Gender Roles in Behind a Mask by Louisa May Alcott Most people think of “traditional” gender roles as those portrayed in television sitcoms of the mid-1900s : the father goes to work every morning and the mother stays at home all day preparing dinner and cleaning the house. Gender roles are a set of social and behavioral norms generally considered appropriate for both a man and a woman in a social relationship. By 2050, women will make up 47% of the workforce in the United States, up from 30% in 1950. Through the use of allusion, satire, connotation, and the central metaphor of performance, Louisa May Alcott is able to reinforce the his message on nineteenth-century gender roles in the story Behind a Mask. The archetypal traits and behaviors of the Femme Fatale allow Louisa May Alcott to demonstrate nineteenth-century gender roles, courtship, marriage, and social rank. The archetypal traits demonstrated in this tale consist of mysterious and seductive, misleading, needing rescue, and heartbreaking. Through the use of satire, Louisa May Alcott transforms the character Jean Muir into a Femme Fatale. In doing so, Alcott hopes to shed light on the fact that for centuries women have been criticized, controlled and exploited by men. Women must demonstrate that they are suitable to carry out tasks that a man would normally carry out. Women are forced to become manipulative and controlling. This jeopardizes the integrity of marriage and undermines women's honesty. The mysterious and seductive archetypal trait of the Femme Fatale is illustrated through the character Jean Muir who chooses to deceive men into loving her rather than working hard to prove her worth to men to get what they want. she wants, for example money to...... means of paper ......le. This is Alcott's warning to the world about what happens when women are powerless and do not have the opportunity and ability to provide for themselves. Women were supposed to be dependent on men, “stay-at-home” mothers, and almost like servants to men. Alcott's purpose in this story is to show the stereotypes of women working against men. She wants people to know that women are not born to be passive and men are not born to be active or ambitious. These gender roles have changed over time. Alcott wants people to know that when a woman cannot move forward by any means other than marriage, she has no choice but to deceive men. Through this story, Alcott is able to communicate the need for a change in gender role stereotypes and show the inevitable: women manipulate and deceive men when they fail or fail to get what they want..