To be a woman in Katsa's time and place means to grow up, find a husband, and have children. It means cooking and cleaning and entertaining your husband's guests, and it also means embroidering, crocheting, and darning socks. None of these things interest Katsa in Graceling. At all. Which puts her at odds with traditional feminine roles before we even get to the part about her basically being a super-skilled, super-strong assassin/enforcer/thug.
But even though she doesn't conform to other people's ideas of femininity, she's still a woman, right? And if she's a woman, she must be feminine—or do those two things not necessarily have to go hand in hand?
Questions About Women and Femininity
- Think of the female characters in the book (Katsa, Bitterblue, Captain Faun, Helda, Po's mother). If you had to rank them from most feminine to least feminine, how would you do it? What qualities would you use to determine where each of them belongs in the rankings?
- What is it, beyond anatomy, that makes a woman feminine?
- Do any of the male characters in the book possess feminine qualities? Explain.
- Can men be feminine? Why or why not?
- Is it possible for a woman to have no feminine qualities whatsoever? Elaborate.
Chew on This
Now that Katsa has met someone she loves and trusts, it is likely that she will one day decide that she wants to have a child with Po.
Considering the qualities traditionally considered to be feminine, in many ways Po is a much more feminine character than Katsa.