Its been awhile... since I've blogged. I thought I had run out of ideas, but apparently they come back around. Truly amazing for my brain.
So heroines... or as I spelled it on my facebook account heorines... (I am claiming the new spelling is really just a more addictive form of the illegal street drug). Although it is pretty sad when you have to get an email from your friends before you realize you spelled it wrong.
But on an actual note heroines, Do you love them or hate them? does it matter?
I have a few heroines that I really hate, but does that make them any less of a heroine?
Take Scarlett O'hara for example. I had never read Gone with the Wind until I bought it in an english bookstore in France. Ironic, I know. I figured it was an american classic I should read, and what a better opportunity than on a 14 hour plane ride back to the united states.
Well I didn't read the book on the plane... too many movies! (thank heaven!). But I finally made it back to US soil and for about the next three or four jet lagged days I did nothing but read. I was engrossed with the story, and the time period Margret Mitchell was describing.
1100 or 1200 pages into the book I was so profoundly disgusted by Scarlet O'hara that I never finished the book. There were only about 20 pages left.
All that time spent reading and in the end I was furious at her. I enjoyed all the other characters, but Scarlett was the deal breaker. She had missed so many well labeled opportunities to be a better person and to love. There was no logic for me in her many infuriating choices, and by the end I didn't want her to be given any more opportunity. I couldn't watch her petty, self centered stupidity go on. I know that she was served her justice by being left alone in the end, but to Scarlett "tommorrow was another day." She would endure and even thrive in a new world of her own making.
I also hated Madame Bovary --- nothing too promising there. A life of self made decay.
I even question Jane Eyre sometimes...
One thing all of these characters have in common is that they endure what ever ugly situations they find themselves in(even if the situations are of their own creation). They do not overcome with triumph or grace, nor do I want to emulate them, but they survive.
Do the fallen characters deserve the heroine title because of the survival? I have no inclination to be less infuriated with their actions, but I believe they deserve the title. Survival is the key.
What do you think?
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2 comments:
(Did you even ever read Jane Eyre?)
One definition of heroine is "the main good female character in a work of fiction"-- in this case Madame Bovary and Scarlett don't qualify, due to the "good" clause. Jane still does though. Jane always follows her moral convictions, which makes her the female protagonist, if not heroic.
And Melanie definetly trumps Scarlett 100x over.
Another definition is "a woman of distinguished courage or ability, admired for her brave deeds and noble qualities." Scarlett fits this perfectly, if you could leave the "noble" part out.
Finally, a definition they all fit in to is "the principal female character in a story, play, film, etc."
I guess it all comes down to your definition of a heroine (or a heorine!)
Real heroines in books I admire include Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch and Molly in Wives and Daughters, to name a few.
Of course I read it!!! Your too scholarly for my low education blog. :(
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