Monday, November 20, 2023

Seeing Myself in Literature, an Open Book blog hop post

   

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Is there a literary character you identify with (not one of your own)? 

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I identify with characters all the time in my reading--that's part of the joy. But the most important characters that remain near and dear to my heart, are characters I found when I was young: Jo March and Meg Murry, from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, respectively. 

The book covers I remember for Little Women and A Wrinkle in Time

I read both of these books in elementary school. If I had to guess, I'd say around fourth grade. Both are determined young women, fierce at heart, stubborn, and brave. 

It's not uncommon for women who grew up to be writers to hold these two characters in their hearts, young female characters who defy the odds and expected gender roles to make a difference in the world? One of them becoming an author? Yes, please!

They're still important to me here in my fifties because they inspired me by showing me what was possible. 

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5 comments:

  1. Many of the Victorian female writers were rich. Virginia Woolf always said a writer needed £500 a year and a room of her own in which to write. I guess £500 per year was out of the reach of most ordinary folk then.

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    1. Getting a room of my own has definitely made a difference. I went a long time without one.

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  2. I read the entire Little Women series as a teen and loved the sisters. Coming from a large family, the interactions seemed familiar.

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    1. I read the rest of them, too! I only had one sister, but I still saw us in some of the interactions.

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  3. I read A Wrinkle in Time in fifth grade and it is one of my favorite books.

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