PLAYING WITH GENDER CONVENTIONS IN LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY’S THE QUARANTINE AT ALEXANDER ABRAHAM’S: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The inspiration for the essay was Nelson Goodman’s claim that the dualism of nature and culture is still academically relevant. Our goal was to extend it to the concept of convention and relate it to the currently very hot issue of marriage. We would like to argue that the institution of marriage belongs in an indeterminate category between nature and convention, which allows for playing with the gender conventions which constitute a marriage. The arguments are taken from anthropology, and the text used for illustrations is a short story, The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham’s by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. The conclusion is that the emergence of an evolutionarily more stable society and consequent survival of Homo hinged on marriage as a foundation block of culture, enforcing social behavioural constancy governed by convention. At the end of the essay, we briefly refer to the  post-postmodern need for the revision of values, and problematize marriage as a salvational space and a keeper of meaning in the post-cynical age. The essay consists of three sections: 1. Introduction: Marriage between Nature and Convention; 2. Playing with Gender Conventions; 3. Conclusion: Form as a Keeper of Meaning.