Brave Deeds by Fierce Females

I took part in Fierce Female Reads in February. This was a collaboration of bloggers who want to start conversations about females in literature. I discussed the fierce females in historical fiction and how women could be strong and confident in the past. Now, we are excited to be announcing the first “Fierce Female Fall Featurette” in conjunction with Ashley at Falling down the Book Hole! We have a week of amazing blog posts with the focus on those fierce females we love! We are highlighting inspirational and headstrong brave female characters in fiction. We are also honored to have an author participating in a twitter chat with us!

Today, I am talking about fierce females showing bravery. What is it to be brave?

Definition of bravery. 1 : the quality or state of having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty : the quality or state of being brave : courage showing bravery under fire.

Bravery is feeling the fear but doing it anyway. In fantasy, we have our reluctant heroines; our Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games, Elisabeth from Sorcery of Thorns, Hermione from Harry Potter, Diana Bishop from A Discovery of Witches. These females kick some serious ass. But fierce females don’t always have to physically fight.

Our favourite brave female characters in literature dare to challenge the status quo. These women are not comfortable with what is expected from them. They are often intelligent, inquiring minds. Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice would be a classic example. She says no to Mr Collins despite pressure from her mother. She also declines Mr Darcy’s first proposal, in a time when women had very few options aside from marriage. “There is a stubbornness about me that can never bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”

Sometimes, bravery can be not giving in. Offred from The Handmaid’s Tale remembers a time before the dystopian United States setting where women are second-class citizens. She “believe[s] in the resistance, as I believe there can be no light without shadow”. I find her character brave because she doesn’t lose hope: “because I’m telling you this story, I will your existence. I tell, therefore you are. So I will go on. So I will myself to go on.”

Some of the female characters that stick with us are brave for educating themselves out of a situation. An example of this in fiction is Roald Dahl’s young Matilda, who grows up with an ignorant self-absorbed family and “all the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen”. Leni in The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is another character who comes to a growing awareness that the family she lives with is not actually normal. Liesel in The Book Thief steals books in Nazi Germany in World War Two. To find information and entertainment for herself is the ultimate rebellion under such a strict regime.

Brave people dare to stand out from the crowd. They stand up for what they believe in. When Claire in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander travels back through time 200 years, she struggles to fit in with 18th century Scottish society’s expectations. She is almost burned as a witch for her outspoken ways. But she has to speak out when she sees injustice, as in slavery, or when she sees unhygienic practises that clash with her modern nurse training. Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables is another outspoken character. She stands up for others when she feels she needs to.

Being selfless can be another form of courage. It could mean holding out or bearing pain, so others don’t get hurt. Eve in The Alice Network is based on a real-life spy, Louise de Bettignies, in World War One. The novel spans two wars and is an intriguing insight into the female informants in Nazi-occupied France. The smart brave female characters are living double lives in precarious times. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is another great example of this.

Bravery is ultimately taking control of your own life. Evelyn in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a diva of Hollywood from the 1960’s and she tells the story behind the rumours to a young journalist. “The world doesn’t give things, you take things.” She definitely made her own choices, despite gossip and people who sought to profit from her, including why she married each of her husbands. She is unapologetic about who she is, saying “Don’t ignore half of me so you can fit me into a box.”

Female characters are fierce when they inspire us to be better. These are the characters that endure, the characters that we shed tears with and walk alongside on their adventures. They can be loud and strong or quiet and tough. But they are all making decisions about their own life and showing bravery, in all its many forms.

Join us for the #fiercefemalereads Twitter chat

P K Adams writes historical fiction about those women in history who did amazing things but were never given the glory they deserved. Her characters speak out, in times when women should be silent. Join us for the Twitter chat on 12th September at 7pm EST under the hashtag #fiercefemalereads and ‘ask her anything’.