Gender in Hawthorne's Blithedale RomanceThe Blithedale Romance, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the story of a twisted utopia. This perfect world is twisted in that gender roles have a traditional utopian representation, but with a more contemporary outlook. Of course, this is interesting because this book was written and published in the 19th century, a time when such ideas were beginning to establish a form for the genre of writing. Hawthorne combines fantasy, philosophy, mystery, gothic, and even [what today would be called] science fiction. This novel illustrates the early break with even new ideas. The writing style allows for “gendering and degendering” affect as well as the nature of the self. In most utopias, gender becomes androgynous to the extent that the sexes are neither feminine nor masculine. Tasks and habits are generally equal for both sexes and both can love freely. However, only half of these traditions apply to this particular novel. Hawthorne's characters can love whoever they want, but are still subject to the constraints of traditional roles. Although they try to pretend that this will only be a temporary necessity for their community ("I fear that we will have some difficulty in adopting the paradise system, for at least a month to come" (17)), the change does not never seems to happen in the meantime. the community. Women, even if they tend to migrate to the fields, still tend to do domestic work such as knitting and cooking. Throughout the novel, women hold positions within the household. Another aspect of gender in this novel is the physical, mental, emotional and moral representation by which the two sexes are distinguished. Interestingly, Hawthorne never directly specified...... middle of paper...... characteristics of the other characters. Most women's writing, especially that of the 19th century, tended to focus more on feelings. Female writers were more concerned with abstract ideas that were not completely visible or obvious. Men, while still giving the same impact to the writing, tended to try to make a concrete point using concrete evidence. Blithedale's romance, as a whole, featured a variety of styles and genres of writing while addressing two of the main ideas of literature, both in the 19th century and still today. The genre may have been manipulated, but it nevertheless maintains some ideas of utopia. The nature may have been discussed, but it was ambiguous. The entire style may have been traditional for Hawthorne's gender, but it retained enough variation to allow the reader to be guided by their own interpretations..