From Representation to Structural Prominence: A Quantitative Analysis of Gendered Character Construction in Literary Texts.

Abstract

The portrayal of gendered characters in literature is commonly studied in terms of presence and representation, but the number of characters does not demonstrate their nuanced development. Structural prominence provides a more nuanced approach to considering how gendered characters are constructed in terms of their features. The study aimed to examine gendered character construction in literary texts by comparing numerical representation with structural prominence across gender categories. A quantitative secondary data design was used, focusing on 678 literary characters and their associated descriptive features. Gender categories were standardized, and character prominence was measured through degree centrality, defined as the number of features linked to each character. Descriptive statistics, distributional analysis, ranked centrality analysis, and a Kruskal–Wallis test were applied. Male characters formed the largest group, representing 63.57% of the dataset, while female characters accounted for 12.68%. However, female characters recorded the highest mean degree centrality (M = 17.71), exceeding male characters (M = 10.52), neutral characters (M = 7.82), and uncategorized characters (M = 8.00). The Kruskal–Wallis test confirmed statistically significant differences in centrality across gender categories. The findings show that gendered character construction cannot be understood through representation alone. Although male characters dominate numerically, female characters demonstrate greater structural prominence and denser feature association, suggesting a more intensive mode of narrative construction.