Women in Children's Literature

Major Research Paper

Over the years stories have started to show women as powerful characters, who can achieve the same ordeals as a male protagonist would in children’s literature. Female representations in literature in the contemporary time period all take on the conceptual male expected roles, which consists of attributes and qualities such as being dominant, being strong, and or intelligent. Children’s literature in present day has changed greatly in order to correctly represent females in today present time, where more women are independent and more assertive signifying that the previous representation of female characters is no longer accurate. Throughout the years, female characters seen in children’s literature have evolved from being underrepresented and depicted as being very passive with no importance, to becoming more independent and assertive as more female characters are shown as protagonists in children’s literature overtime. This can be see through Mulan from Mulan: The Chinese Warior, Joe from Little Women, and Katniss from The Hunger Games.

Characterization is critical in any book or piece of writing, especially in children’s literature as “ childrens knowledge about gender begins at a young age and texts are important influences that shape us by reflecting on values of our society” (Bowker 463). When looking at protagonists in previous years, it is predominant, and evidently obvious that majority of the stories were male centered. Previous children’s literature books defined what it means to be a male or female and from this, children from a very young age learn about the acceptable roles they should take and conform too (Bowker 463). Majority of male characters were seen as the main protagonists in these stories as they were depicted as strong, intelligent, dominant and important to the journey and duration of the story itself. This differentiated drastically to how females where depicted, where they where shown as being passive, dependent, unimportant, and even weak to some extent. Furthermore, women were almost always portrayed with narrow characteristics, and were given secondary roles, which usually took place in a domestic setting. The men were the characters that these stories revolved around, and were courageously adventurous as they were captured as the hero’s who left home to concur the journey in the outside world and expected to return home victorious.

The three characters Mulan, Katniss, and Joe contradict this “ideal woman” role as all three of these characters mentioned above are adventurous, courageous, and important as they are the main protagonist in their stories. These contemporary and modern day hero’s all carry attributes and characteristics that were once ideally associated with male characters within children’s literature. In the book Mulan: The Chinese Warrior, Mulan is a clumsy girl who makes a great sacrifice in order to save her fathers life as every male in China is told they must serve in battle in the Empirical Army to fight the Huns. She cuts her hair in order to look like a man, takes her fathers armor and gets herself recruited where she constantly falls short in training, but with her dedication and strength she masters the art of fighting and learns the skills necessary to defeat Hun. Being a woman, it is dishonorable for her to serve in battle which is why she had to disguise herself, but as everyone finds out the truth about Mulan being a girl and accomplishing everything that she had, everyone praised and respected her as a hero who saved the people of China. This depiction of Mulan goes against every aspect of the “ideal women” representation as she is shown to be independent, and a strong-willed young women, who on her terms prospers in her quest and comes home a changed person as she defeats Hun in battle.

In the story Little Women, Joe is also depicted in an interesting way as she is almost immediately characterized a lot different from her other sisters, she is shown to be more independent, and adventurous who also is an aspiring writer wants to be rich and famous. Joe is ambitious and wants to do more then just sit at home and be a good housewife she “wants to do something splendid before I go into my castle. Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all someday” (Alcott 523). From this, one can see how Joe is constantly battling with herself as she struggles with the idea of being a “perfect little woman” that her father wants her to be, the role she should take on to what her dreams are and what she wants to accomplish in life. Joe shows confidence, strength and willpower which in previous novels or stories in children’s literature would be attributes that would be associated with male characters as they were the ones with the dreams, the ambition to become something and achieve something in life. As the story moves along, we are constantly shown how Joe opposes and challenges the “ideal women” role whether it be cutting her hair for money (chapter 13), or be the one who leaves the home in order to pursue her writing career (chapter 14). Joe’s character is implemented to create contrast between what she is expected to do and what she wants to do as the author very strategically characterizes Joe quite differently from Meg; her sister who is the complete opposite of Joe because Meg is shown conforming to the typical roles of a female that Joe does not want to be affiliated with.

Similar to Joe and Mulan, Katniss is also shown as a leading lady in The Hunger Games. After her father dies in a coalmine, she becomes the breadwinner of the family, which usually is a role portrayed by a male character. Katniss also is shown taking the responsibility of her mother and sister as she hunts for food, provides, and cares for her family; which is what the role of a father figure usually pertains to. Katniss is the epitome of a strong protagonist as several events occur in which she has no choice but to rise to the occasion or simply die. The first being, when Katniss’s sister Prim gets chosen out of the glass bowl to represent District 12 in the Hunger Games and Katniss chooses“volunteers as tribute” (Collins 22) in order to protect her little sister from harming herself. As she enters the games, Katniss carries a lot of physical strength as she is good with a bow and arrow due to her experience from hunting for survival and is the first one to get a ten in the skills testing challenge. Katniss is also shown as unafraid of expressing herself. A prime example of this would be when she shoots the apple which is in the mouth of the roasted pigs in order to get the attention of the Gamemakers’ and thanks them for their consideration and walks out without their leave (Collins 101-102). This is one of many instances where we are shown her feisty attitude where she wants to be respected for her many talents and have everyone be aware of what she really is capable of. By far, Katniss is one of the most powerful female protagonists that one can come across as she dominated the games, even thought she was underestimated due to the lack of training prior to the games. Katniss is a influential character in children’s literature as she represents power, assertiveness and strength and even against all the other strong male characters, she still emerges victorious and the end as she defeats them all and comes back home to District 12 a winner of the hunger games.

All three of these characters; Mulan, Joe and Katniss all are similar and different in a sense. They all share common similarities such as they all are female protagonists that overcome obstacles in order to attain their missions. Both Mulan and Joe are shown cutting their hair which is a symbol of femininity, even though each circumstance was different. Joe cut her hair in order to earn twenty-five dollars to help pay for her mother’s trip and Mulan cut her hair so she could disguise herself as a man in order to take her fathers position in battle; both did this to help a family member in need. Katniss and Mulan similarly both endure a journey, which consists of some sort of a battle; whether it is a competition of survival or to help a nation from evil they both fought till the finish. All three of them all in some way of form leave the “safe” ground and leave home in order to begin their journey which takes them away from home and their families. Mulan leaves in order to fight and protect China from the wrath of Hun, Joe leaves home in order to pursue her interest in writing and begins to earn a living which she uses later on to support her family and Katniss leaves to represent District 12 in The Hunger Games in place of her sister. Similarly, Joe, Katniss and Mulan all return back home as changed and evolved characters, where each was successful in the mission they initially set out to accomplish. Most importantly, all three of these characters from these books all challenge previous stereotypes of female characters in children’s literature, as they all share strong, independent, and adventurous qualities as the main protagonist in each of these stories.
All three of these ladies exemplify a change in roles played by males and females as characters in children’s literature. Studies have shown that “books show greater gender balance and sexual equality, with more females present in titles, central roles, and in illustration’s in children’s literature” (Kortenhaus, 221). There is no longer the misconception that we had in previous literary works where “boy’s do and girls are,” (Clarck, 18) signifying that only male characters where the adventurous ones who set out on a journey and that girls are only to be in the background in the domestic setting. Girls are now being depicted as being more adventurous, and shown participating in more instrumental and dangerous activities and we are also for a change, shown more males taking on the roles of sometimes being passive or dependent. In previous years, more specifically the 1960’s stories that “portrayed both boys and girls together, only boys assumed the role of dominance and authority, while the girls were shown as being helpless, incompetent, and unambitious” (Kortenhaus, 230). If we were to look at the three characters; Mulan, Joe and Katniss, who have been characterized in stories written after the 1960’s we can see how each character contradicts these characteristics that were previously associated with female characters. If we were to look at Mulan and Katniss, one can see how even though both characters are associated with strong and powerful male characters within the story, they were still the ones that were shown as being dominant and both Peta and Shan-Yu were the ones who needed the girls to save them as they were helpless and needed to be rescued to make it alive. This is proof that slowly but surly children’s literature is improving as more female characters are provided with empowering characteristics and attributes in stories which provide as great role models or characters for girls to relate too.

In conclusion, through Little Women, Mulan: The Chinese Warrior, and The Hunger Games one can see how female characters have been molded from being underrepresented and portrayed as passive to becoming more assertive and independent as they take more central roles in stories. It is pleasing to see “the increasing effort on the parts of writers and authors to provide readers with literature that more closely parallels the roles of males and females in contemporary society.”(Kortenhaus 230) This would be beneficial as now girls are able to identify with more female characters who are dominant and don’t lead to the delusion of how women were represented previously. As years have passed, one can see the drastic changes and differences in how the females are embodied in books. Now we are seeing more female protagonists taking on adventures and emerging victorious in the end, in contrast to where before female characters were primarily seen in the domestic setting and given characteristics and qualities which were considered “lady like.” Mulan, Joe, and Katniss challenge the previous stereotypical representations of females as they all oppose the “ideal women” archetype and exemplify a refreshing new look onto female characters as protagonist.

Works Cited

Alcott, L. M. (2004). Little women. New York: Signet Classic.

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Collins, S. (2008). The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press.

Cardona, J. (1998). Mulan: The Chinese Warrior New York: Scholastic Press.

Beverly L. Clark & Margaret R. Higonnet. (2000). Girls, Boys, Books, Toys: Gender in Children’s Literature and Culture. Baltimore, Md. [u.a]: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.

Carol M. Kortenhaus & Jack Demarest. (1993). Gender Role Stereotyping in Children’s Literature: An Update. (Volume 28, Issue 3-6, pp 219-232). Kluwer Academic Publisher’s – Plenum Publishers.

Diane M. Turner-Bower (1996). Gender Stereotyped Descriptor in Children’s Picture Books: Does “Curious Jane” Exist in Literature. (Volume 35, Issue 7-8, pp 461-458). Kluwer Academic Publisher’s – Plenum Publishers.

Cited: Alcott, L. M. (2004). Little women. New York: Signet Classic. . Collins, S. (2008).  The Hunger Games.  New York:  Scholastic Press. Cardona, J. (1998). Mulan: The Chinese Warrior New York: Scholastic Press. Beverly L. Clark & Margaret R. Higonnet. (2000). Girls, Boys, Books, Toys: Gender in Children’s Literature and Culture. Baltimore, Md. [u.a]: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press. Carol M. Kortenhaus & Jack Demarest. (1993). Gender Role Stereotyping in Children’s Literature: An Update. (Volume 28, Issue 3-6, pp 219-232). Kluwer Academic Publisher’s – Plenum Publishers. Diane M. Turner-Bower (1996). Gender Stereotyped Descriptor in Children’s Picture Books: Does “Curious Jane” Exist in Literature. (Volume 35, Issue 7-8, pp 461-458). Kluwer Academic Publisher’s – Plenum Publishers.