Emma's Topic and Foci

Topic: How women are depicted in fantasy literature

Focus: Do the descriptions of women and men vary when written by male or female authors? I would compare Eragon and Harry Potter because they are both series with a male protagonist and villain but Eragon was written by a boy and Harry Potter was written by a woman. In Eragon, the prominent female characters are Saphira, Arya, and Angela. In Harry Potter, there are far more but I would probably focus on Hermione, Luna, Mrs. Weasly, and Bellatrix. The number of female characters in each series in itself is interesting.

Focus: The depiction of powerful women (by female authors) and the relationships they have with men and other women. I would use Harry Potter, The Naming (Alison Croggon) and Throne of Glass (Sarah J. Maas). I want to focus on how all of these books pass the Bechdel test. Even though it is arbitrary and not usually applied to literature. I also want to look into how women in each of these series are treated by men.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2018 at 7:07 AM

    I love your foci ideas! I have read both the Eragon and Harry Potter series, so I definitely agree that that focus would be interesting, especially when using those texts. The essential question that there is most likely going to be is: How do female characters in Eragon differ from those in Harry Potter (aside from quantity)? What qualities of the characters/authors' writing will you be analyzing to compare these two groups?
    As for your second foci, I unfortunately haven't read The Naming or Throne of Glass but the Bechdel test sounds like a great tool to guide your analysis. It would be important to ask yourself, how do you define powerful women? Are there examples of women in text who don't meet that standard? How do they compare to characters who do, in personality, description, and how they are written? The books you listed are all by female authors, so you might be able to include elements of your first foci to show examples of literature that doesn't pass the Bechdel test, and comment on those works' authors.

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