The Supernatural Woman and Wartime Female Agency in The Foreshadowing (2006)

Abstract

—Female characters in patriarchal settings must often navigate through society using their own agency. One form of power with which they are sometimes endowed is supernatural power. The Foreshadowing (2006) is a children’s novel set in England and France during World War I. Unlike most war-themed children’s literature, the main character is a teenage girl named Alexandra. This novel is also notable for its use of supernatural power as a source of agency. Using a theory on gender hegemony proposed by Schippers [1] and another on female agency proposed by Trites [2], this study examines Alexandra, her father, her mother, Tom, and Jack. We show that the novel is ambivalent in its portrayal of supernatural power in relation to female agency. On one hand, the novel demonstrates that supernatural power is a powerful tool that threatens the patriarchal system represented through the father. With the help of her supernatural power, Alexandra uses her agency to overcome the boundaries placed on her by the gender roles of that era. On the other hand, the novel itself is still limited by the era’s gender roles because it allows no possibility for the female character to take an active part in the war.