Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Women in Literature


If there’s one story that everyone knows, it’s that of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were placed on Earth and given the instructions to not eat the fruit from a tree. A serpent tempted Adam and Eve, and Eve gave in and ate an apple from the tree. This story makes women look like weak beings who give in to every temptation. But did you know that as soon as Eve ate the apple, she handed it off to Adam who also took a bite without hesitation? Womankind’s poor portrayal in literature is probably due to the fact that one of Earth’s earliest stories started the fire.

We were taught from childhood that women are weaker than men, and we need saving. Take Rapunzel for example. She is locked in a tower, and a prince climbs up her long hair and saves her. I’m pretty sure she could have made a rope or ladder of some sort in the many years she sat up there. She could have easily saved herself, but instead she waited for Prince Charming to come along and save the day. When I have kids, that’s not the kind of story I want to read to them!

However, as much as the ‘weak girl in need of saving’ storyline is played out, you can also find some inspirational heroines. There are many famous characters, timeless classics, to even the most recent books. Scout Finch, Matilda Wormwood, Jane Eyre, and even Katniss Everdeen, and so many more female characters knew exactly what to do and when to do it in order to stand up for themselves, and be courageous in everything they did. If more of these females could appear in literature, I think more people would realize just how empowering women could really be.

Now let’s discuss the other side of literature, the author. Women authors sometimes sign their books with a pen name. Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, wrote under A.M. Barnard, because men authors were taken more seriously than women authors. Sadly, the same thing happens today. J.K. Rowling, author of the worldwide sensation, the Harry Potter series, is a female who wanted to target a mixed gender audience, but feared that her work would not be accepted by male readers, so she used a pen name that made it harder to tell her gender. But even with mysterious pen names and old fashioned mindsets, some of the greatest writers are women.

With so many characters that show girls as housewives, simpletons, and incapable people, sometimes it’s hard to find any female empowerment in literature. But with amazing writers and the feisty female characters we all know and love, we can all feel a little more confident with women’s role in society.

-Julia Ma


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