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Lewis' women characters

The man. The myth.

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No votes
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22%
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Total votes : 36

Lewis' women characters

Postby Stanley Anderson » June 20th, 2006, 6:24 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby Stanley Anderson » June 20th, 2006, 6:30 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby Mary » June 20th, 2006, 7:00 pm

I voted for "well portrayed." To me, his female characters are as alive and vibrant as the male ones. I attribute this to Lewis approaching his characters as individuals rather than genders. Sometimes readers err in thinking that the incorporation of gender roles, which Lewis does, automatically means a diminishing of depth or value in female characters. (I guess this applies to male characters as well, but it's reare that I hear people complaining that male characters fill a less vital role in any given piece of writing, film etc.)

Maybe perception of value relative to gender lies in the reader. I don't know.

It has been a few years since I read That Hideous Strength, four years maybe, and the two characters I remember most are female....the protagonist and the villain. Today, I could tell you much more about those two than I could any of the men.

I am grateful to Lewis that he does not try and write from a feminine perspective, and sticks to the individuality of his characters. In the past I have had the misfortune to read male authors who try to take on a "female" voice, and it can be painful. Do men get frustrated with women authors who try and do the same with masculine perspective? I wonder.

Patrick O'Brian is one of my favorite authors, and I am about to start the seventh book in the Aubrey-Maturin series. O'Brian's develops solid characters that deepen the more you read, but these characters are all men! I find his women characters, the few that are in his books, to be as flat as Dutch pancakes....even the ones who are supposedly secondary rather than periforal characters. And you know, this is totally fine with me! When I want to read about women, I don't go for a series taking place on the sea in wartime in the late 18th century in boats.

I prefer honest flatness of female characters than strained effort at portrayal.

But, as I said previously, Lewis doesn't bug me in either of these ways. I see gender as more of an afterthought in his characterization, something that might bother readers who have gender at the front of their own minds.
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby jo » June 20th, 2006, 7:48 pm

"I saw it begin,” said the Lord Digory. “I did not think I would live to see it die"

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Re: re: Lewis' women characters

Postby Stanley Anderson » June 20th, 2006, 8:36 pm

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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby jo » June 20th, 2006, 8:53 pm

"I saw it begin,” said the Lord Digory. “I did not think I would live to see it die"

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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby Leslie » June 20th, 2006, 10:20 pm

I think Lewis portrays women in fiction rather well for a man of his time -- surprisingly well, considering how he portrays women in his apologetics. I'm thinking specifically of his remarks about women in the chapter "Friendship" in The Four Loves. But then, maybe that portrayal is also fitting for his time and place.
"What are you laughing at?"
"At myself. My little puny self," said Phillipa.
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby David » June 20th, 2006, 11:46 pm

Lewis draws women characters who are believeable. They are faulted when compared to a standard that almost no woman really arrives at in life. If they do not combine the varied attributes Zena, Wonder Woman, Buffy, Marilyn Vos Savant (sp?), Hilary Clinton, Florence Nightengale and Virginia Woolf, critics tell us they are shallow characters and Lewis was afraid of women (see Kath Filmer's Book C. S. Lewis: Mirror and Mask for a good example of this). But his female characters are real and genuine. They have strengths and weaknesses. They are human beings who succeed, fail, are wise and foolish, consistent and inconsistent.
The way, the weather, the terrain, the discipline, the leadership. --Sun Tzu
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby Mary » June 20th, 2006, 11:49 pm

Here's another example:

The girlfriend/fiance in The Screwtape Letters. I thought his drawing of her was pretty subtle.
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby A#minor » June 21st, 2006, 12:01 am

I think his female characters are just as real and well-portrayed as the male characters, so I voted for the first choice.
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby Iris » June 21st, 2006, 3:17 am

Member of the 2456317 club. I got yelled at for explaining what this was, so if you want to know I guess you'll have to ask.

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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby carol » June 21st, 2006, 5:48 am

I don't agree with the question about "Lewis' woman character" - I am sure he wrote more than one woman character! :grin: Not generic female...
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby wood-maid » June 22nd, 2006, 1:38 am

"Jill," said Tirian, "you are the bravest and most wood-wise of all my subjects, but also the most malapert and disobedient."
"By the Mane!" he whispered to Eustace. "This girl is a wondrous wood-maid. If she had Dryad's blood in her she could scarce do it better." - The Last Battle
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re: Lewis' women characters

Postby VixenMage » June 22nd, 2006, 1:53 am

"The only thing I know for certain is that I know nothing for certain."
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Re: re: Lewis' women characters

Postby rusmeister » June 22nd, 2006, 4:10 am

"Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one."
Bill "The Blizzard" Hingest - That Hideous Strength
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