The post-structural feminist theory observes that individual experiences are situated within a society where language, social structures and power produce contrasting ways of allocating meaning (Jackson 2001). Therefore, as individuals interact with different discursive fields, certain values become deeply held through contact with others. As a result, individuals become bound by norms and ways of doing that exist within a particular context.

The post-structural feminist perspective also posits that people are neither passive recipients of socialisation nor are these values biologically fixed or psychologically predetermined. Instead, people actively construct the world and shape their lives and those of others (Weedon 1997). Based on the idea that every relationship is fluid, one can argue that the problematic constructions of masculinity and femininity can be troubled. The fluidity of power and gender relations is evidence of the fact that the borders between femininity and masculinity are permeable and fragile, allowing for slip-ups and the performance of alternative scripts (Butler 1990). What is deemed right and normal is socially interpreted and reproduced in discourse. Therefore identities are actively constructed and reconstructed, produced and reproduced through interaction with the society, and are therefore not produced in rigid linear ways (Butler 1990). Post-structural thinking looks at discourse in terms of how it functions, where it is found and how it becomes produced and regulated (Weedon 1997). Based on these arguments, we take the stance that power is not owned or possessed but is exercised in ways that produce and reproduce inequalities.

One important factor in the construction of gender is language. An analysis of language use can therefore be helpful in interpreting the complexity of phenomena such as gender constructions in a social context (Martin & Rose 2008). Language influences society and inversely society influences language – they are dialectically connected to each other. Social activities are described, interpreted and also constructed through language and linguistic features. Language has, for example, the power to refer to people's feelings and opinions. Janks (2010):24) points out the power of language as every language choice ‘… foregrounds what was selected and hides, silences or backgrounds what was not selected’.

In this section the concepts discourse and text are presented as the novel: the text we discuss is written within frames of a special discourse. According to Burman (1994), a discourse is a socially constructed framework that defines the limits of what can be said and done. The implication therefore is that once a discourse becomes normalised, it becomes a rule and therefore limits what can be said and done. In this way, the discourse positions individuals to become, for example, boys and girls. Martin and Rose (2008) also emphasise that discourse interfaces with grammar and social activity. Making sense of a discourse requires the integration of language knowledge and use within the social context.

The normalisation of discourse accordingly enables certain groups of people to wield power in ways that disadvantage others. Best and Kellner (1991):26) argue that this is because discourses are ‘… viewpoints and positions from which people speak and the power relations that these allow and presuppose’. Thus, whereas individuals may be positioned as powerless in one situation, they could be powerful in others. Foucault (1978):94) argues that power cannot be ‘… acquired, seized or shared and is not something that one holds on to or allows to slip away; power is exercised from innumerable points …’. It is through discourse that individuals can be subjected to power or can exercise power over others (Foucault 1978). In addition, Guerrero (1999) argues that the politicised nature of interpretations and meaning making is a product of power because interpretations that are powerful gain their status from societal interactions. The standpoint in this study is that discourse is rooted in power because of its ability to construct people in particular ways or dictate certain ways of being normal, often expressed through the language medium.

The concept text, on the other hand, can, according to Halliday and Hasan (1976):1), be defined as language in use. Halliday and Hasan also add that a ‘… text is best regarded as a SEMANTIC unit: a unit not of form but of meaning’ (1976:2) whereas, according to Kress (2010):148), a ‘… text is a multimodal semiotic entity …’ produced on social occasions. A text is positioned and shaped by the author's beliefs, values and attitudes. Furthermore, a text is shaped by its place in the world and the author's own experiences.

For this study it is important to realise that novels read by young students are also interpreted interactively between the author's language, values and norms, the reader and the text (Barton 2007). Within this constructivist perspective the reader is actively engaging with texts to make meanings out of it (Barton 2007). In this way, readers pay attention not only to the words but also to the contextual information transferred through language use (Luke & Freebody 1999). The text may guide readers in constructing their gender identity as well as influence their language use; and both might correspond to the norms and values represented in the society. When readers rely on earlier knowledge and experience to interpret a text, they may supply meanings that do not always appear in the text itself. These meanings influence their identity (Holland & Leander 2004). Therefore, we cannot only make meaning of the text without also making meaning of the society and culture in which the text is contextualised (Martin & Rose 2008), and vice versa. All this has to be challenged by teachers in order to realise the power of the word and the impact all texts have on the reader (Janks et al. 2013).

Many studies about novels, their content and language have been carried out, with only a few of them focusing on a gendered analysis of the text. Lalbakhsh and Wan Yahya's (2011) study shows that Doris Lessing's The golden notebook (1962) depicts a world that is highly unfavourable to women where male domination is obvious. Men determine the values and norms for women. The study also points out that the women in the novel are oppressed in a society dominated by males and are also seen as a subordinate class. Furthermore, the study shows that women have to deal with the pressure put on them by the norms and values of society as portrayed in the novel. Ueno (2006), who analyses women's gender identity in Manga (Japanese comics), agrees. Women in Manga are objects for men's pleasure and are defined in relation to men.

However, other young adult fiction challenges normative assumptions about sexuality and deals with liberal gender views (Wickens 2011). According to Wickens (2011), in early texts and novels lesbians were isolated in society and doomed to dreary lives – but this has changed. In contemporary novels characters assume different sexualities and plots challenge and undermine established structures. Also Bean and Moni (2003), in a study of the novel Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Zusak (2000), found that readers have to evaluate, analyse and discuss the language of the text in order to obtain a transparent representation of society.

The novel describes how Ntombi deals with her life at school and in society generally after her parents’ separation. Ntombi is committed to keeping her family together despite difficult circumstances caused by the absence of solid role models for the youth in their community. Ntombi and her sister, Zinzi, are raised by their mother who, after becoming involved with a man called Zakes, starts neglecting her children. Ntombi tries in vain to get her mother to see Zakes’ true character, and eventually she finds herself having a relationship with Mzi, the ‘hottest’ boy at her school. Ntombi's social world comprises her friends, her sister and Mzi's friends. Through her interaction with a boy from her school, Olwethu, Ntombi learns about Zakes’ illicit business deals and Mzi's involvement in them. After a party at Thabiso's Tavern, Ntombi sees Mzi's true colours. Ntombi then starts investigating Mzi and Zakes’ relationship and finds out that they deal in stolen cars. Ntombi and Olwethu plan to have the two men arrested, but Mzi finds out and tries to rape Ntombi as revenge. Ntombi manages to escape from Mzi with Olwethu's assistance. Mzi and Zakes are finally arrested and Ntombi's mother at last understands why Ntombi never liked Zakes.

In this first section quotations are used to highlight the affirmation of gender. Through interpreting Ntombi's experiences as expressed through language use, her social world can be explored:

These quotations, from a context where Ntombi has fallen in love with a boy from the same school as her, show how Ntombi feels more appreciated because of Mzi. While she was on her own she had no social standing, but with a popular man by her side she has gained status. She was proud to be someone's girl, as if being her own girl was not good enough. This is a social construction of femininity and womanhood as manifested in many communities where a woman's worth depends on the man she is attached to (cf. Lalbakhsh & Wan Yaha 2011). Her social standing has improved because of being with the ‘hottest’ boy in matric (cf. Ueno 2006).

The social construction of femininity described above is achieved through language use in the text. To construct femininity special vocabulary, clauses and grammar are used. A functional language approach shows that the participants in the process have different roles. The core participant in the novel is Ntombi. In quotations 1 and 2, Ntombi is represented through the pronoun she. She has the subject position, is the doer and performs the actions or events in the process (Martin & Rose 2008). Illustrative phrases are: could not believe, had never drawn the attention of, felt really proud to be sitting and felt unreal. Mzi is the agent where he drives the car and Ntombi is the passenger, thus Ntombi is the object for this activity. Mzi's friends, represented by the pronoun they in quotation 1, are active in the subject position when ‘they are moving out the way for her’. The verbs reflect situations in which a woman needs affirmation to shape her identity (Holland & Leander 2004). Ntombi expresses her feelings in the situation thus:

These quotations show the mindset of Ntombi as a woman needing male affirmation to make her feel valued. In Quotations 3 and 4 Mzi is mostly in a subject position followed by phrases such as ‘wanted to take her’, ‘he called her’ and ‘he couldn't wait to spend time with her’. This creates a process where Ntombi is not in charge of her own life. She needs a male who can affirm her existence. It is made even more obvious by the use of evaluating appraisals like ‘rosier’, ‘proper’ and ‘gorgeous’ (Martin & Rose 2008). These appraisals by Mzi, a young man, elevate Ntombi as a person.

The words and phrases used in the quotations put her in a subordinate position even if Ntombi is at times the subject of the sentence. The reader's background determines how his or her acceptance of the text is influenced by the different use of verbs for male and female characters. Mostly when there is an event where girls or women are related to men, verbs are used to put them in a position where the men decide what they have to do and that what matters is what men think of them. In this way, language constructs the power relationship between women and men.

In this section the presented quotations illustrate the relationship between gender and power. The following quotations are taken from a situation in which Mzi has taken Ntombi away from a club in a car to a dark place between tall trees. There Ntombi feels anxious. Mzi is hugging and kissing Ntombi and roughly trying to push his hands under her bra.

Here we see gender power at play. Ntombi is trapped in an environment and a situation in which she is alone with Mzi far away from friends. The discourse positions Mzi as powerful while Ntomnbi is at his mercy as there is no one who can rescue her from Mzi's domination. According to Connell (2002), men are constructed as decision-makers and powerful, with the freedom to do as they please with girls and women. This construction is also visible in Mzi and Ntombi's interactions. The verbs portray Ntombi as a subject in the following fragment: ‘she tried to push away, almost screaming ”stop … stop or …”’. Quotation 5 is an internal interaction within Ntombi where the roles become clear through her screaming and how her actions are related to Mzi. No matter how capable she is in school, her identity is defined here by the man, Mzi.

‘I know that trick. Girls always say “no, no, no” when they really mean “yes”’. These sentences are central to the process of creating an event where Ntombi is without power. The negotiation in Quotation 5 shows that she questions Mzi's behaviour, while accepting the power relationship between men and women. The appraisal shows that being a woman can be a challenge: the feeling and appreciation of being valued by Mzi (Quotation 3) in contrast to the wish of not wanting to get on intimate terms with him. It also shows how the two words, ‘no’ and ‘yes’ can silence Ntombi and limit her activities against Mzi. There is considerable pressure on Ntombi to stand up to Mzi's opinion that women are not able to make their own decisions. The quotations strongly polarise Ntombi's struggling to be free, on the one hand, and the man's power, on the other. Mzi judges Ntombi as being boring and prudish. He tries to negotiate Ntombi's role.

The quotation shows that males look at women as something they can possess. It is a situation in which men traditionally feel entitled to women's bodies (Benninger-Budel 2000). Men feel that they own their women. Here Ntombi is questioning that sense of ownership that men have regarding women and girls. She is interacting with herself and is questioning the power men have over women by using the verb taken and relating it to could own. What has happened is that Ntombi has started to question her relationship with Mzi, a development that can be seen in the progression of the novel over time. She has started to judge a discourse where women are oppressed.

In this last section some characteristic assumptions of femininity and masculinity, made visible in the novel, are presented. Quotations 8–9 illustrate the role Zakes has as a man, according to Ntombi and her mother:

From an ideation perspective, he (Zakes) is the medium in both quotations. The events reflect the expectation of male domination in the use of the fragments ‘he bought her something’ and particularly ‘His word is law’. The implication is that Ntombi's mother is expecting her to also abide by society's expectations and beliefs of male domination within the home.

Quotation 8 echoes the social construction of men as providers. Dawson (2007) also found in her study that boys thought girls expected them to be providers. Quotation 9 shows the construction of men as decision-makers and leaders in the family. It can also be linked to issues of gendered power, where men are constructed as being more powerful than women in heading families and knowing what is best for everyone (cf. Connell 1995):

Ntombi wants to participate in a singing competition but does not have the time to practise; neither does she have high self-esteem. Zakes is taunting her regarding the competition and reiterates the stereotypical construction of femininity as ‘the whole package’. This quotation therefore highlights the societal constructions of beauty and how women and girls find themselves wanting to conform to stereotypical constructions of feminine beauty. The description of an attractive woman (‘the looks, the sex appeal and the voice’) might be peripheral in the sentence, but as the source or medium is Zakes, it supports the gender-based expectation that women should be good-looking:

Quotation 11 is from a scene in which Ntombi lies in her bed considering what had happened earlier in the evening in Mzi's car. Boys and men are believed to have a stronger sexual drive that requires being satisfied more urgently than that of women and girls (Kimmel 2004). This creates a situation in which young boys grow up wanting to show that they are real men by engaging in sexual intercourse at an early age just to prove that they are not effeminate. This stereotype has so much currency that girls and women also believe that a man's sexual urges cannot be controlled and therefore they have to give in to their demands for sex. What is deemed as normal here is rooted in unequal power dynamics, where everything masculine is better or more powerful than anything feminine (Skeggs 2005; Steinberg, Epstein & Johnson 1997).

Quotation 12 also shows how a woman who is seen in public alone is regarded as available for any man who wants her. If Ntombi had been with a man, then the men in the bar would not have whistled at her. Alone, however, she is fair game. The implication is that, without a man, a woman has no value. She can be taken by anyone (see Kimmel 2004).

The ideation in Quotations 11 and 12 shows how Ntombi's experiences are processes involving people (Mzi), places (the bar) and things or individuals (a kiss, sexual activities and a woman). Ntombi and Mzi are directly involved in the process, while the place is more peripheral. In the interpretation of what is going on (‘a kiss’), a female as a ‘thing’ and ‘a whistle’ are central. The expressions ‘be content’, ‘want more’ and ‘whistled’ create a process in which Ntombi is deeply involved, as she is questioning the role of males.