Female Characters

[GerRoJen at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 41117

Claudia says:  I never denied that. But despite their weaknesses the male 
characters 
are in the spotlight, are the memorable, controversial characters, 
the females aren't.

I don't know.  I think the women are memorable and controversial.

Hermione:  Hangs out with boys.  Now, when I was in high school, we had a 
name for girls like this and it wasn't polite.  Yet, it seems to be accepted 
in Harry Potter.  She campaigns for the House Elves.  True, she accomplishes 
little with this, but very few people actually acheive their goals 
immediately.  Harry couldn't have gotten very far without Hermione.  She 
solved the logic puzzle.  She created the Polyjuice potion.  Her knowledge of 
spells have gotten them out of a lot of scrapes.  She figured out that it was 
a Basilisk stalking Hogwarts.  We know more about her background than we do 
Harry's, even.  Bottom line: Harry would have been screwed without her.

Minerva McGonagall:  Ever hear the phrase "Behind every great man, there's a 
great woman."?  I feel this is the role McGonagall plays for Dumbledore.  He 
confides in her (he didn't hesitate to tell her what was going on when he 
brought Harry to the Dursley's), he respects & trusts her (he leaves her in 
charge of Professor Moody/Barty Crouch Jr), he depends on her (the school is 
left in her care when he was temporarily removed.)  

Molly Weasley:  I have to disagree with everyone's assumption that she is the 
stereotypical housewife/mother.  I would replace stereotypical with IDEAL.  
It is very rare to see a mother and wife like her!  She is the obvious 
matriarch of the Weasley family.  Arthur even defers to her.  She obviously 
cares about her kids (blood and 'adopted').  She is brave and optimistic 
beyond belief.  My reason for that is the number of children she has.  I can 
easily say that at least four of them (Percy, Ron and the twins) were borne 
DURING Voldemort's rise to power and I suspect Bill and Charlie were as well. 
 I am not sure I would be willing to bring more children into such a bleak 
looking world as she faced.  There is so much more to this woman, but I think 
everyone gets my drift.

Millicent Bullstrode:  Just a little incident in CoS that points out that 
there is more to her than 'stereotypical' teen girl.  She dropped her wand 
and caught Hermione up in a head-lock during the dueling club!  Not many 
girls would forego magic for brute strength and if they did, not many would 
use a head lock!  LOL  Teeth and nails is the 'stereotypical' girls' fight.

Angelina:  Somewhat jockish.  Nothing too different about that.  But when 
Fred asked Angelina to the Yule Ball, she first "appraised" him with her eyes 
then said okay.  She got a funny little grin but didn't disolve into giggles 
- especially considering how publicly the date was made.    

All in all, I have to say the name of these books are "Harry Potter".  They 
are about a boy with magical powers and are mostly from this boy's POV.  I do 
not find them lacking in strong female characters in the least.  Actually, 
considering the point of view, I think they are incredibly well balanced 
except in one thing...  We haven't really encountered an EVIL female 
character yet.    

Lastly, thank you for this topic!  This one has been a lot of fun to follow!  
Oh, and Darrin - I thought your post was brilliant.

Cyra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]