So after my rant about my favorite characters the other day, this post came to mind. Because out of all those characters I'd say probably my favorite is Severus Snape, my favorite character of the Harry Potter series. Especially when Alan Rickman is in mind because he gave such a stellar performance of that character.
I find that I'm not alone in liking Snape. And why should I be? He has a dry sense of humor and a mysterious edge about him... and he switches sides way more than any character ever. Honestly. I think J.K. Rowling just enjoyed throwing him back and forth like that to confuse the readers.
First Snape is bad because he's mean and Harry thinks he wants the philosopher's stone.
But it turns out he was actually protecting Harry the whole time and VOLDEMORT was behind it!
Then in book four it turns out he was a death eater and might still be helping Voldemort.
But it turns out it was Barty Crouch Jr. Disguised as Mad eyed moody and Snape really IS on the good side.
Then in Book 6, Snape kills Dumbledore. Surely he's bad now right?
Nope, in Book 7 the entire thing is revealed and Snape is truly a good guy... OR IS HE?
Yeah. Yeah, he is. But readers everywhere were struggling to figure him out all across the series. Which of course is a mark of a complex character and what makes me love him. He played is role so well that he had the readers confused, therefore it made sense that Voldemort would trust him.
I myself was in denial when I read Dumbledore's death. And when everyone was saying "Well, guess Snape really was evil" I was defending him. Why? Because it didn't make sense that after flip flopping Snape back and forth between good and evil so many times that J.K Rowling would keep him evil. That wouldn't have been a fitting end to his character. Snape is one case where if he had been a straight up villain he would have been less complex. Plus we wouldn't have stumbled on one of my favorite themes in literature.
What is it? Well, I'll tell you.
Redemption.
I love redemption, wherever it is, just so long as it makes sense. I know there are plenty of cynics out there who say that people don't change and once you're bad you're always bad but I've never adopted that point of view. And I'm pretty cynical.
Nothing gives me greater joy (OK maybe some things but, you know) than seeing a character you thought was all bad do something genuinely good. Like when Darth Vader saved Luke from the Emperor. Or when Smegal banished his demons and really tried to help Frodo (Granted he succumbed to Golem again later which was probably one of the saddest things ever, but more on that in another post)
Because I do believe in forgiveness and redemption and change. People are constantly changing because of their environment. Often times evil characters are the product of terrible and heart breaking circumstances. Seeing a "bad guy" triumph in spite of that makes me happy, and it almost assuredly makes them my favorite character in the book.
The sad part about Snape's redemption was he was already dead when it happened and I was beat my head against my bed going "WHY, WHY, WHY!" The chapter where Harry finds out everything about Snape is my favorite chapter in all of the Harry Potter Books. I practically have it memorized because I read it so much.
Not to mention that after I finished the book I went running around to all my friends who doubted Snape going "HAHAHAHA! I was right!" (Including my brother. Best day of my life)
In these next few days I'll be going over my other favorite themes in fiction. Until then!
-Authoress Anonymous
Showing posts with label J.K. Rowling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label J.K. Rowling. Show all posts
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Mothers in Fiction (An Advancement or not?)
Anyone noticed this lately? An overpowering working mother with no time for her kid because she's too busy making her place in the world?
How about this? The mother that just doesn't understand her child because she's SO old fashion
And how about an evil step mother?
I must admit I don't really like the rep a lot of mothers are getting in YA fiction, particularly in contemporary pieces. (And in fantasy half the time the suffer from off screen death)
So lets look at a few mothers done right.
Molly Weasley: We all know this woman. It's too bad because a lot of people considered her to be a typical housewife rather than a progressive female character. In fact a reporter (Female reporter, might I add) even told J.K. Rowling "But she's just a mother."
Which understandably irked J.K. Rowling. She didn't see what was so wrong about a woman choosing to raise a family and not throwing herself into the working world. In fact Rowling is a mother herself, adding insult to injury.
This little encounter was one of the things that led J.K. Rowling to the infamous "Molly kills Bellatrix scene." She was going to have Molly do something strong to show she was just as powerful as the men, even if she did choose to raise a family. And I respect her for that. Molly Weasley was a kind and caring mother who worked hard and cared deeply about her children. And that is not a crime. It's a choice.
Rachel Morgan: Heard of her? She's from the Gallagher Girl series. And this is one of the few series where I've seen a teenager who totally looks up to her mom and wants to be like her. A typical conflict is "My mom doesn't get me. So old fashion. I never want to be like her." Rachel Morgan however, is portrayed in a positive light.
She's a very strong woman (And a spy) and she cares about her daughter just as much as any mother so we don't have the "Strong working woman neglects her family scenario". And because Cammie likes her, we like her. I like the portrayal of strong mother-daughter relationships.
Natalie Prior: This is the mother from Divergent. And before we go any further, I would like to mention that I strongly dislike this book and most of the characters in it. Honestly. But that's going to a review for another time. Natalie Prior is one of the few characters I like because she was both selfless and kind but also brave so you could see why she transferred from Dauntless. And the lengths she was willing to go to to protect her daughter are quite admirable. She's also very smart and wary of the danger Abnegation faces. I mainly just like her for being a strong character who seemed submissive and classic "gentle woman" but turned out to be very brave. She was one of the only characters in that book who actually surprised me.
Which is why it's a shame that her daughter showed so little emotion towards her... but that's a review for another time.
In my book: Admittedly, my mother character doesn't have a huge role in the book because she doesn't get as much page time but I made an effort to make a good relationship between her and the main character, her daughter. I'll go ahead and say: Her name is Christina, since that's not really giving anything away. Christina is a working woman but she still cares about her daughter. She is strong and sharp tongued and doesn't cry much though this is largely due to the fact that she tries to be strong for the main character. And while she is still flawed (Because she sort of keeps a lot of secrets) she wouldn't give up her daughter for anything.
I wanted to see more positive mother-daughter relationships so I wrote one.
So that's my schpiel on mothers and making them three dimensional characters in YA fiction. Tomorrow I think I'm going to talk about villainous and their prose and cons. (But the Bella Swan rant is coming... oh it's coming)
Thanks for reading!
-Authoress Anonymous
How about this? The mother that just doesn't understand her child because she's SO old fashion
And how about an evil step mother?
I must admit I don't really like the rep a lot of mothers are getting in YA fiction, particularly in contemporary pieces. (And in fantasy half the time the suffer from off screen death)
So lets look at a few mothers done right.
Molly Weasley: We all know this woman. It's too bad because a lot of people considered her to be a typical housewife rather than a progressive female character. In fact a reporter (Female reporter, might I add) even told J.K. Rowling "But she's just a mother."
Which understandably irked J.K. Rowling. She didn't see what was so wrong about a woman choosing to raise a family and not throwing herself into the working world. In fact Rowling is a mother herself, adding insult to injury.
This little encounter was one of the things that led J.K. Rowling to the infamous "Molly kills Bellatrix scene." She was going to have Molly do something strong to show she was just as powerful as the men, even if she did choose to raise a family. And I respect her for that. Molly Weasley was a kind and caring mother who worked hard and cared deeply about her children. And that is not a crime. It's a choice.
Rachel Morgan: Heard of her? She's from the Gallagher Girl series. And this is one of the few series where I've seen a teenager who totally looks up to her mom and wants to be like her. A typical conflict is "My mom doesn't get me. So old fashion. I never want to be like her." Rachel Morgan however, is portrayed in a positive light.
She's a very strong woman (And a spy) and she cares about her daughter just as much as any mother so we don't have the "Strong working woman neglects her family scenario". And because Cammie likes her, we like her. I like the portrayal of strong mother-daughter relationships.
Natalie Prior: This is the mother from Divergent. And before we go any further, I would like to mention that I strongly dislike this book and most of the characters in it. Honestly. But that's going to a review for another time. Natalie Prior is one of the few characters I like because she was both selfless and kind but also brave so you could see why she transferred from Dauntless. And the lengths she was willing to go to to protect her daughter are quite admirable. She's also very smart and wary of the danger Abnegation faces. I mainly just like her for being a strong character who seemed submissive and classic "gentle woman" but turned out to be very brave. She was one of the only characters in that book who actually surprised me.
Which is why it's a shame that her daughter showed so little emotion towards her... but that's a review for another time.
In my book: Admittedly, my mother character doesn't have a huge role in the book because she doesn't get as much page time but I made an effort to make a good relationship between her and the main character, her daughter. I'll go ahead and say: Her name is Christina, since that's not really giving anything away. Christina is a working woman but she still cares about her daughter. She is strong and sharp tongued and doesn't cry much though this is largely due to the fact that she tries to be strong for the main character. And while she is still flawed (Because she sort of keeps a lot of secrets) she wouldn't give up her daughter for anything.
I wanted to see more positive mother-daughter relationships so I wrote one.
So that's my schpiel on mothers and making them three dimensional characters in YA fiction. Tomorrow I think I'm going to talk about villainous and their prose and cons. (But the Bella Swan rant is coming... oh it's coming)
Thanks for reading!
-Authoress Anonymous
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
J.K. Rowling (And why I admire her)
First of all, thanks to my second follower! I gave a little cheer when I saw that!
Second of all, I think I've got the query letter down. I'm sending it to a few people before I officially send it to an agent though, just to make sure it makes sense.
Third of all: J.K. Rowling.
Every author or aspiring author in the world should look up to this fantastic woman. (And envy her of course because she's the greatest publishing success story in the world) Mostly because she never asked for fame, fortune or huge book sales. She just wanted to be published and at the time of her writing the first Harry Potter books she was nearly homeless. The publication of the books turned her life around.
Such an inspiring story. And it's just interesting to hear her talk about her books. She truly understands her characters and her story and she's fascinating to listen to.
I've always been a die hard fan of the Harry Potter books. I grew up with them and I've read them countless times because they never get old. But it's interesting to look at them from a writer's perspective.
I admire Jo's spirit, her persistence and how everything turned out for her. She's still very humbled by it and very generous with her money. And yes I'm a little jealous too.
In fact, what are you even doing here? Go watch some of these videos. They're fascinating:
A year in the life of JK Rowling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6-6zaa4NI4
And the women of Harry Potter (Part 1, 2 and 3): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPbGIqcFh00&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T53ufc6ovOk&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rS05lLePDM&feature=relmfu
Yeah, go watch them. Truly fascinating, especially for writers.
-Authoress Anonymous
Second of all, I think I've got the query letter down. I'm sending it to a few people before I officially send it to an agent though, just to make sure it makes sense.
Third of all: J.K. Rowling.
Every author or aspiring author in the world should look up to this fantastic woman. (And envy her of course because she's the greatest publishing success story in the world) Mostly because she never asked for fame, fortune or huge book sales. She just wanted to be published and at the time of her writing the first Harry Potter books she was nearly homeless. The publication of the books turned her life around.
Such an inspiring story. And it's just interesting to hear her talk about her books. She truly understands her characters and her story and she's fascinating to listen to.
I've always been a die hard fan of the Harry Potter books. I grew up with them and I've read them countless times because they never get old. But it's interesting to look at them from a writer's perspective.
I admire Jo's spirit, her persistence and how everything turned out for her. She's still very humbled by it and very generous with her money. And yes I'm a little jealous too.
In fact, what are you even doing here? Go watch some of these videos. They're fascinating:
A year in the life of JK Rowling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6-6zaa4NI4
And the women of Harry Potter (Part 1, 2 and 3): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPbGIqcFh00&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T53ufc6ovOk&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rS05lLePDM&feature=relmfu
Yeah, go watch them. Truly fascinating, especially for writers.
-Authoress Anonymous
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