WTF, Nancy Drew?

Within the last year, I inherited a bunch of library discards. There are a variety of types of books for varying elementary reading levels. For the most part, I’ve been selling them, but some I have been reading first. For instance, I have an old copy of Pinocchio which I read. Not to get off topic here, but Pinochhio is more disturbing than even the old Disney version prepared me for. Seriously. But that’s a story for another time.

Among the titles include a few old Nancy Drew books. Last year at work, a fifth grade girl was really getting into reading Nancy Drew. She loved them and read them voraciously. I had never read one so I decided to read one the ones in my possession to see what the fuss is about. I picked up one at random, The Secret of Mirror Bay (1972), number forty-nine in the Nancy Drew series. I was expecting a slightly cheesy mystery; what I was not expecting was the fat shaming. I read three more Nancy Drews afterwards to see if this was a continued theme; I’ll expand on that later.

Before I begin on Nancy Drew, I want to mention that I also have read a few Three Investigators stories by Robert Arthur. Some of these were written in the 1960s and some in the 1980s (and probably in between, but I don’t have any from the 1970s). It’s a bit of a side note, but I got into Robert Arthur through his short stories which my best friend and I ludicrously read aloud to one another this year. We found out he wrote other books with ridiculous titles like The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy and had to know more.

The Three Investigators books have a similar premise to the Nancy Drew books. Three teenagers solving random mysteries that they come across. The Three Investigators are all boys and Nancy Drew sleuths around with her two gal pals. In each series, each character has specific traits, such as being brainy or athletic, which define their personality throughout the books.

Nancy Drew books were ghostwritten under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Similarly, The Three Investigators books were written by Robert Arthur in the beginning, but by various other writers after his death. An interesting note on Nancy Drew- According to Wikipedia, Edward Stratemeyer, who came up with the character, believed that a woman’s place was in the home, but wished to capitalize on the success of his Hardy Boys characters which were also popular with girls.

Right, we’re here to talk about my experience with this Nancy Drew book. I mentioned the other series so that I can use it for some points of comparison. Here we go.

About those character traits…  each series has an overweight character. The Three Investigators character, Jupiter Jones, is generally described as stocky and sometimes as fat. He’s also the brains behind the operation and is lauded throughout the books for his genius with problem solving and inventing. His two companions occasionally make remarks about his weight. Like when Jupiter got stuck in a dumbwaiter shaft. Comments like “No more chocolate chip cookies for a whole month! And you start jogging tomorrow!” Jupiter usually retorts with comments like, “When I am in need of a dietician and exercise director, you’ll be the first to know.” It’s an odd mix of respect and superficial judgment.

On the second page of Mirror Bay, we are introduced to Bess as “pretty, blond, and always talking about going on a diet.” I rolled my eyes immediately at that sentence. But it didn’t end there; I was barely forty pages into the book when I counted at least six times that her weight was commented on negatively. I began to keep track of all the times they alluded to Bess’s weight.

Here’s a quick list of the times we’re reminded Bess is food-centric:

• Page 15- Bess mentions a coke refrigerator on the porch. This has no bearing on the plot and never comes up again.
• Page 16- On the suggestion that Bess stand on her shoulders in the water, Bess’s cousin, George, replies, “I may be strong, but I’d have to be Supergirl to hold your weight.”
• Page 17- Bess says she starving and suggests lunch.
• Page 17- Bess is commenting on groceries that have just been brought into the cabin, her eyes are “glistening” looking at the food. Her cousin remarks, “You sound like someone in an eating contest. Take it easy.”
• Page 32- Nancy is complimented on her cooking, she looks at George and says with a wink, “but it won’t match Bess’s dessert.”
• Page 33-  “As Bess was directing her attention to a second slice of cake, George cast annoyed glance at her cousin. ‘Pretty soon you’ll look like a sweet roll!’ the slim girl quipped.”
• Page 52- The girls are at a museum. Nancy suggests they check something out, Bess wants to buy candy first.
• Page 59- Bess makes dinner. Everyone is “stuffed,” Bess asks who wants dessert.
• Page 67- Bess was almost kidnapped. “Bess had revived completely from her frightening experience and insisted they eat the dessert she had prepared.” The helpings are described as “generous.”
• Page 125- Bess asks the group, “Is anyone hungry but me?”

It’s not enough to mention once or twice that Bess is not as slim as her two friends; we must be constantly reminded that Bess cannot control herself around food. And to round out her character, she’s also portrayed as weaker than Nancy and George. Unlike Jupiter Jones, Bess lacks heart and seems to only go along on the adventure so as to not be left alone. She’s often described as being reluctant to go along with her friends, as scared, or “paralyzed with fear.” Are we supposed to associate her timid disposition with her weight? Is the fact that she’s fat and female the problem?

It’s not cool in either one of these series for them to be making fun of someone’s weight in the fashion that they are. What kind of friends delight in making you feel bad about yourself? Yes, there are humans who are actually like this, but why are the character’s friends doing it and why are we supposed to think it’s okay? It seems that Bess is getting the worst of it though. She barely stands up for herself and the readers are being consistently led to judge her for her lack of self control.

A few other differences that I noticed between the two mystery series derive from gender stereotypes. Staying on the food theme, in The Three Investigators, the boys are often treated to hamburgers, fries, and colas. To the point that I asked myself, “does some random person buy the three investigators hamburgers in every book?” In Mirror Bay with the exception of Bess’s desserts, the girls made foods like fruit and cottage cheese salad or baked chicken. Obviously girls need to be eating healthier, waist-friendly foods.

Another difference is chores or work. In the Three Invesigators, the boys each have jobs. One works at a library, one in his uncle’s salvage yard, and the other does chores at home. When work is mentioned, it usually involves lifting and moving objects or doing research. In Nancy Drew, these girls did housework. Page ninety in Mirror Bay mentions that they spend a whole hour cleaning, even changing bed sheets. Housework is mentioned at least twice. Not to mention all the times they cook meals. Look, household chores need to be done and meals need to be prepared, but the frequency of it being mentioned in a book with female protagonists versus its lack of mention in a book with male protagonists is telling of our preconceived notions about gender.

In The Three Investigators, Jupiter is commended on his vocabulary and his use of “big words.” In Mirror Bay, when Nancy wants to understand the phenomenon of fireflies, a professor replies, “Perhaps I can help you if you can stand some big words.” Which of his following words were supposed to be complex?? Abdomen? Stimulations? The chemical name luciferin? The best interpretation is that the author is preparing the audience for a slightly scientific explanation, but as that audience is assumed to be girls, my frustration remains.

One last comment irked me to no end. George and her boyfriend Burt are having a swimming race across the lake. They are evenly matched. Nancy’s boyfriend Ned remarks of George, “She could race on a man’s swim team any time.” Hard eye roll there. She is not just a talented swimmer, she’s talented enough to compete with men! Blarg.

I realize that it can come across that I am being nit picky about these books, but there are many social constructs that insist that women are lesser and these are subtly reinforced in various, seemingly innocuous ways. I understand that these are older books, but they are symptomatic of how we treat people. I am not angry; I’m just annoyed. You can create characters of different body types and demeanors without the obvious intent of perpetuating ideas like “being fat is a fault” and “woman are almost as good as men.”

The other three Nancy Drew books I read were from the years 1936, 1951, and 1963. It appears that the issue with Bess’s weight rears its ugly head in the sixties. In only one of the two earlier books do they describe Bess as “slightly overweight.” Mildred Wirt Benson, the original writer, must not have meant Bess’s weight as an inherent character flaw. In the one from 1963 (number 40 in the series), George begins to make snide remarks to Bess about her weight which usually silences Bess. At one point in the 1963 book, Bess says she’s “famished” and George retorts with “It won’t hurt you,” while “surveying Bess’s plump figure.” It would seem that as we approach an era more steeped in television, movies, and glossy magazines featuring models like Twiggy (who arrives on the scene in 1965), our ghost-writers have less tolerance for a female physique which does not adhere to the rigid standards set by society. I am curious who was writing the novels at the time and wonder if the gender stereotyping is at all reactionary to the growing first wave of feminism.

To be fair to Nancy Drew, she herself is a total bad ass. She is a competent sailor, scuba diver, driver of cars and motor boats, swimmer, and first responder, among other things. Nancy is highly intelligent, confident, independent, brave, tactful, humble, and possesses fantastic deductive reasoning skills. She’s a good friend to Bess and George (even if she does occasionally lead them into danger) and diplomatically refrains from involving herself in their cousinly disputes. For a character created in the 1930s, Nancy Drew actually does a lot to counter gender norms of her time.

On a humorous note, I did enjoy the amount of times in Mirror Bay where something awful happened and no one thought it wise to get professional help. When Bess was almost kidnapped, I mean literally someone grabbed her, covered her mouth, and dragged her down a mountain, no one felt they should inform the authorities. Likewise, when various characters were bitten by a poisonous centipede, knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, or almost drown and had to be resuscitated through CPR did anyone think they should involve a doctor. Just, like, it’s cool, dude, we’re fine now.

While some writers are still using the same tired gender tropes for their characters, more books are being written with awesome girls breaking the bonds of those tropes. For instance, I immediately loved Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series (books more than the movies) for her lively spirit, independence, intellect, and determination. And while Jane Austen can hardly be called contemporary, my adoration of Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Predjudice will never waver. A good friend of mine suggests Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender as book which represents a girl as an individual and not a stereotype. While I’ve yet to read it myself, it’s now on my book list. Today there is increasing awareness about the effects of representation in media and this is leading to many books, movies, and television shows that no longer adhere to the stale stereotypes of the past.

In the end, the Nancy Drew books are still a good read. They are adventure filled and can also be a good catalyst for a discussion on gender norms and stereotyping. If you have a young reader in your life interested in the Nancy Drew series, I recommend also reading some contemporary books with fair representations of strong female characters. You know, balance.

Who are some your favorite female characters? What are your thoughts on the Nancy Drew series?