Most original female character in fiction

As promised, here is the thread that asks: Where are all the Harry Potters for the girls??

Psychologist and literary critic Lucy Pollard-Gott ranked the most influential characters in world literature and legend in her 2010 book, The Fictional 100. Only one woman made the top 10: Eve. Not exactly a character in literary fiction! The list has international appeal, but the most modern women in it are Scarlett Oï¿½Hara and Toni Morrisonï¿½s Beloved.

So Iï¿½m curious: what fictional girl or woman would you say gives Hamlet, Huck, Harry, and Holden Caulfield a run for their money?

It's easier to pick a female character from tv or movies. Literary fiction? A harder call.

That means girls are in more trouble than I'd thought

TV and movies are such visual media, unlike books (especially fiction) where you can literally read the characters' thoughts and feelings. So are girls and women more to be gazed at than understood as complex, thinking, distinctive individuals ï¿½ ?

Hmm... for me most original (also memorable & unique) characters because they were integral to the story itself.

Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Miss Haversham (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
Jo March (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)

Also Moll Flanders, Anna Karenina & Jane Eyre but these ladies were also the main characters (& titles).

Amber from 'Forever Amber' is a really strong character.

Also, 'Nancy Drew' - she's a brilliant role model for teenage girls, and literally has solved thousands of mysteries and murders alone. Her history is amazing.

If we're including comic books - I could give you a list a mile long LOL.

OMG --- I grew up with Nancy Drew! I loved each & every ND book! What a fantastic character, she was smart & adventurous. A great role model for any young girl :-)

Modesty Blaze - from those books I learned the art of the Yawara stick and gave up carrying a blade. Quite an accomplishment for late '70's Mexico City!

Oh yes, I wanted to be Nancy Drew, too!

Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables books, because she was courageous and determined.

Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennett who is honest and intelligent and doesn't unthinkingly follow the conventions of her time.

Jo March from Little Women and sequels. She intelligent, passionate, talented and strong.

Dorothy from L Frank Baum's Oz books. Strong sense of right & wrong, also brave and loyal. Baum gave a lot of main parts to the girls in his stories. The most memorable boys were Button Bright (who was actually rather dim and memorable because pretty much anything that was asked him was answered with "Don't know.") and Tip, who turns out to be a girl who is under an enchantment!

But in more modern literature, Lyra Belacqua from Phillip Pullman's popular (with children and adults) His Dark Materials trilogy. She's really a plucky heroine, rebellious, loyal, brave.

Yay, they exist ï¿½ what a relief!

To the classic characters, I would add Lily Bart from The House of Mirth, Nora Helmer from A Doll's House, and Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden. I like how they start off as frivolous, naive and self-centered, and become thoughtful and independent after their experiences. Nancy Drew is awesome ï¿½ I wish she had been updated more successfully.

Lyra Belacqua is a good one, Mona ï¿½ wish she was as well known as Harry Potter and Bella Swan. I didn't know that about Baum; I haven't actually read any of his books but will add him to my list. Also from modern lit: Scout Finch, played so well by Mary Badham in the movie that I don't think anyone could improve on her.

Keep 'em coming ï¿½ I'm sure there are more ï¿½

How about including Miss Marple? She's solved murders that perplexed manly detectives and police officers!

I would say Jane Eyre. Jane came from a well-to-do family, lost her parents and was taken into the charge of an aunt who hated her. Jane was mistreated and abused by the aunt and her son and daughter. She was finally sent to a strict school for girl's, suffered more abuse by the benefactor of the school and most of the teachers, yet made two dear friends. One of her friends was a young girl who died, the other was a young woman teacher who had a gentle spirit. From the teacher, Jane learned to have faith in herself.

Jane grew up alone in spirit, became a teacher at the school and struggled to overcome great odds. She found a position at a home where she was welcomed by the family, made dear friends with the housekeeper and the little girl in her charge and fell in love with the master of the estate. Yet torment and suffering still followed her in life. She left the only man she had ever loved, when she found out he was married to a mentally ill woman he kept locked up in his estate.

She ran away, nearly died, met cousins, nearly married the male cousin who did not love her but wanted her to be his symbol of strength in a foreign lands which would be a bitterly hard struggle.

Jane was spiritually connected to the master of the estate she ran away from, dreamed he was in trouble and needed her. She went back to him, found he had lost his estate, his health, his eye sight, and the mentally ill wife who killed herself. He nearly lost his mind for love of Jane and called out to her spiritually.

She came back to him and stayed with him, bringing him back to life by loving him even when he thought he was worthless.

Wow! I did not mean to give out the story -- I just wanted to say I so admire the faith, courage, determination, and capacity for love that Jane had even though she had been so abused and hurt by others all her life. She had courage, strength and faith and managed to stay alive and believe in herself, against all odds.

I see in Jane the spirituality and faith in self that we all strive for in life. The Jane Eyre character is an inspiration to all who are looking for the strength to find their true path in life.

Elizabeth Bennett in Pride & Prejudice.

Yes, even I was about to say the same - Elizabeth Bennet. I love her.

Maggie Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss.

Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Ann Burden in Z for Zachariah (teenage book by Robert C O'Brien -end of the world stuff and she's a survivor).

Kim Ford in Guy Gavriel Kay's The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy.

Yes! Miss Marple! She's not only a memorable character for women but for seniors too. She used people's perception of her as a "sweet but senile old lady" to find out what was really going on and catch murderers.

Yay for Miss Marple, Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennet etc

But every time I'd say - Becky Sharpe from Vanity Fair. She's more an anti-hero than hero - scheming, grasping, independent and determined - and yet, fascinating.

I also loved the film - Reese Witherspoon was inspired as Becky Sharpe, and it was directed by a woman, Mira Nair. So go girls!! Brilliant.

Oh my! How did I miss Reese Witherspoon as Becky Sharpe! Gotta rent that one...

Definitely do!

Mira Nair is Indian and the bit with Becky and the elephant (I won't spoil it for anyone!!) in India is just fab.

I must say Vanity Fair is maybe my favourite book - though that could be going a bit far. Hello? Jane Austen?

Incidentally if anyone can buy (or download) anything by Fanny Burney, then please do. You will just love her - she was one of the earliest ever authors, writing in the 18th Century, ie pre-dated Jane Austen, and she writes as if it is all happening today. Very, very contemporary feel, if you can imagine that.

Evelina - or The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into The World (written in 1778) is wonderful.

Ooh - can I just do another one?

Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar - by Sylvia Plath.

A thinly veiled autobiography, it is just brilliant in my 'umble opinion, and Esther is adorable.

Thanks, Eileen. You are giving me so much to do that I don't know when I'm going to have time to work! LOL

I really wanted to put an American author in there - I know Sylvia Plath moved to Britain, where she married English poet Ted Hughes, and tragically took her own life, but The Bell Jar is just so American, and just wonderful.

A lot of 'classic' female literary figures are English - as this thread illustrates - but American writers are in a class of their own (which is why I studied American Literature at university, I suppose).

There are American authors?!??! Joking! Just joking. Have to admit to being a big fan of Brit Lit at an early age -- from Shakespeare and Dickens to Agatha Christie.

Ha ha! Naughty naughty - you never heard of Moby Dick, girl?

Mind you, I think it took away a few years of my life reading it.

And what about Isabel Archer, in A Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James?

Or Countess Olenska, in The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton?

Yanks, right??

Do I have to pick someone from the upper reaches of the literary hierarchy? If not...

Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta always seemed original to me. I haven't read the series in years, but I remember her being a loner, tough, and rather unapologetic about it. She was also REALLY into her career, which she also didn't apologize for.

On the flip side, I always thought Jane Eyre was actually pretty original - for that time period anyway. She wasn't a cutesy little heroine - she was practical and proud.

Henry James and Edith Wharton are Americans?!?! LOL! I actually read Henry James when I was in school in Japan because it helped me get my English (language) vocabulary back.

Well allright - American expatriots, come to think of it, so was Sylvia Plath! I think I may have some psychological attachment thingy going on here, as they all had Anglo-American lives.

Henry James and Edith Wharton

And talking of Jane Eyre - has anyone read Villette, by Charlotte Bronte? The woman in that is incredibly strong willed and independent too, and her eventual suitor is actively described as being very ugly, in fact you can't believe he will be the 'love interest'. Similarly Mr Rochester is a bit of an odd romantic hero, and ends up disfigured.

I always wanted to read Villette - thanks for that reminder. I always thought Mr. Rochester was a weird love interest, but cool too. It was very realistic to me, as we don't always fall in love with the guy most women find "handsome"...