How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"[…] March now… and don't come back till you put on some decent female clothes." (1.1.97)
Idabel persists in her gender-defying wardrobe choices, even though it has some real, serious consequences for her. Miss Roberta refuses to serve her until she puts on a skirt. By shunning Idabel the community hopes to show that gender bending is not okay.
Quote #5
"I'm Miss Florabel Thompkins," she announced, after she'd hopped agilely up beside him, and pulled her dress-hem below her knees. (1.1.117)
Idabel's twin sister, Florabel, is the other side of the gender-norm coin. Her mannerisms (hopping agilely, pulling her dress down) show that Idabel isn't the only one "acting" like a certain gender. Everyone learns how to perform or express themselves according to what society expects.
Quote #6
Anyway, her sister was a tomboy, and he'd had a special hatred of tomboys ever since the days of Eileen Otis. This Eileen Otis was a beefy little roughneck who had lived on the same block in New Orleans, and she used to have a habit of waylaying him, stripping off his pants, and tossing them high into a tree. (1.1.122)
Joel's assessment of Idabel is that she's a "tomboy," a girl who acts like a boy. And for him, a tomboy is an awful thing. But what's interesting is that Eileen Otis, the mean girl from his past, is called a tomboy. If she had been a boy, though, we suspect she just would have been called a bully, not the gender-specific term.