In 2006 the government assigned the Council of Cultural Affairs the task of making an update, consisting of 50 literary titles, to be added to the existing list called Alla tiders klassiker – en klassikerserie för skolan (All-time classics suited for school).      The idea of ​​a literary canon can be considered to be a tool for transferring socially, historically and culturally constructed norms and values ​​from one generation to the next in order to create and maintain a common frame of reference. The common frame of reference affect the individual's thoughts and actions as well as their sexual desires and their own perception of self as a sexual being. The aim of this thesis is to investigate how gender and sexuality are constructed in four literary works selected by the Council of Cultural Affairs on behalf of the government in order to create a literary classic series for school, and thus get a picture of which values and norms might be included in the concept of a common reference and how this subsequently relates to the school's syllabus ​​and its ideas about identity development.

All four novels are based on traditional ideas and values ​​as well as dichotomous relationships between femininity and masculinity in which masculinity is superior to femininity. The female sexuality is described as both passive and problematic while the male sexuality only exists as an unspoken norm.  The novels both create and maintain stereotypes that are in direct contrast to the syllabus and  relate to the problematic gender context that is already existing within our schools.