An Exploration of How Female Characters are Portrayed in Levelled Texts

Abstract

This documentary analysis examines how female characters are portrayed in levelled texts. Using the principals of both grounded theory and discourse analysis the texts of a sample of ten books from the PM series used in schools for 3rd class were examined. Stereotypical portrayals of female characters were depicted as acceptable ways of creating female characters, and in most cases female characters who broke against the mould of what women should be were depicted as archetypal villains for going against the tide. The texts for the most part reflected the ‘normal’ life in western societies, however, they were not inclusive and representative of all females.