Some readers may feel that Krumgold portrays women negatively in Onion John. The main characters in the novel are all male. Andy's mother is pictured as a gentle but weak housewife who fears ghosts; her only significant role is to explain her husband's actions and feelings to her son. Andy appears to feel that women are not perceptive or bright.

He decides, for example, that it would be too difficult to explain Onion John's plan for a rain procession in a way that Eechee's mother could understand. The details of the rain procession also contain a stereotypical picture of women.

Ancient custom involved the sacrifice of a beautiful virgin, who was thrown into a river with a stone tied to her neck; but the "modern way" is to throw the most important man in the procession into a river without a stone so that he can...