Lockrem 1

Kaylan Lockrem

Lisa Orta

ENGL 123 - 5008

10 March 2019

The Power of the Female Voice

According to ​ThoughtCo.’​ s article “Feminist Literary Criticism” by Linda Napikoski, it is

important to take the time to read literature through the lens of the feminist criticism. One of the

tools used to analyze literature in this way is to focus on reclaiming the “female voice” within

the text whether it is initially ignored or simply deemed as unimportant. In Adrian Tomine’s

graphic novel ​Shortcomings​, this tool becomes extremely useful in analyzing the development of

specific characters, both static and dynamic, stepping back from a scene and recognizing both a

male and female perspective in a novel written by a male. Set on the UC Berkeley campus and

the surrounding towns, Tomine lines the novel’s characters up for growth and development as

they live in a town of protest and radical thinkers who would challenge them to look at things

differently. Ben, the main male character of the novel is challenged by the power of the female

voice multiple times throughout the novel, challenging him and his closed-minded thoughts and

assumptions about females which affects his ability to form and maintain an authentic romantic

relationship. With these female voices, Tomine’s novel written from a male’s perspective, can be

analyzed deeper through the lens of a female ensuring that the female voice is not completely

lost.

In the first chapter of the novel, we are introduced to both Ben and Miko. Ben and Miko

are dating and Tomine takes us on a journey as he unravels their relationship and the roles in
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which they fall as part of their relationship. Although Miko is represented as having her own

interests, such as film production and art, her strong female voice is hard to find as she is

depicted as more passive and weak in her interactions with Ben. To further this weak female

voice, Ben refers to Miko as having a clouded judgement, one that he would never want to steep

down to the level of, and he seems disinterested in anything that she is saying, constantly

responding to stories that she finds important and exciting with few worded answers such as

“Wow” and “Uh-huh” (Tomine 18/1-2). Whether purposeful or not, Tomine establishes the

female voice as very weak and passive within the first chapter of his novel. Through the use of

graphics, Tomine hammers this weakness home, showing Miko as defeated through her facial

expressions and passive through her actions such as walking away from Ben with shoulders

slumped after he has made an aggressive comment. This narrow perspective, being only that of a

male, does not allow for full analysis of each situation between the male and female characters

within the novel and does not push for any individual growth and development as both are set up

to be comfortable in their assigned roles and positions in society.

The power of the female voice begins to emerge within the second chapter when Ben

meets a young lady named Sasha. While hanging out for the first time, Sasha and Ben immersed

themselves in the usual get-to-know-you conversation topics, one of those being about Ben’s

girlfriend. When asked about her and what she looks like, Ben refers to his Asian girl stereotype

claiming, “... she’s Japanese, so you know…” and Sasha immediately responds with “What does

​ ean? That they all look alike?” (Tomine 59/6-7). Here is one of the first places in the novel
that m

where Ben’s stereotypical views on women, Asian women specifically, is challenged by a

female. After being questioned, Ben tries to change the subject as he has become uncomfortable,
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being exposed for his closed-mindedness when it came to describing the person that he was

supposed to know and care so much about - Miko. Tomine enhances this discomfort with some

of the panels that he uses, focusing on Ben’s face which is represented with wide eyes and a

worrisome look. Here is the place in which I see Tomine representing the power of the female

voice for the first time within his novel. This is the beginning of further growth and development

of the main character, Ben, as he will be challenged by more strong female voices when he was

not before. This allows him to realize the role that he plays in keeping himself from ever finding

an authentic relationship if he continues to rely on his assumptions and stereotypes of women.

One of the strongest female voices within the novel comes to the foreground within the

third chapter. After stalking Miko in New York and finding out that she is seeing a white man,

Ben is distraught and goes to the bar with his friend Alice and her girlfriend, Meredith. Although

Meredith, herself, does not seem to develop much as a character, she is the female voice that

affects Ben’s development as a character the most. Upon learning this unfortunate news, Ben,

again, delves back into his assumptions and stereotypes, claiming that seeing an Asian woman

with a white man has certain “connotations” (Tomine 91/7) and that the white man is

automatically “creepy… a big white guy who is horny for little, skinny asian girls” (Tomine

92/4). Meredith rebuts and asks him if there is a “flip-side to [his] line of thinking,” forcing him

to think outside of “generalizations based on [his] wounded ego” (Tomine 93/1). This is the

scene in which Ben’s character and way of thinking are challenged the most and it is with a

strong female voice! He is pushed into a corner that he cannot get out of unless he opens his

mind to thinking from a different perspective, taking into account the feelings and views of his
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female counterparts. Ben seems to somewhat realize that if he would take the time to do that, he

may actually find himself in a real, meaningful relationship.

When using ​ThoughtCo​’s tool, focusing on reclaiming the “female voice,” while reading

Tomine’s novel, it is apparent to me that the strength of the representation of the female voice

plays a big role in the development of many characters. Although first depicted as weak and

unimportant, the female voice emerges more each chapter and proves to be strong and very

important. After reading the first chapter and half of this story, I did not expect for a woman to

claim such a major part of the development for both the characters and the story as a whole.

Although the women themselves did not develop, their strong voices were necessary for the

development of the main male character, Ben. In a novel that was written by a man, it is

important to take into consideration the power of the female perspective and voice as it could

play a part in the development of the story as a whole and the characters within it, as it did in

Shortcomings​ by Adrian Tomine.

Works Cited

Tomine, Adrian. ​Shortcomings.​ Drawn & Quarterly, 2007.

Napikoski, Linda. “What Is Feminist Literary Criticism?” ​Thoughtco.​, Dotdash, 30 Jan. 2019,

www.thoughtco.com/feminist-literary-criticism-3528960.