Monday, March 4, 2013

Gender in the Klondike Peaks interest in Dunkirk


All we needed to do was mention the name "Mercedes" and we had the primarily female audience in Dunkirk up in arms. Our Big Read leaders had no intention of discussing gender roles in Jack London's The Call of the Wild, but the women of Dunkirk had other ideas. Our discussion began with a statistic: 8% of all prospectors in the Yukon were women. The community members immediately wanted to discuss what that experience would have been like, taking into account the harsh conditions of that lifestyle and the limited experience with independence that women of this time period were familiar with.

The Buster Brown Bean Company was hospitable enough to open its doors to the Big Read at 12pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013. Thirteen students and community members met over coffee to discuss the trending issues present in London's The Call of the Wild. The Big Read, sponsored by SUNY Fredonia, is meant to "inspire people across the country to pick up a good book." This event, particularly the selection of London's The Call of the Wild was meant to draw in the most at-risk literacy demographic: 13-18 year old males. Little did we know, The Call of the Wild attracted an audience within a range of demographics and with a wide range of experiences.

Our discussion began with a visual representation of the dogs from The Call of the Wild and quickly moved to a hot debate as to whether or not Buck had realistic traits for a dog. Some participants maintained that a dog would not be as invested in achieving Alpha status as Buck was. Others asserted that Buck was completely believable as a struggling leader. Everyone agreed that there were traits in this dog that were not only empathy-inspiring, but transcendent of species. We briefly touched on London's biography and the phenomenon of the Gold Rush which led us to our discussion of gender roles in London's novel and the world at the time of publication. The students in attendance provided some academic context, bringing in comparable gender questions from other literary works, which drew in questions about the nature of the Big Read. Three of the community members in attendance were concerned with how The Call of the Wild was chosen, and expressed interest in next year's more female-oriented collection of Emily Dickinson poems. Most participants decided that London's dismissal of female characters and his tendency to get rid of even the female dog team members had more to do with the reality of gender differences in the Yukon at the time of the Gold Rush than it did with any inherent sexism.

Our thanks go out once again to everyone who made the Big Read possible, to the participants from the community, and to the Buster Brown Bean Company for hosting this event!





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