Jane’s answer to “Would you really consider this book historical fiction? To me it seems more to belong to dystopian…” > Likes and Comments

I agree. I looked at it as an extension and exaggeration of our history. I think there are some areas of the country that did and still do marry women young and expect them to solely produce children and if they can't it is believed they are broken or not worthy. I think this story acted as a catalyst to show the extreme lengths the American society goes to enforce gender roles. Outlawed was a great book for discussing the issues with attaching fertility to a woman's identity; however, it also did a great job discussing gender by including non-binary narratives like the kid and discussions about the male gender through Lark. The whole thing may not fit into the historical fiction genre because the book in its entirety does not clearly represent a true story, but it does do a fantastic job of creating generalized storylines and lessons that can easily be applied to gendered issues in the present time.