Time for a hug |
by Phillis Gershator and Mim Green |
Characters:
Message/Theme: It is important to show your love for someone as often as you can.
Gender Roles Reviewed:
The gender of each character is never clearly stated but most would assume that the older rabbit wearing pink is the mother and that the younger rabbit wearing blue is her son. Subconsciously we assume their gender based off of the colors they are wearing, pink is for girls and blue is for boys. We would also assume based on traditional gender roles that the parent rabbit is the mother because she is presumably the primary parent taking care of the child rabbit, staying home all day with her son while the father rabbit is at work. She also bakes a pie with her child in the story which is also associated with traditional female roles of baking and working in the kitchen for her family. Although it's not clear, it could very well be a father rabbit caring for his daughter rabbit all day, but I think it's safe to say that the general U.S. population will make the assumption that it is a mother and her son. It would depend on how the child's parent makes out the gender of the two characters when reading aloud to determine whether or not this story is traditional, egalitarian, or transitional. I would conclude that the story is transitional; gender is never specified so the reader of the story could label the characters' gender anything they choose symbolizing that gender makes no difference to the message of the story but the author/illustrator is still using specific attire and activities that would create assumptions about their gender based on society's mostly traditional views.
- Parent Rabbit (mother?)
- Child Rabbit (son?)
Message/Theme: It is important to show your love for someone as often as you can.
Gender Roles Reviewed:
The gender of each character is never clearly stated but most would assume that the older rabbit wearing pink is the mother and that the younger rabbit wearing blue is her son. Subconsciously we assume their gender based off of the colors they are wearing, pink is for girls and blue is for boys. We would also assume based on traditional gender roles that the parent rabbit is the mother because she is presumably the primary parent taking care of the child rabbit, staying home all day with her son while the father rabbit is at work. She also bakes a pie with her child in the story which is also associated with traditional female roles of baking and working in the kitchen for her family. Although it's not clear, it could very well be a father rabbit caring for his daughter rabbit all day, but I think it's safe to say that the general U.S. population will make the assumption that it is a mother and her son. It would depend on how the child's parent makes out the gender of the two characters when reading aloud to determine whether or not this story is traditional, egalitarian, or transitional. I would conclude that the story is transitional; gender is never specified so the reader of the story could label the characters' gender anything they choose symbolizing that gender makes no difference to the message of the story but the author/illustrator is still using specific attire and activities that would create assumptions about their gender based on society's mostly traditional views.