17. Tradition. Sophie then writes an entry about how Frank and Frank’s wife treat Sophie as if she’s somehow different from the other crewmembers, in terms of skills and interests, because she’s a girl. Frank’s wife calls her a “brave soul” because she’s sailing and hanging around a bunch of men, and assumes that she does all the cooking and cleaning, but none of the actual sailing and handiwork. When Sophie says that Cody does most of the cooking, Frank starts calling him Mr. Mom, and tells him that someday he’ll “make a great wife.” Later, when Frank, his father, and the crew of The Wanderer go clamming, he tells Sophie that she’s going to have a lot of cooking to do, but Sophie snaps back at him, saying that she’s not the only one on board who can cook. She says she wishes that she had handled comments like that with Cody’s sense of humor, since he ended up laughing about “Mr. Mom” and making it into a joke. Sophie gets irritated when people assume that she can’t use a power tool or climb a mast, but she wants to learn to start laughing such moments off.
The stereotypical way Frank and his wife view gender roles irritates Sophie, who does not conform to their viewsof girlishness. After being cast by Frank’s wife as somehow needing bravery in order to be in the company of men, and assumed to do stereotypically feminine housekeeping tasks, Sophie is discouraged by how her sailing skills, strength, and independence aren’t being recognized. Unlike Cody, who’s unfazed by how Frank mocks him, Sophie is unable to stay coolheaded when Frank makes his comment about cooking. While Cody may not feel any pressure to correct how Frank views his behavior with regard to conventional gender roles, Sophie feels this kind of discrimination more personally, and tries to correct how she’s represented by the men around her.