[HPforGrownups] Re: Gender balance/strong women

[Rina Stewart]

No: HPFGUIDX 15014

Jen wrote:

<<And the ways you have listed are indeed the easiest and most natural
ways to describe the characters; that's exactly how I would define them,
also.  Not a *single* one of those characters is defined in relation to
a woman. >>

That's exactly my point. No one is defined by their role to a woman. You're saying that it's bad that women are only defined by their relationship to men, but I'm saying that so are the men. The women aren't being singled out here. 

<<when we think of the focus on James instead of Lily for example (we only know about his exploits at school and his friends; he's the one who protects
Harry in Patronus form -- even though it was Lily who *died* to protect
him before), it isn't quite so inevitable that it should be only
relations with / between men that are emphasized.>>

James was an animagus, Lily was not. Was the spirit of Lily supposed to come out? The realization that his patronus was his parent would be lost then. It makes more literary sense to make it an animal that is related to Harry that he will figure out later, than to spell it all out at once. 

Also, we've learned most of James' exploits from Hagrid and James' friends, right? (I could be wrong, I don't have the handle on the books many of you do.) It's natural that Hagrid would know more about James' time in school if he was the one always in the middle of something, and exploring outside. Maybe Lily's interests didn't lie in the outdoors. Nothing wrong with that - mine sure don't. LOL Also, The Marauders were clearly a foursome, like H/R/H is clearly a threesome. Let's say we're reading about Harry's kid with, oh, Lavendar, instead of Harry. Ron is a teacher at Hogwarts, H&L are dead. Ron's going to have more to say on Harry than Lavendar, because Lavendar wasn't part of the group. Lily obviously had her own interests away from James, and she pursued them. If Harry was on better terms with Flitwick, if Flitwick was the teacher back then, it's possible we might know more of Lily's life at school. 

What I'd like to see is if this next DADA teacher, or a future one, was Lily's best friend. It would be a fun way to learn about Lily, and get a new perspective on James and co. We will learn about Lily, though, no matter how. JKR has said so.

Rina
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