Exam (elaborations)
A-level Language and Gender - Twilight Exemplar Essay
- Module
- Language and Gender
- Institution
- AQA
An essay about the different way men and women speak in Mayer's novel Twilight.
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Explore how Edward and Bella are presented in the extract from ‘Twilight’. How dothey support the dominance and deficit theory?
Text H is a conversation taken from ‘Twilight’, which portrays Edward, the male, and Bella,
the female, upholding stereotypical gender conventions specific to their genderlects. The
exchange between the two individuals is essential when illuminating stereotypical
conventions of gendered language as it successfully captures a mixed-sex conversation,
revealing the male and female upholding their hegemonic roles. Edward is depicted as a
powerful figure who dominates the exchange between the two; having a greater mean length
utterance, subordinating Bella and controlling her through his exploitation of imperatives. On
the other hand, Bella, the female in the extract, is presented as a stark contrast to Edward as
she is characterised by her weakness and vulnerability, exposing her passivity of character.
It appears that Bella almost relies on the control and influence of Edward, reinforcing her
lack of control. Therefore, text H is integral as it represents the dominance of the male,
subordinating the female counterpart and the deficiency of Bella’s lexicon which presents her
as inferior.
On one hand, Edward seems to exemplify many tropes of dominance coined by Dale
Spender and Pamela Fishman. In particular, O’Barr and Atkins in their novel ‘Powerless
Language’ in 2008, which argued that women’s powerless language was situation-specific
which we can see through the extract as a result of his subordinating language. In particular,
his actions, when he is described as ‘pulling the door open for me’. The use of the dynamic
verb ‘pulling’ coupled with the conjunction ‘for’ illustrates the weakness of Bella juxtaposed
against the sheer strength of Edward as the action of ‘pulling the door’ seems to
stereotypically be associated with male dominance and could also suggest that he is
demeaning her. This idea can be further reinforced when Bella elucidates that Edward was
‘really giving me a choice’. Here, the use of the adverb ‘really’ conjures the repressed
position of Bella and highlights that Edward is the force of control. In addition, the use of the
verb ‘giving’ seems to also allude to the power and authority of Edward and asserts his
control over Bella, reinforcing the male as a hero syndrome, showing Edward to be nothing
but a paradigm of heroic masculinity.
However, in keeping with deficit theory, Meyer’s construction of Bella reinforces the gender
stereotypes of men and women within the extract, illustrating that female language is
deficient. Bella is characterised by her emotions and vulnerable position as a woman: a key
idea proposed by Otto Jesperson. Initially, the reference to her ‘heart’ which ‘thudded,
stuttered’ exposes the weakness of Bella and her emotional state of mind. The use of the
two dynamic verbs which are almost onomatopoeic in quick succession, ‘thudded’ and
‘stuttered’ almost personifies Bella’s heart and shows the sheer impact of her emotions upon
her, which supports Lakoff’s theory of women being emotional. Moreover, it is this emotional
state and reaction to Edward which characterises her as the weaker and subordinate sex
within the extract, reinforcing the deficiency of women’s lexicon. Furthermore, like Lakoff
argued, women use polite forms showing their linguistic deficiency, which is perpetuated
when Bella mentions, ‘I’m not quite that delicate’. In particular, the use of the adverb ‘quite’
adds a degree of hesitancy and certainty to Bella’s remark, perhaps conveying her inferior
status and passive nature. Bella’s hedging is directly juxtaposed against Edward’s
interrogative ‘Aren't you?’. The fact that Edward follows Bella’s declarative with an
interrogative asserts his power and portrays him as the force of control throughout the
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