Gender Roles In J. M. Barrie's The Separate Sphere

Gender roles are a set of societal standards that mandate which types of behaviors are considered appropriate, desirable, and acceptable for a person based upon the sex that they are born into. During the Victorian era, men and women were subjected to an ideology which defined masculinity and femininity. The Separate Sphere ideology was embraced and not questioned because society gradually led people to believe they knew what was right and what was wrong. Although the concept of gender separation has been around for centuries, it clearly emerged during the Industrial Revolution when women began to their voice. J.M. Barrie does a notable job at incorporating Victorian era gender roles into his novel, Peter Pan, through his male and female characters.
The Separate Spheres ideology placed women in a domestic sphere and men in a public sphere. According the the Separate Sphere philosophy, females must be a true woman. A “true woman” is one who possessed all four of the following virtues which made up the domestic sphere: “piety, purity, submissiveness, and
Darling perfectly fits the “true woman” mold as she is nurturing, displays weakness, and cleans. During the opening scenes of the book, Mrs. Darling watches her children, through the doorway of their rooms, fall asleep. Once she knows they have completely fallen asleep, she “rummages [through] their minds [to] put things straight for the next morning” (Barrie 6). The metaphor of Mrs. Darling tidying up her children’s minds represents how she delicately shapes them into well-behaved children and teaches them morals. When Mrs. Darling sees her children flying away with Peter Pan, she becomes melancholy and does nothing but worry and wait for her children’s return. Mrs. Darling seems to be in physical pain as she “moves [her hand] restlessly on her breast as if she had a pain there” (Barrie 142). Because Mrs. Darling cares deeply for her children, she believes she is suffering from physical