Hey guys so I missed last week and I wanted to get ya'lls input on an idea I've had floating around. I noticed in Windup Girl, that every character, no matter how they were aligned, had both admirable and almost horrifying character traits.
A few examples would be the female officer in the Environmental Ministry, and how she both betrayed her mentor and did what she thought was best for the people, the yellow carder who we all pretty much hated who saved a child at the risk of his own life, and even the windup girl herself who I think we can all agree is the most innocent of wrong doing (or at least motive wise) killed several people (however much they deserved it). I had thought to potentially compare this style of characters and the style of narrating from several character's viewpoints to other authors such as George R.R. Martin.
In any case, any feedback ya'll have would be appreciated.
I haven't read any George R.R. Martin, so I can't really say anything about comparing the character development. But I do think it's an excellent paper topic. It was something that occurred to me as I read the story as well. I think there is definitely enough development and back story to each character to come up with some interesting findings.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very interesting point of the novel. It'd be interesting to explore this in other stories we've looked at as well, although those often couldn't delve too deep into them due to length. The husband from "Goodnight Moons" saved his child at the expense of his wife's wishes. The girl from "Glory Girls" fought for independence, autonomy, and worked hard at improving technology, but she also broke the law and robbed trains. Steam Girl either has a vivid imagination or used to be a crusading hero, but she also threatened a guy with some sort of gun.
ReplyDeleteAgain, these weren't developed quite as much as a novel. And you might have better success comparing The Windup Girl against longer works along the lines of Song of Ice and Fire.
Abandoning the kid in "After the Apocalypse" is arguably the best thing the mom could have done for the kid ...
ReplyDeleteBut _The Windup Girl_ is rich enough in examples that you needn't drag in other texts, certainly not an immensity like Martin's series. I'm trying to get y'all to see that writing about one text in depth is not a bad thing -- is, in many cases, ideal.