"Aren't You A Little Short For A Storm Trooper?"

Okay, it's really late and I need to go to bed. I was up late finishing up work for tomorrow and then I got hooked on that dumb "Living Social" thing on facebook. I started to fill out a thinger for favorite book characters and I realized that I couldn't think of strong female characters right off the bat. This reminded me of last semester when we had to write down our heroes and I couldn't think of women right away except for some teachers I've had. After that I put in a pinch more effort to find empowered women to help remind me of what I want, and it really didn't prove to be so hard (vandana shiva, christiane amanpour, etc) so I guess now I'll need to go hunting around for more literary goddesses. This is also similar to a time last fall when I went into a bookstore to the new releases table and ended up leaving in a huff because all of the titles about women were indirect. I admit it, I love The Time Traveler's Wife. What I don't love is going in to a bookstore and seeing The Heretic's Daughter, The Senator's Wife, My Sister's Keeper, daugher sister mother wife daughter sister mother wife daughter sister mother wife. Oy vey. Here's a start:

Strong Female Literary:

(the first two that came to mind are Laura Ingalls Wilder, Karen von Bixen-Finecke, and Shreve Stockton but they all wrote autobiographies, they weren't in novels!)

Jo March, Little Women

... I know there are more but I'm tired

There are a few in books that are also in movies (LOTR, Pride and Prejudice) that I need to read. I should really re-read The Awakening because I never did make my mind up about it, and I think I need to look closer at Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Strong Female Movie:

Evie, V for Vendetta

Princess Leia, Star Wars

Ilsa, Casablanca

Arowyn, LOTR

Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice

Elizabeth, POTC

Karen von Bixen-Finecke, Out of Africa

When I was younger I loved Maria Michel, Amelia Earhart, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Julie "The Cat" Gaffney on the Mighty Ducks. I'm still that kid looking for women who have walked ahead.