13 1 Leading and following Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown Rubyfruit Jungle tells the story of Molly Bolt who is adopted into a poor family. Growing up in 1950s and ‘60s America, she finds it difficult to live up to the expectations of what a girl should be like. Despite an underprivileged background, she is ambitious, defiant and not afraid to be “different”. Her cousin Leroy, on the other hand, desperately wants to fit in. […] That September I went to Naval Air Junior High School, a makeshift school in navy barracks leftover from World War II. The teachers were leftover too, and I was bored out of my mind. I kept to myself to see who was who in that place before I made any friends. There were a fair amount of rich kids at Naval Air. You could tell them by their clothes and the way they talked. I knew enough from English lessons by this time to know they had good grammar. They held themselves away from the red-neck kids. I didn’t mix with anybody. I knew I wasn’t rich but then I wasn’t walking around with little plastic clothespins on my collar like all the red-neck girls either. The boys were much worse than the girls. They had long greasy hair and wore denim jackets with bloody eyeballs drawn on them. Hot as hell they’d wear those denim jackets and black motorcycle boots and they were dirty mouthed to go along with it. Back in the Hollow we were all the same. Maybe Cheryl Spiegelglass had a little more, but the gap didn’t seem so wide. Here it was a distinct line drawn between two camps and I was certain I didn’t want to be on the side with the greasy boys that leered at me and talked filthy. But I had no money. It took me all of seventh grade to figure out how I would take care of myself in this new situation, but I did figure it out. For one thing I made good grades and they counted for a lot. You couldn’t go to college without good grades. Even in Before reading Read the introduction. Consider: What expectations do you imagine girls and boys were faced with in 1950s or ‘60s American society? despite – þrátt fyrir defiant – ögrandi a makeshift school – bráðabirgðaskóli barracks – herskálar a red-neck – sveitamaður (niðrandi) a collar – kragi a gap – bil to leer – glápa Rita Mae Brown (born 1944) is an American writer, activist and feminist, best known for her debut novel, Rubyfruit Jungle (1973). Although a controversial novel at the time, it received great reviews.
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