The Scorpio Races centers around the protagonist, Puck, who is forced to enter her island’s Scorpio Races to earn the money needed to pay to keep her family’s house. The island that she lives on, Thisby, holds the Scorpio Races every year, except it is an event only meant for males to take part in on the island’s dangerous water horses. Not only does Puck fight to be the first woman to compete in the races, but she decides to race on her own personal horse instead of one of the water horses.

A feminist reading of the text can be clearly applied given that Puck is a woman trying to establish herself in a traditionally male environment. However, a deeper application can be applied in looking closer at the details in the text. Tyson states that for men, “failure to provide adequate economic support for one’s family is considered the most humiliating failure a man can experience” (83). In The Scorpio Races, the whole reason that Puck enters the races is because her brother Gabe is unable to support the family through the various jobs that he has picked up around the island. Since their parents are deceased, not only is her brother unable to fill his role as provider for his siblings, but Puck has to step into a traditionally male role of breadmaker in order to provide financially for herself and her siblings since her brother is unable to.

Due to the traditionally established gender roles in the races and on Thisby though, Puck faces multiple challenges in achieving this role. Tyson states, “Our gender strongly influences how we are treated by others and by society as a whole” (103), and that one gender studies issue is the “patriarchal assumptions about gender and gender roles that continue to oppress women” (103). Throughout the story, Puck is repeatedly told and actively attempted to be removed by the men on the island from competing in the races. The only reasoning given is that “No woman’s ridden in the races since they began” and that “There are rules on paper and rules too big for paper” (Stiefvater 195). Combined with the overall lack of female characters in the text- the only other women are the butcher’s wife and three elderly sisters that hold a fairy-godmother like role in Puck’s life- the text itself is male dominated. And even the butcher’s wife has more masculine traits attributed to her.

By creating such a male dominated text for such a male dominated event, it really displays the oppression that Puck continually finds herself up against simply for being a woman. Puck ends up befriending and training with previous year’s winner of the races after having earned his respect. Throughout the race, he then remains by her side to help protect her from the other competitors, and she ends up winning the races. While her ability to win the races implies that patriarchal beliefs can be overcome, there is also the implication that this shift cannot occur without the help of powerful men. She is only able to win the race because she had training and protection throughout the process and the race itself from the previous year’s winner.

Interestingly enough, another feminist aspect of the text that could be further explored is the role of woman in island mythology compared to the current role of women on the island. The mare goddess that the island recognizes as part of the myth that contributes to the island’s ability to produce water horses is female and much of the ceremony surrounding the races is centered on honoring this goddess. However, the goddess’s role and perceived power is vastly different from the treatment that Puck receives as she tries to participate in the event.

Works Cited

Stiefvater, Maggie. The Scorpio Races. Scholastic Press, 2011.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: a User-Friendly Guide. Routledge, 2015.