“Eat up, Gemma”, more than a story for children

By Natalia Diquech

When thinking about children’s literature we have to bear in mind two important features. First, children’s literature has to be didactic. Second, it has to be fun for children. “Eat up, Gemma” encompasses this two basic issues concerning literature for children. On the one hand, the book deals with feeding issues. On the other hand, the story is entertaining and calls children’s attention. “Eat up, Gemma”, which is retold from the point of view of Gemma’s brother, deals with a color family’s attempt to make their baby daughter Gemma eat. The interested turning of the screw is that the one who accomplished that task is her eldest brother. The book, written by Sarah Hayes and published in 1989, is perfect to be read to children between the ages of 3-8 because its didactic value

However, we need to be aware that “all writing is ideological since all writing assumes values even when not overtly espousing them” (Volosinov, 1929/1986). Even though the book works perfectly for children, when “Eat up, Gemma” is analyzed from an adult point of view an important matter arises. The story, from my point of view, may have stereotyped gender roles.

Concerning women’s roles, there are two characters that we can analyze. One character is Gemma’s mother. She is represented in the story as the typical housewife who takes care of the children and who does the domestic chores. 

In addition, she is the first person who asks Gemma to eat, without succeeding of course. She is not only in charge of feeding her daughter, but also she is in charge of going to the market. In the story, she is seen with her two children buying some fruit.

Another woman character is Gemma’s grandmother. As well as Gemma’s mother, grandma is placed in the role of the woman who prepares the meal and tries to satisfy the male’s taste. “Nice and Spicy,” dad said, “just how I like it.” This was said by Gemma’s father when the family was eating what grandma had prepared for dinner. Taking into account that she is a woman, grandma is the second person in the story who asks Gemma to eat.  This shows us how deeply engage is the idea that women should take care of children.

Finally, in the story Gemma eats thanks to her clever brother’s idea, which consisted in turning a bowl over and arrange fruit round it, but guess who is the person that cleans the mess Gemma has done, If you are thinking about Gemma’s grandmother, you are right.

Evidently, all the things stated above follow the idea that “wifehood and motherhood are regarded as women's most significant professions” [1].  

If we talk about stereotyped gender roles, we need to analyze, if possible, male roles too.  In the book, the father, a working class man, has a dominant position. He is the head of the household and the wage- earner. Gemma’s father works outside the house and provides the money. Apparently, the only moments he spends with his children are on Saturdays when he takes them to the park, when the whole family goes to church or when they go to a friend’s party. This shows us the traditional male’s view in which the father is the income earner and he is not taken as an integral part of children growing process [2].

Although the book is didactic and entertaining for children, we need to bear in mind that “Eat up, Gemma” puts into focus the author’s ideology concerning genre roles which cannot be seen unless the book is analyzed by an adult.

    

[1] Women's History in America, presented by Women's International Center. http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm

[2] Enhancing men’s roles and responsibilities in family life. 

http://cl-t077-040cl.privatedns.com/intercenter/role4men/enhancin.htm