Northline Walking Blog #2

After Allison ran into Dan Mahony on Second Street, she went to get a cup of coffee with him at the downstairs lunch counter in the Cal Neva. So, at the end of my walk, I made sure I walked along Second Street and back up to the Cal Neva. While I didn’t get a coffee at the lunch counter downstairs, I tried to consider the themes of the novel as I walked back, especially those prevalent at that point. Allison and Dan walked back in silence—while this may not seem significant, I thought it went well with the idea of gender roles. I think Allison was hesitant to reveal herself to Dan because of her past experiences with men. She expected Dan to be dominant and controlling—as he naturally isn’t this way, the conversation was lacking. Allison was too timid to contribute anything about herself, and Dan was trying to let her have the opportunity to do so. Dan was distancing himself from the typical male role, at least in Allison’s mind, and she was uncomfortable because of this.               

                This was further expressed when they sat down at the restaurant and Allison stated that “She knew the cook, and felt better that he was there” (page 145). Her desire for a familiar figure explicitly demonstrates Allison’s need for protection. She was afraid, in a way, of Dan—not because he had done anything to suggest that he would hurt her, but because of her past with men who had pursued her. Allison only knew how to react to a certain type of male role—Dan did not fit this type, so Allison closed up.

                As I walked back to the Cal Neva, I thought about the prevalence of these gender roles in our society today. I definitely think they still exist—my best guy friends have made too many “women jokes” around me for me to believe otherwise. I think that this is the case because as long as men and women are different, there will be a natural “role” that each tends to uphold. This idea has never particularly bothered me, and this was reaffirmed as I studied the men and women I passed on my walk. In my opinion, women and men complement one another, as long as neither takes their so called role to the extreme. This happened to Allison, which partly why she had such a skewed view of herself. However, I like to think that her coffee date with Dan was when things began to look up for her. And all it took was one walk. 

Link to a map of where I walked:

file:///C:/Users/Kyla/Pictures/Walking%20Blog/W%202nd%20St,%20Reno,%20NV%20to%20Club%20Cal%20Neva%20-%20Google%20Maps.htm