In Bois Sauvage, gender roles are viewed differently by family and friends. In Esch's family, female roles are often preformed but with a masculine quality. Males are defiantly thought of as the dominate gender, but females can hold their own. The women of the pit (Esch and China) have been tough and strong, able to handle misfortune and death. Motherhood especially is not considered weak; Skeetah considers motherhood as, "when they come into they strength. They have something to protect." Randall even takes on a motherly role toward Junior and sometimes Esch. He took care of Junior as a baby and still watches out for him now that he is older. Unfortunately, Esch thinks that her father even views her as a boy because she takes on her brothers masculine qualities of bravery and strength and even wears the same clothes. However, to friends like Manny, he looks down on females. He thinks that, " Any dog (human included) [that] gives birth...is less strong after...[it takes] a lot out of an animal to nurse and nurture." He thinks while they are able to care for their off spring it becomes difficult for them making them weaker. This even makes Esch wonder how Manny views her: “Does [he] think I am that weak…”
I agree that Esch's femininity often gets lost in the shuffle of the hyper-masculinity that is found on the Pit. Even though womanhood is considered strong by some, its equality is often disrespected (by Manny) or forgotten. This causes Esch to unconsciously conform to the expected roles, male roles, just as you stated.
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