archetypal figure with roots in early modern literature. It may have developed into the female gentleman during the nineteenth century, but its influence is still felt today in the form of strong young heroines in fiction for young readers. In fact, Grosz and Probyn (1995) describe the tomboy as a liminal figure, one who reaches a point in life when she is ready to assume her proper female identity.
The popularity of tomboy fiction reached new heights during the second half of the twentieth century, influenced by the second-wave feminism, the lesbian, gay, and transgender movement, and queer theory. In books such as Norma Klein’s Tomboy, Jerry Spinelli’s Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, Cynthia Voight’s Jackaroo, and Pam Munoz Ryan’s Riding Freedom, to name a few, tomboy novels are still popular today.
Tomboy literature addresses the ambivalence of gender roles and shows the unstable nature of gender identities. It challenges the assumption that tomboyism is temporary and that young women are expected to learn how to be women, and they are conditioned to believe that doing so will only make them more masculine. By studying tomboy literature, we can gain a better understanding of tomboy culture and how it impacts young women.
In fiction, tomboys lived a privileged life that enabled them to act as rebels and subversive characters. In reality, though, the world wasn’t as ideal. While women have always had many jobs in history, such as domestic work, retail, and factory work, women have been underrepresented in other professions, and in many cases, were slaves.
A tomboy identity may not be as threatening as it may seem. In fact, it can offer protection. It can also allow a girl to express a variety of identities, including a queer identity. Despite its negative stigma, tomboyism is seen as a sign of self-motivation and independence. However, when it begins to extend beyond childhood, tomboyism may be punished.
Moll Cutpurse
In the early 17th century, a young woman named Mary Frith (also known as Moll Cutpurse) was a notorious tomboy. She was a pickpocket, thief, and fortune-teller who flouted authority. She became the most notorious felon to rob the highways of southern England.
Moll was first introduced in 1618 in the play Amends for Ladies by Nathan Field. In this play, Moll is a notorious figure in the London underworld. Her gender is never explicitly mentioned in the play, but her representation is highly symbolic of the subversive nature of female behavior.
Moll’s story was an important milestone in the history of the tomboy genre. Her story was popular throughout the world. Moll’s name is derived from the fact that she was a woman with a sex life who lived in a city where women were forbidden to marry men. This fact gave her a distinctive identity and made her a cherished figure in popular culture.
While fictional tomboys are generally portrayed as having a privileged life with plenty of opportunities, their lives were much different than those of real life. While women have always worked in a wide range of jobs, including domestic service, factory work, hospitality, and retail, they were not often portrayed in other professions. In fact, many women were forced to work in such jobs, including being enslaved.
Early fictional tomboys suffered terribly. Authors of tomboy stories may have thought of punishing young women for their unconventional behavior. In Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians (1873), Judy Woolcot was killed off. This story left a scar on generations of readers. Katy, on the other hand, was injured and kept in bed until her phase passed.
