Full disclosure: this is kinda-sorta about my YA novel, but not really. Kinda-sorta in that the question is suggested by a discussion I had with my quasi-agent on the subject the other night, but not really in that the issue we were discussing is now academic.
And to the topic:
At dinner the other night, the quasi-agent and I were discussing the differences in reading tastes between boys and girls, specifically the tendency of boys to prefer books with male protagonists while girls are quicker to accept protagonists of either gender. She claimed that I was an oddiity in that my favorite childhood character was Meg Murray, and proceeded to utterly devastate me in the ensuing argument (having an unfair advantage in that she was armed with actual facts). It was a minor issue in the course of working on the story, but it did make me wonder how Dopers might answer this question. So I ask you: what literary characters did you like best, or most identify with, as a youth, and what gender were those characters? Also, what made that character special to you?
Obviously I’d love it if you’d provide your own gender in answering.
Most of mine were but you mentioned one of the three that bucked the trend. Meg Murray, Hazel Stone & Menolly of the Dragon Singer Books by Anne McCaffrey.
Overall most of my favorites were males led by four Hobbits, a Dwarf, a Maiar, an Ent, whatever Tom B. is and a Dunedain.
Heh. No no no no no! I am most definitely of the female persuasion and always likesd the males in my books best. King Arthur and Lancelot started it, then i went easily to Gwydion, a more worldy knight, and taran and the pottery guy, and from there never really looked back. The only girls I really liked were Josephine from Little Women and Meg from A Wrinkle in Time. I liked Eilonwy a lot, really I did, but I always thought she was a mite silly. It seemed to me Taran and the others were much more real.
As an adult I will read more female-centered literature but I am always slightly more critical of it. Someone else on the boards made the very clear distinction. In fiction, seems like females always have to be something - a strong mother, a brave girl, etc., whereas males just have to be. Even now I vastly prefer a strong central male character.
I don’t know to what extent this was or is true, but I’ve definitely heard it before, and had it confirmed by a published author of children’s books that it is indeed the conventional wisdom.
I imagine the Harry Potter books wouldn’t have been nearly as popular, at least among boys, if the main character had been a girl (perhaps because it wouldn’t have been cool to like them. It may be a harder sell to convince boys that reading is cool). But I also imagine the books wouldn’t have been as popular among girls without Hermione.
I’m still thinking about this and will get back to you on it. But before I answer, what age range are you thinking of? Does “as a youth” mean more like 7 or 17?
I made the mistake of saying “cite” to the PA and got utterly, utterly devastated, as she had citations. I’m trying to get her to join the Dope, as she’s a natural for GD.
Let’s say any age below 18.
By the way, is anyone who’s not Anaamika going to answer this question?
The books I liked most all had male protagonists (I’m female). There aren’t a lot of female protagonists out there in books that aren’t geared specifically for girls (so leaving out Nancy Drew and House on the Prairie stuff, Ramona Quimby, Margaret-who-menstruates, etc, which were very clearly gender marked), and often the token girl is ridiculous (looking at you, Hermione, you puritanical hag). I mean, look at the Dark Materials books. Starts out well in the first one, and by the end of the second book it’s clear that she’s still number two dog and her role in life is to be merely female, the marked term, the other, whatever. Perhaps boys don’t identify with the female protagonist because she’s always lame, somehow, and they don’t feel the need to give her the benefit of a doubt as a girl might?
I liked (in order of my age) Bartholemew Cubbins, Tom from the Great Brain books, Encyclopedia Brown, the Stainless Steel Rat, and Paul Atreides. Why? I guess intelligent, capable, independent. I guess one thing that always annoyed me (still does?) was that the female heroines were always supposed to be striking and empowering because/despite that they were female and the notion was meant to be a wonder, which seemed pandering and insulting at the same time. “She’s good at football, even though she’s a girl! Wow!” “It’s interesting, because the smartest young wizard’s a girl, but she is a nerd and a prig, so it’s ok.” Females were rarely allowed to be characters in themselves, but instead stood for this other thing, like a capable female always signifying a rhetorical exception from normative. The unintended flip side of the civil rights movement? This personal conviction formed back in the 70s so perhaps there are more neutral female protagonists now.
I *loved * Harriet the Spy. She was so cool and she wasn’t goody-goody. And her lifestyle seemed so exotic to me. She lived in New York City! With a nanny! The first time I visited NYC, I had an egg cream in her honor.
I happily read books with both male and female protagonists, but always identified more with female protagonists.
Or. . . in other words, was it Virgina Woolf who said something like “There are two kinds of people in the world, women and human beings, and women who act like human beings are accused of trying to be men”?
Ooh! Me too! I was 13, and one of the main things I wanted to do was have an egg cream. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of ordering the egg cream at some filthy coffee shop in a subway station, and it was awful. I still remember the taste! Someday I should go have a better one.
I was pretty much evenly divided as a kid–I would read anything. Except the Hardy Boys, for some reason–I never liked those. I loved the Three Investigators, though. My favorite authors were Daniel Pinkwater (mostly boys), Diana Wynne Jones (50/50), M. L’Engle (girls), and gosh, I dunno. I read an awful lot.
Meg Murray was a cool girl, had Heinlein like parents and a great old house. She seemed like a girl I would like to hang out with and call a friend. On re-reading the books at about 12, I thought she would make a great girl friend.
Menolly: Well she sang to Dragons, had a flock of Fire Lizards, seemed smarter than most of the adults and really cool. She was more interesting than anyone else in Pern except the Master Harper himself.
Hazel Stone in “Moon is a harsh Mistress” and the “Rolling Stones” was just an incredible character. She was a match for anyone and probably Heinlein’s favorite female character. Got to love a young rebel that never loses her wanderlust.
Based on your name, I’m assuming a Lloyd Alexander fan, too? We’re twins!
Yes, I loved The Black Stallion books. All of them. Though I’ll admit the one with the vampire bat was a bit odd. The Black Stallion and Flame, I think.
So I ask you: what literary characters did you like best, or most identify with, as a youth, and what gender were those characters? Also, what made that character special to you?
When I was 14, I wanted to be Menolly, Alanna (Song of the Lioness) and Harimad-sol, but I found a lot of female characters interesting but, I don’t know, too close for comfort? I liked the Tillerman family books, but felt intimidated by Dicey, and I liked Meg Murray, but wouldn’t have wanted to be friends with her- she was too close to my own awkward, nerdy bookishness. Menolly and Harimad were far enough removed that I could empathise and enjoy without risking painfully familiar emotional situations.
I remember admiring Ged, (Earthsea) but not empathising, because he’s really more of a mythic figure than a kid, isn’t he? I liked Peter, Edmund, Eustace, and Digory better than the girls, who seemed a bit wet and, well, girly. Not just people, but People Who Were Girls.
Hmm. I’m all conflicted about which characters I liked best. Reepicheep. The Badger, in Prince Caspian (Trufflehunter? What was his name?). The Little Mermaid.
I also loved the Black Stallion books, and I still reread them on occasion. Often when I’m home sick with a cold. I was sort of amazed when I picked up the first book, the original Black Stallion, and was reading it on the subway. When I got to the chapter where Alec learns there is going to be a MATCH RACE BETWEEN SUN RAIDER AND CYCLONE, my pulse was racing and my heart was pounding. I almost missed my stop because I was so caught up in the thrill of the match race. Apparently, the most exciting moment in the history of literature is the match race between Sun Raider and Cyclone.
ANYWAY, back to the OP. I am a girl, and my favorite characters tended to be girls. Meg Murray, because she was my fantasy of the geeky girl whose geeky ways actually work to her advantage. Lucy, from Narnia, who seems to be always right and always good, which was admirable. Aslan obviously liked her the best. Trixie Belden, who solved mysteries and got to ride horses and was in a secret club (okay, that one isn’t very deep). Betsy Ray, because she wanted to be a writer and her family encouraged her. Anne Shirley, because she was imaginative and dreamy, and that made her interesting, and I kept thinking if I kept studying Anne I could figure out how being imaginative and dreamy could make me seem interesting as opposed to freaky and weird, which was the effect I tended to have on my peers.
I also read and loved books about boys, but there was usually an aspect where I liked the boy because I thought I should be his girlfriend. I would have made a great girlfriend for Alec (better than that hippy-dippy chick who shows up toward the end of the series). Victor from Lizard Music, although now that I think about it, I had more of a crush on Raymond (the lizard) which is a little off, right? Maybe I shouldn’t mention that so much.
I’d say about 50/50. I liked Ramona Quimby and Turtle Wexler and Harriet the Spy and Lucy, but I also liked Will Stanton and Piemur (better than Menolly, even–although that might be because his book was the first Pern book I read) and Oliver Twist. And Robin Hood. I was a huge Robin Hood fan (still am, actually).
I liked Hardy Boys more than Nancy Drew (although I wasn’t a huge reader of either). I enjoyed Farmer Boy better than the other Little House books. On the other hand, I liked Dicey’s books in the Tillerman series better than the one that focused on Jeff (even though I read Jeff’s first–Dicey’s character inspired me to seek out the others).
