Many heroines in literature have taught us more lessons than life has planned for us. Young women of our generation have a limited amount of heroes to look up to; we do not have the countless options of capes to follow after. Women and young girls alike have no super hero, except the ones in books:
1)Hermione Granger, From Harry Potter
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Hermione has shown us the beauty of being ourselves, despite what others might think of us. She taught us that its okay to be the smart one every now and then, its okay to overachieve, its okay to work harder than everyone else because in the end it is worth it, especially if you can save someone; especially yourself. She taught us to be honest without ourselves to be okay with ourselves even if others aren’t. We can rise beyond their expectations and exceed past them, and create our own because they are the only ones that matter. She taught us loyalty, and the significance of friendship, she was not only the brightest witch of her age, but the greatest friend of her time.
2) Katniss Everdeen, From The Hunger Games
Katniss is “The Girl on Fire”, she is the spark that led a revolution. She taught us the importance of fighting for not just what was right, but for our family. Even now, we still remember, whether from the pages, or from the big screen, the moment she declared,”I volunteer as tribute”. She taught us the aesthetic of family; of being a big sister. She would do anything to save her sister Prim Rose from joining The Hunger Games, yet ended up saving more than just her little sister, but an entire nation from the hands of a reaping that was bigger than just the Capitol’s games. It was the repairing of a broken civilization. She saved them all, and taught a world to rise against the dictatorship and the evil that kept them in silence.
3) Tris Prior, From Divergent
Tris taught us to be brave even if it means leaving your family behind. She taught us that it’s okay to be selfish and brave at the same time. That the world doesn’t tell us who to be or what we become; she shows us the power in what differentiates us; that there is more than strength in what makes us fall or crumble. She taught us to be honest with ourselves,and that its okay to be weak; that its okay to fall as long as we remember to stand up. Its okay to break because thats what makes us human; but whats important is that we grow stronger despite our weakness. That there is more to strength in the fractured parts of what we are, than in what’s left unbroken, we are better for our flaws, whether or nor they are tattooed on our hearts or in our memories, we will always be stronger because of them, not despite them.
4)Daenerys Targaryen, From Game Of Thrones
“The Mother of Dragons” taught us the beauty of strength, Daenerys Targaryen. She was married into power without a choice, for the sake of getting a throne that was stolen from her at birth. Despite, her abuse from family; from loved ones, from the entire world who told her that she didn’t deserve the throne owned to her. She rose above the ashes of her sorrows and pain, to rise above all the enemies that saw her as a child, when she viewed herself as a queen.
Heroines through out young adult literature have raced throughout the digital age, and taught young girls that there can be a superwoman, not just a superman. We get to wear the flow capes and tights every now and then (we rock them better of course), and get to save the day. There have become role models despite the ink that created them; that despite the only breath they take is within the spaces of an ink covered page. Their words touch us despite the reality that divides us because it is as, J.K. Rowling once said, “Of course it’s happening inside your head, why on earth should that mean it’s not real?” Except now, they have been literally made real on the big screen for every young girl in the world to see and look up to. Fantasy is reality just made better, and the characters created along the way, are the heroines that shape the characters of who we are in the end because in the words of J.K. Rowling,“the stories we love do live in us forever, and whether we come back page or the big screen, those characters will always be there to welcome you home.”
