Characterisation

Characterisation and descriptive language has been used to represent the female identity. Jessica is represented as a tomboy through her personality and physical description. She is described as a girl with “short fair hair, narrow hips and flat chest… could pass for a small lad if it weren’t for her pinny (p.6)”, “the ugly duckling who must try to look as if she doesn’t care. Her flannel shirt, moleskins and scuffed and broken books and the symbols of her defiance (p.71)”, and “chopped hair and body flat as a plank… not a beauty like her sister… (p.82). Her appearance does not conform to that of a typical female. She herself didn’t make an effort to try and fit in with the rest of the women but continued to help Joe on the farm and at the shearing shed to help earn a living despite knowing that “she won’t get the same wages as a tar boy. (p.30)” and that “being a tar boy is a shit job… (p.37)".

[Above: a pair of moleskins and a 'pinny', short for 'pinafore' -- a type of apron typically worn by women in the early 1900s]

Jessica is regarded as a lesser being in her family. Hester has her hopes for a rich suitor to marry Meg more than Jessica by far; “What she wants is a way out of poverty and being ordinary, and a good marriage for Meg would do the trick (p.11)”. Meg is almost the complete opposite of her younger sister. She is what is described to be the perfect housewife with “all the domestic qualifications needed for a good home-maker. (p.88)”.

Hester blatantly favours her eldest daughter by constantly putting Jessica down for not being the feminine figure she had wanted. She believes that Jessica puts the family to shame; “Hester will not allow her to go to church on horseback as she thinks it’s unladylike and reflects badly on the family. (p.91)”. We can infer that the community in which Jessica lives in also treats her with less importance. As she helps Billy get to the courthouse she fears that the community will think of her as a freak for helping a murderer rather than giving her credit for wanting to go through with the punishment lawfully; “… ya can’t trust a woman what dresses like a man, can ya? Dirty little bugger! (p.148)”. The Thomas women “remarked constantly on her looks… wondered aloud how a woman could sink so low that she’d dress like a man… (p.51)”, also take Jessica’s difference as a negative.

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