Brittani Leslie
English 112b
Warner
6 December 2011
Annotated Bibliography:
Fantastical and Formidable Females
In the alternate universes of young adult literature, male characters are the most prominent. Frodo, Harry Potter, and High King Peter are all strong male characters that have come to define the idea of fantasy, science fiction, and novels that take place within a futuristic dystopia. In these fictitious environments, it is often the female characters who are less known, and placed in supporting roles to their male counterparts. For my annotated bibliography, I chose to focus on the female characters who are strong to either carry a novel on their own, or come to dwarf the male heroes. Harry Potter may be �The Boy Who Lived,� but without Hermione Granger, he would have barely made it to the Final Battle.
The female characters that I have chosen to analyze throughout my annotated bibliography fit the definition of Literature for Today�s Young Adults� archetypal �hero.� The stereotypical hero is �A strong character; a person who will stand up and fight.� Each female that I have chosen, from The Golden Compass� thirteen-year-old Lyra Belacqua to the immortal Arwen of The Lord of Rings, chooses to stand up and fight and they do so in different ways. For Bella Swan from Stephenie Meyer�s Breaking Dawn, she proves her strength as a female by asserting herself and refusing to cave into the peer pressure that tries to force her to give up her baby. On the other side of the spectrum, Katniss Everdeen of Suzanne Collins� The Hunger Games is forced to physically fight for her own life as a tribute in the fight to the death setting of the novel. These women break the typical roles of a �female,� and in doing so, fit into the idea of a �hero.� Although Bella Swan is placed in a female role because of her pregnancy, her strength and ability to stand up to the stronger male characters in the novel helps her escape from that gender definition.
I think it�s important to point out that I have chosen novels that are specifically within settings that are an alternate universe to today�s own world. These novels are escapist, and allow readers to find joy and entertainment in a different world, so young adult readers might not expect to find a strong female character to relate to. Although the experiences of the characters are fantastical, as there are definitely no evil wizards to fight against, their actions are rooted in very real choices and obstacles that real young adult readers have to face. Even though Hermione has powers and knowledge that have no basis in our actual society, her choices are driven by a desire to create a better society for other people, which is a real desire experienced by actual young adult readers.
Cashore, Kristin. Graceling. New York: Harcourt Children�s Books, 2008. Print.
�Graceling is
the story of Katsa, who has been able to kill people
with her bare hands since she was eight. Katsa lives
in the seven kingdoms, where very occasionally, a person is born with an
extreme skill called a Grace. Gracelings are feared
and exploited in the seven kingdoms, and none more so than Katsa,
who's expected to do the dirty work of torture and punishment for her uncle,
King Randa. But then she meets a mysterious stranger
named Po, who is also a Graced fighter and the first person ever to challenge
her in a fight. The two form a bond, and each discovers truths they never
imagined about themselves, each other, and a terrible danger that is spreading
slowly through the seven kingdoms.� (Summary taken from http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-books.html)
Katsa faces a life of isolation because she is different from everyone else. For young adult readers, she is a strong role model for girls who doubt themselves and think that the thinks that make them different make them weird instead of special. Katsa�s ability to accept her uniqueness is what makes her a strong female character for young adult readers.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2008. Print.
�Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When her sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.� (Summary taken from http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/works.htm)
Katniss Everdeen is somewhat forced to be a strong character in Suzanne Collins� first novel. Her father is dead so she is forced to take on the masculine roles in the family of providing for her family and keeping them safe. She then has to gather the courage and determination to stay alive through the fight-to-the-death Hunger Games. It�s because of her willpower and maturity that Katniss is a strong female character for young girls.
Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010. Print.
�Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.� (Summary taken from http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/works.htm)
By the final novel in the series, Katniss has already proven her strength in terms of providing for her family and her ability to survive and kill. In the third novel she has to prove her strength as a female by dealing with the consequences of love, both Gale�s and Peeta�s, and trying to decide who she can trust or not. Again, Katniss� strength of character is determined by her less than female characteristics, from her fighting abilities to her oft-nonchalant view of romance, which create a more realistic picture of a woman for young adult readers.
Goodkind, Terry. Wizard�s First Rule. New York: Tor Books, 1994. Print.
�Richard Cypher�s decision to help a woman in the Upper Ven near the Boundary between the Midlands and Westland creates more trouble than first appears. The woman, Kahlan Amnell, seeks the help of a wizard in the Westland, and she brings with her dark news from the other side of the Boundary. Kahlan is attempting to find the great wizard who had left the Midlands for the Magic free Westlands due to the corruption of the government in his eyes, so as to have him Name a Seeker of Truth. The great wizard turns out to be Zeddicus Zu�l Zorrander, who then proceeds to name Richard the Seeker.� (Summary taken from http://www.terrygoodkind.com)
Kahlan Amnell is a strong female character because she does exactly what is expected of her. Her role as the Mother Confessor gives her the ability to see the truth in people and to submit them to her order. With that power, Kahlan has a responsibility to the people of the Midlands to not abuse her position and her powers, and the fact that she operates within the rules of the Midlands� society in a time when there are no set rules makes her a strong female character to young adult readers.
Lewis, C.S. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. New York: HarperCollins, 1950. Print.
�Four children are sent to the country to live with Professor Kirke because of the air-raids on wartime London. On their first morning, it pours with rain and they play hide-and-seek indoors. Lucy scrambles inside an old wardrobe full of coats, only to find [she] is in Narnia, but the country is in the grip of the White Witch's spells. Lucy narrowly escapes being trapped, and slips back through the wardrobe to find that her adventures have taken no time at all in her own world. Not surprisingly, her brothers and sisters don't believe her story, especially as the wardrobe remains obstinately a wardrobe! However, the children do go back into Narnia when they least expect it and find everything just as Lucy described—only perhaps more real and more frightening.� (Summary taken from http://harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/chroniclesofnarnia/book2.html)
Lucy Pevensie is the strongest female character in the novel, and in the rest of the novels that feature the Pevensie children. She is constantly forced to put her strong belief in Aslan before her family who are often not as full of faith. Lucy does so because she has a strong sense of what is right and wrong and this sense is what makes her a strong role model for young adult readers.
Meyer, Stephenie. Breaking Dawn. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. Print.
�To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs. Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences.� (Summary taken from http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/gear.html)
Throughout the trilogy, and especially the first two novels, Bella Swan is not portrayed as a particularly strong female character. She is easily charmed by Edward Cullen and his dazzling family, and mostly goes along with what plans they feel are best for her safety. However, in Meyer�s Breaking Dawn, Bella stops caving in to the demands of her new family and asserts herself as a formidable opponent. She refuses to back down and allow Edward to destroy her unborn child, monstrous as it may be, and in the end, it is her all-consuming love for her vampire and werewolf friends that saves their lives. Bella Swan is a strong female role model for young adult readers because she refuses to give in to peer pressure, and is willing to risk anything for the people that she loves.
Pullman, Phillip. The Golden Compass. New York: Ballantine Books, 1995. Print.
�Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.� (Summary taken from http://www.barnesandnoble.com)
As she is only thirteen at the time of the novel, Lyra Belacqua is truly a strong young adult character in Pullman�s The Golden Compass. She is a great model for female readers because she refuses to blindly follow the authority of her school, the government, and her Uncle Asriel. Lyra makes her own assessments and opinions about the society she lives within, and acts according to what she believes is morally good and right.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer�s Stone. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1997. Print.
�What did Harry Potter know about magic? He was stuck with the decidedly un-magical Dursleys, who hated him. He slept in a closet and ate their leftovers. But an owl messenger changes all that, with an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches, where it turns out Harry is already famous...� (Summary taken from http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sorcerers-Stone-Book/dp/0590353403)
From the beginning of the Harry Potter series, Hermione Granger is a prominent character in the novels, and as such, she is portrayed as a strong female that serves as a positive role model for young adult readers. Instead of being a stereotypical, silly young girl, Hermione takes her studies seriously and has the determination to advance her skills.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2007. Print.
�As the novel begins, Harry, Ron and Hermione are on the run from Lord Voldemort, whose minions of Death Eaters have not only taken control of the Minister of Magic but have begun to systematically -- and forcibly -- change the entire culture of the magic community: Muggle-born wizards, for example, are being rounded up and questioned, and all "blood traitors" are being imprisoned. But as Voldemort and his followers ruthlessly pursue the fugitive with the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, Potter finally uncovers the jaw-dropping truth of his existence�� (Summary taken from http://www.barnesandnoble.com)
In the final novel of the series, Hermione Granger has become a different kind of fighter. She is no longer na�ve and relying on her book smarts to keep her out of trouble. She understands the possibility of death that awaits her if she continues to support Harry Potter. Despite the consequences that she faces, it is Hermione�s continual determination to fight for the cause that she thinks is right that makes her a strong female character for young adults readers.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of The Rings. New York: Ballantine Books, 1965. Print.
�When the eccentric Bilbo Baggins leaves his home in the Shire, he gives his greatest treasure to his heir Frodo: a magic ring that makes it wearer invisible. Some years later, Gandalf [the Grey] reveals to Frodo that the ring is in fact the One Ring, forged by Sauron the Dark Lord thousands of years before to enable him to dominate and enslave all of Middle-Earth� Someone must throw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, where it was first created, deep in Mordor, Sauron�s country. Frodo accepts the task of carrying the Ring to Mordor�� (Summary taken from http://www.cliffsnotes.com)
Arwen Und�miel is one of the few female characters in J.R.R. Tolkien�s The Lord of the Rings. As an elven princess, she is obviously a strong member of the group aiding Frodo on his trek to Mordor. However, it is her choice to take part in the war against Sauron that makes her a strong female role model for young adult readers. Arwen has the opportunity to leave Middle Earth and live forever with her own kind, but she instead chooses to stay and help fight alongside Aragorn, and her loyalty to both her love and mankind is what makes her a strong female character.