+

She’s Not There

A LIFE IN TWO GENDERS

Jennifer Finney BoylanBy: Alyson Benitez and Jennifer Streeter

+What image of self does our

author portray?

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+Summary

This memoir chronicles and relates memories relevant to the abandonment and development of personal identity from her earliest memories of identifying with the opposite gender to her gender reassignment surgery.

+Image to Self

Page 23 –”On the big walk, I was going to try to solve whatever was wrong with me. …”

– “Maybe you can be cured by love.”

Page 130 - “I felt that what I had always hoped for was true, that I’d been cured by love.”

Page 276 – “Is it possible for things to just vanish inside us? That hadn't been my experience.”

+Image to self through music

Page 44 – I sang “Look around you. All you see/ Are sympathetic eyes. / Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home….”

Page 114

Page 115- “I Wanna Be Like You” from Jungle Book.

Page 231- “ I’m Gonna Wash The Man Right Out of My Hair.”

+Jennifer Finney Boylan

Born James Finney Boylan (1958) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Produced the first best selling work as a transgendered American.

She graduated from Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut) in 1980.

Since 1988, Jenny Boylan has been a professor of creative writing and American literature at Colby College, in Waterville, Maine (voted professor of the year).

+Literary Elements

+Frameworks

Formalist:

Language, scene, sensory, musing, plot, character, setting, point of view, tone, etc.

Readers Response:

Creates personal meaning, involve yourself during interpretation, make personal connection.

Feminist:

Concerned with gender role, women status, double standards relating to gender, stereotypes.

+Things to Consider

Targeted Audience Stated in back of book

Morals and Beliefs of Author Each reader could interpret this differently

Topics and Themes Gender, Family, Sexuality, Love, Life, Finding One’s Place in Society, identity, death/ rebirth,

Time Era and Location 1974-2002

Societies Views on Topic How we as readers view this topic and how characters presented in the book view this topic

+Comparison to Karr

+Recommendations

Truthful to actual events

Addresses relatable issues or dilemmas

Explores a BIG question of memoir as defined by Barrington

Unique language & style

Influences techniques of writing distinctive memoirs

+Erica’s Approach to Reading

Formalist Framework Perplex characters Jim/Jennifer, Grace, Russo, Luke, Patrick Style of writing within the book The way the reader is guided through the book Book

broken up into pieces, flashbacks from past to future, Title of sections…

Reader’s Response Perspective Personal thoughts on gender role Personal thoughts on life and love

Feminist Framework Looking at a women’s life from a mans perspective Stereotypes presented within the book

+Alyson’s response to Reading

Relationships

Perspective Personal thoughts on gender role Personal thoughts on life and love

+Work Cited

Biography of Jennifer Finney Boylan for Appearances, Speaking Engagements, Endorsements Talent Agent." All-American Speakers Bureau Keynote Motivational Sports Speakers. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Jennifer-Finney-Boylan>.